Why are we spending money on this?

From the Times Ledger:

The city Department of Youth and Community Development has identified the recipients of three $200,000 stimulus grants designed to help Queens’ immigrant day laborers.

The department announced last week that the Make the Road New York organization will receive two of the grants and the MinKwon Center will receive one, which they must use to help first-generation immigrants hone their employment skills, become familiar with their rights and more.

Day laborers are some of the city’s lowest-paid, most neglected workers, and they often have little knowledge of their rights or the means to improve their employment situations.

“We definitely think the neighborhoods, Jackson Heights and Woodside, Queens, are a crisis center in the economic collapse,” said Saduf Syal, project coordinator for Make the Road New York’s community workforce project. “Day laborers congregate in these areas, often with no knowledge of their rights, the proper wages or safety precautions. So, yes, the need is definitely there.”

Make the Road New York will facilitate programs to offer services to these under-served workers in Jackson Heights and Woodside, while the MinKwon Center will focus its efforts on helping workers in the Flushing area.

The grants are three of six being disbursed throughout the city through the economic stimulus package — two are also being distributed to groups in Brooklyn and one will be awarded in Staten Island.

The MinKwon Center is a rare organization in that its work targeted low-wage immigrant workers most often ends up benefiting Asian Americans, unlike Make the Road’s, which often reaches mainly Hispanic populations.

Are we checking for green cards before spending tax money on this?