Who We Are
For many of us, daily struggles include workplace grievances, family issues, and health concerns. These struggles are oppressing, never-ending, and hard. These struggles are real and valid and yet imagine your employer not paying you for the work you did. Imagine not getting workers compensation for a work-related injury. Imagine being forced to work in harmful and life-threatening conditions. Imagine not having a way to leave this life. Imagine the fear of debt, deportation, or homelessness. Some do not have to imagine. Some people you may know have even lived this reality.
This type of injustice is what lead the Naomi Project to begin. We are inspired by the example of the biblical figure, Naomi. She helped her immigrant daughter-in-law Ruth understand what her rights were as an immigrant and a worker, how she could exercise those rights, and establish herself in her new land. Following in Naomi’s footsteps, we lead workers’ rights trainings on important matters such as wage and hour, workers’ compensation, and labor trafficking. Throughout “Siouxland,” encompassing Eastern South Dakota and Northwestern Iowa, we accompany workers whose rights have been denied, and we develop worker-leaders who can stand up for themselves and others in the workplace. We are combatting human trafficking and, in turn, building strong, just, and vibrant rural communities and economies.
Naomi Project is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and our Board of Directors is majority worker-led. We are grateful to also have worked together in past and present investigations with partners at the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Labor.
We know that what starts here, in South Dakota, can change our country and the world. Through years of organizing, showing up, and offering help, we believe we’re positioned to do just that. We’re building worker-centered networks of justice that will change the conversation and types of services provided in small cities, rural towns, and other immigrant rights deserts throughout the country.