Promoting Worker's Health: Greater Lawndale Lotería Game
Card 1 - The Arch
Card 2 - The Artist
Card 3 - The Barber
Card 4 - The Bus Driver
Card 5 - The Car Wash Worker
Card 6 - The Child Care Worker
Card 7 - The Church
Card 8 - The Community Garden
Card 9 - The Community Health Worker
Card 10 - The Community Organizer
Card 11 - The Cook
Card 12 - The Cooperative
Card 13 - The Crossing Guard
Card 14 - The Day Laborer
Card 15 - The Domestic Worker
Card 16 - Douglass Park
Card 17 - The Face Mask
Card 18 - The Factory Worker
Card 19 - The Fast Food Worker
Card 20 - The Greystone Building
Card 21 - The Grocery Worker
Card 22 - The Hair Stylist
Card 23 - The Home Care Aid
Card 24 - The Hotel Housekeeper
Card 25 - The Industrial Laundromat Worker
Card 26 - The Janitor
Card 27 - La Villita Park
Card 28 - The Landscaper
Card 29 - The Mail Handler
Card 30 - The Meat Production Worker
Card 31 - The Mechanic
Card 32 - MLK Memorial District and Museum
Card 33 - The Nail Technician
Card 34 - The Nurse
Card 35 - The Original Sears Tower
Card 36 - The Pink Line
Card 37 - The Retail Worker
Card 38 - The Ride Share Driver
Card 39 - Route 66
Card 40 - The Scrap Metal Collector
Card 41 - The Skilled Tradesperson
Card 42 - The Street Vendor
Card 43 - The Tailor
Card 44 - The Teacher
Card 45 - The Temp Worker
Card 46 - The Tire Technician
Card 47 - The Tortilla Factory Worker
Card 48 - The Union
Card 49 - The Wait Staff
Card 50 - The Warehouse Worker
Card 51 - Washburne Technical Trade School
Card 52 - The Worker Center
Card 53 - The Youth Worker
Card 54 - 26th Street
Greater Lawndale, including North Lawndale and Little Village, are communities on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois. Little Village has one of the largest foreign-born Mexican populations in Chicago and more than 80% of its residents are of Mexican descent. Nearly 90% of the residents of North Lawndale identify as Black, but the neighborhood includes a significant Mexican-American population. Both communities’ median household income is significantly lower than the Chicago median income of $55,703.
Many of Greater Lawndale’s citizens work in low-wage jobs, including in industries such as food and hotel service, construction, and manufacturing; as temporary workers; or in the informal labor market, including as street vendors or gig workers. Although workers make valuable contributions to the workplace and community, many report that they are exposed to unjust working conditions and systematic exploitation.
The Greater Lawndale Lotería is a community-based solution to inform workers about their rights and to promote worker’s health. The game is a collaboration between community partners and the University of Illinois Chicago’s Greater Lawndale Health Work Project—inspired by the work of community activist and public health professional Dolores Castañeda.
How the Greater Lawndale Lotería Game Was Developed
Lotería, the Spanish word for lottery, is a game of chance that is played throughout Latin America and throughout the U.S., particularly in Mexican communities. Similar to bingo, board card numbers are replaced by illustrations. Variations of lotería are always evolving, so using the game as a tool to educate workers about job safety and worker rights is in the spirit of the game.
Launched in 2019, the Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project (GLHWP) used surveys, concept mapping, focus groups, and secondary data analysis to understand how work affects health, to define what healthy and dangerous work looks like, and to help the development of its community initiatives. Through surveys with 500 people from Greater Lawndale, GLHWP learned that 70% of respondents did not have any health benefits and 78% did not get paid if they missed a day of work.
These data helped decide the content of the game, which was piloted and evaluated in several neighborhood settings. The findings showed that this educational game helped to facilitate hard conversations about unhealthy work and raised awareness among workers.
The lotería game includes 54 illustrated cards by Ronica Hicks, a North Lawndale artist, and an instructional booklet by Theodora Salazar, a Little Village artist. Because the project advocates for worker justice and community health at the neighborhood level, most cards reflect low wage jobs with unjust working conditions commonly found in Greater Lawndale. Workplaces and neighborhood landmarks are also depicted.
The backs of the cards include educational narratives that discuss safety issues, the history of the Chicago labor movement, and “know your rights” information.
For this exhibition, the Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Council chose three lotería cards—street vendor, temp worker, and community health worker—as representative of both Little Village and North Lawndale communities. The Council also noted that the narratives are rich with evidence-based findings and highlight local advocacy efforts.