As Filipino migrant workers began to organize, it became clear that there was little information and data about the working and living conditions of their community in NY. Damayan saw the need to gather data about their members, the factors that caused them to migrate to the US, and find ways to better empower and organize them.
In 2005, Damayan partnered with the Urban Justice Center to launch a research project to understand the living and labor conditions of Filipino migrant workers and their reasons for migrating to the United States. Damayan conducted focus groups, in-depth interviews, and 200+ surveys and eventually published an executive summary that detailed the project’s results.