Gonzalo Mercado

"So many movements come out of New York City. Change here can have a real impact."

Gonzalo Mercado is the Executive Director of El Centro del Inmigrante, a storefront immigrant day laborers' center in Port Richmond, Staten Island. Says Gonzalo, "El Centro has created a space where recently arrived immigrants can form friendships, receive information and training, and make their own contribution to the Staten Island community."

Through his experience working at El Centro, Gonzalo says he came to understand the power of grassroots community organizing: "When workers feel voiceless, powerless, without rights--community organizing can provide an opportunity to turn things around and make a change, not only in individual lives but as a movement affecting a larger group of people."

Of his service on the board of directors of North Star Fund, Gonzalo says, "So many movements come out of New York City. Change here can have a real impact."