Saving Their Community: Merrimack Valley Project Bridges the Economic Divide

By Ellie Hurley

Running inland along the Merrimack River, north of Boston and south of the New Hampshire border, the Merrimack Valley is an area that has played a large role in America's industrial history.  The area's many factory jobs made it a popular destination for immigrants seeking work in the manufacturing and textile industry.  In the 1980's the Valley was one of the most segregated and poorest industrial areas in the nation.  As factories began to close jeopardizing the jobs that had once been the areas economic back bone the Valley plunged further in to despair.

In response to the job loss, and an increase in immigration, many white families fled to the suburbs in what is commonly called “white flight”.  “White flight” typically leads to further economic disparities between suburban and urban areas, increased segregation, and an expansion of poor urban areas.  The Valley's two largest cities, Lowell and Lawrence were hit the hardest.  Lawrence is currently the most Hispanic city in Massachusetts and also the poorest with a median family income of under $27,000, Lowell is not far behind.

As the areas racial and economic divide became greater, it was apparent that something needed to be done.  In 1992, formed by a group of religious, community, and labor leaders, the Merrimack Valley Project (MVP) was started. The mission of MVP is to improve the quality of life in Valley communities by organizing to save and create jobs with dignity and decent wages, to bring about reinvestment and economic revitalization, to save and create affordable housing, and to identify and pursue other issues related to the welfare of the Valley.

Since its creation MVP, which is now comprised of 34 member groups, has worked on and successfully won numerous campaigns to improve the lives of people in the Merrimack Valley.  Their work has covered everything from housing and transit issues to worker and immigration rights, topics that directly affect the constituency they represent.  What's most important about their work though is that they are teaching people to fight for themselves through what Staff Director Loren McArthur calls “civic leadership development”.  Through their workers center they offer organizing training for factory workers, English classes, and it serves as a meeting ground where immigrant workers can discuss issues.  McArthur explains that having this meeting place has been a catalyst for identifying the issues they want to work on.

In 2006 MVP spearheaded a campaign that that not only improved working conditions for temporary workers in the Valley, but also set a standard for corporate ethics among employers in the area.  Gillet, which is owned by Proctor Gamble, has long been one of the largest employers in the Valley and 2/3 of their staff hired as temporary employees.  Temporary employment means no sick leave, no holidays, no pension, and no health care benefits.  When the company closed one of its factories, they not only left many unemployed but they failed to pay their temporary employees any severance pay.  Through the workers right center “we gathered stories of people who had been cheated out of money and suffered abuse in the work place,” says McArthur.  MVP and the workers then took to the streets launching a public campaign that resulted in significant change at Gillet and Proctor and Gamble.  Not only did they win back jobs in the community, Gillet agreed to initiate MVP's Career Ladders Program.  Through the Career Ladders Program Gillet offers ESOL, computer training, and one on one peer counseling for over 100 Gillet temporary workers.  Recently New Balance, another Merrimack Valley employer, also signed on to the Career Ladders Program.

As a part of their plight to change the practices at Gillet, MVP obtained proxies to attend the Proctor and Gamble shareholders meeting.  At the meeting they had the chance to speak directly to those in charge of changing policy within the company.  One worker who spoke was Paulina Dilone, a temporary worker at the Gillet factory.  Dilone began her speech by saying, “These are the hands that bring daily bread to my table and to all of yours.”  Her words clearly had an impact on the shareholders, shortly after they initiated the Career Ladders Program.  The experience also had an impact on Dilone who went onto serve on the MVP board last year.

It's stories of empowerment like Dilone's, successful campaigns like the one at Gillet, and its significant work on affordable housing that led WHY to honor MVP with its Harry Chapin Self Reliance Award in 2007.  The Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards program distributes cash grants to outstanding grassroots organizations in the United States that have moved beyond charity to creating change in their communities. Organizations selected as Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award winners are judged outstanding for their innovative and creative approaches to fighting domestic hunger and poverty by empowering people and building self-reliance.

MVP makes tangible differences in the lives of the people living in the Merrimack valley.  Whether it is by changing workplace regulations, affecting public policy, activating the faith based community, or inspiring new community leaders; their work is shaping a new and more unified future for the residents of the area.  By bringing people together of all races and all backgrounds MVP is slowly chipping away at the culture of prejudice, segregation, and economic disparity in the Merrimack Valley.