Power in Solidarity
Building a Movement, One Leader at a Time
A just economy and society requires a new generation of courageous leaders to carry us forward. Today, Black, immigrant, and low-wage workers continue to face economic inequality, rising housing costs, unsafe work conditions, and unfair labor practices. At the same time, our democracy faces ongoing threats that disproportionately impact working-class communities of color.
To confront these challenges and build a future rooted in equity, we must invest in youth education and leadership development that prepares young people to fight for economic justice and worker power in every sector and every corner of our society.
The UCLA Labor Center’s school-to-movement pathways are designed to meet this moment. Through our fellowships, engaging curricula, hands-on research, and community-centered courses, we equip young leaders with the tools to become the next generation of policy shapers, organizers, researchers, and advocates who continue the legacy of worker power and economic, racial, and immigrant justice.
Our school-to-movement pathways offer paid fellowships, mentorship, real-world placements, and a foundation in social justice leadership inspired by the teachings of the late Rev. James Lawson Jr.— one of the most influential civil and labor rights leaders of our time —and Kent Wong, the former director of the UCLA Labor Center who helped build the Center into a national model for worker justice. Though both have passed, their vision and values continue to live on through the young leaders empowered through our school-to-movement pathways. Join us in securing permanent funding for this vision—click the yellow button to invest in tomorrow’s leaders, or keep reading to learn how your support fuels lasting impact.
Together, we can ensure that the movement for worker justice never stops growing—and that our students become leaders who drive transformational change for decades to come. Thanks to the generosity of donors, we raised $526,000 in 2025 through our Power in Solidarity: A Home for Worker Justice campaign to fund our move into our newly renovated UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center building, a permanent home for our work and the communities we serve.
Now, we are launching the second phase of our Power in Solidarity campaign:
Raise $1 million in 2026 to create a permanent endowment that will sustain and expand our school-to-movement pathways for generations of emerging leaders.
This investment will:
Grow our school-to-movement pathways so we can reach more students across California and the US.
Provide first-rate leadership and research training spaces for countless students who will go on to have an impact in the growing labor field.
Expand mentorship programming for youth leaders.
Support the development of innovative curricula, workshops, and educational resources that respond to the moment.
Provide sustainability for our school-to-movement programs and improve our long-term impact.
The UCLA Labor Center is a launchpad for young leaders. Youth leadership development is not a side project—it’s at the heart of who we are. Our paid fellowship programs place young leaders in unions, worker centers, immigrant rights and social justice organizations in Los Angeles and nationally to engage in exciting organizing efforts. Our dynamic curricula, training workshops, and educational programs equip young workers with vital workplace readiness knowledge as they enter the workforce while also cultivating their leadership instincts as they join different social justice movements.
Our Core Youth Leadership Programs
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Dream Summer
The national Dream Summer fellowship program positions immigrant youth as agents of change within the immigrant rights movement. Through leadership development, advocacy training, and community building, immigrant young leaders are able to reflect on their unique strengths and recognize their inherent value as trailblazers for immigrant and labor rights.
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Freedom Fellowship
The Freedom Fellowship is a 10-week experiential learning opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience working with activists and community organizers involved in the movement for civic and economic justice for Black workers. Fellows support Black Worker Centers across California with regional projects, policy solutions, and research studies.
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Labor Summer
Labor Summer—a program now housed at all nine University of California (UC) Labor Centers—builds on Los Angeles’ historic legacy of union advocacy by training the city’s next generation of worker justice leaders. Through an eight-week placement at a Los Angeles labor union or worker center, UCLA Labor Summer fellows receive frontline training as organizers for economic justice campaigns.
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Lawson Jr./Dolores Huerta Nonviolence Project
Prompted by the introduction of Senate Resolution (SR38) in 2023, the UCLA Labor Center launched the James Lawson Jr./Dolores Huerta Nonviolence Project, inspired by Lawson’s and Huerta’s nonviolence teachings. The project facilitates college classes, community teach-ins, and high school lessons that promote nonviolence education and empower students to become active agents of social change.
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UCLA Labor Summer Research Program
In partnership with UCLA’s Labor Studies department, our UCLA Labor Summer Research Program provides students with hands-on research opportunities that address the needs of workers today and shape the future of worker rights. Through this research-intensive summer program, students gain a deep understanding of the socioeconomic factors impacting workers and their families. This school-to-movement model ensures that students are not only equipped with academic research skills but are also prepared to work with labor and community partners on research and policy initiatives.
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Young Worker Initiative
Our Young Worker Initiative is helping shape the future of labor education in California schools. The Initiative develops and delivers engaging curricula for middle and high school students, while also supporting teachers and school leaders in bringing labor rights education into their social studies classrooms. Through innovative lessons like Know Your Rights workshops, collective bargaining simulations, and teacher training sessions, students and educators gain a deeper understanding of labor history, workplace protections, and strategies to uphold rights on the job.
In 2025, our young leaders were at the forefront of change. Through placements at a diverse range of partner organizations—including unions, worker centers, immigrant rights groups, public agencies and community-based nonprofits—they organized high-impact events, led advocacy meetings, conducted legal file reviews, and mobilized at demonstrations. These efforts helped advance campaigns for economic, racial, and immigrant justice. Fellows also helped build worker power, supported grassroots movements, and empowered communities through research projects, storytelling initiatives, and Know Your Rights trainings.
Hugo Romero’s journey from student to statewide political leader is a powerful testament to the impact of the UCLA Labor Center’s school-to-movement pathway.
“Dream Summer impacted my life and career in every way possible. Had it not been for Dream Summer, I would not have been introduced to the labor movement, where I got to harness my work at the intersection of immigrant and worker rights. It’s because of Dream Summer that I get to do the work I do today.” —Hugo Romero, Political Director for SEIU 2015
Since that pivotal summer in 2014, Hugo has become a prominent labor leader, previously serving as Deputy Political Director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and now as the Statewide Political Director for SEIU 2015. In his current role, he represents more than half a million long-term care workers—many of whom are women of color and immigrants—fighting for the future of care in California.
Hugo’s experience also reflects Rev. Lawson’s legacy, as the very foundation of the Dream Summer program was shaped by his teachings. During the inaugural year of Dream Summer, Rev. Lawson taught young immigrant rights activists the philosophy of nonviolence. His direct engagement helped ground the program in values of justice, love, and moral courage—principles that continue to shape alumni like Hugo and the movements they go on to lead.
“Rev. Lawson impacted my life through his teachings of nonviolence and endless optimism that love is the most powerful tool. On the hardest days, I ground myself in his teachings and see them in action through our members.” —Hugo Romero, Political Director for SEIU 2015
Hugo’s path from student to the front lines of the labor movement demonstrates the transformative power of leadership programs like Dream Summer and how they continue Rev. Lawson’s legacy by equipping the next generation to lead with purpose, compassion, and resilience.
For questions or more information about giving opportunities, please contact: Melissa Mooney, Director of Development at mrmooney@irle.ucla.edu.
Power in Solidarity is a bold, multiyear fundraising campaign to sustain the UCLA Labor Center’s mission and permanent home: the newly renovated UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center. This campaign ensures that the Center remains a vital space for the communities we serve. It also strengthens our core work: advancing worker, economic, immigrant, and racial justice by training the next generation of leaders, producing transformative research, and supporting movements through strategic partnerships and technical assistance.
Our vision is rooted in the belief that a public university belongs to the people and should champion accessible, high-quality education and employment for all.
Our home in the heart of Los Angeles brings that vision to life. With support from the state and our community, we created a dynamic space where students, workers, educators, and community members come together to learn, collaborate, and lead. We now aim to establish the first-ever endowment and first-ever $1 million fund by the end of 2026 to sustain our school-to-movement pathways in perpetuity.
Once referred to as “the mind of the movement” and “the leading strategist of nonviolence in the world” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend James Lawson Jr. is known internationally for teaching nonviolent resistance tactics to young activists. In the course of his life, Rev. Lawson and his colleagues and students led lunch counter sit-ins, freedom rides, and worker strikes including the historic 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike during the civil rights movement.
In 1974, Rev. Lawson moved to Los Angeles and became pastor of Holman United Methodist Church where he led his congregation to mobilize for peace and social justice while contributing to the transformation of the Los Angeles labor movement. His moral and spiritual guidance were key in the struggle to organize janitors, security officers, home care workers and hotel workers. In 2018, Lawson received the UCLA Medal, the campus’s highest honor.
Inspired by Rev. Lawson’s commitment to racial and economic justice, on December 11, 2021, the UCLA Labor Center’s historic MacArthur Park building was officially named the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center in his honor. Rev. Lawson passed away on June 9, 2024, at the age of 95; however, his principles and values continue to live through the Los Angeles labor movement, the work for social justice, and the UCLA Labor Center.
