Service Learning Project Proposal

1. Contact Information

Service Learning Proposal to raise awareness and support for the migrant farm workers of Apopka.

The Florida Farm Workers Association of Florida

Kelsey Paul

February 10^th, 2011

2. Community Profile

Community Partner: The Farm Workers Association of Florida (FWAF)
Address: 1264 Apopka Boulevard, Apopka, Florida, 32703
Contact: Phone: (407)886-5151

http://www.floridafarmworkers.org/

One of the major issues with migrant farm workers today is that “The food that overflows our market shelves and fills our tables is harvested by men, women, and children who often cannot satisfy their own hunger” (Cesar Chavez). These workers are abused and exploited day after day and generation after generation. It is not only the fact that these workers are underpaid, but also the dangerous working conditions and multiple forms of mistreatment that they face. The pesticides and chemicals used on the crops are dangerous and account for why “Farmworkers suffer the highest rate of chemical-related illness of any occupational group” (Farm Workers Association of Florida). They work long hours doing intensive labor and then go back to their poor living conditions at the end of the day. For women it can be even more of a struggle. “Farmworker women "do nearly every kind of farm labor on every kind of farm. They routinely earn less money than men for doing the same work." Many face sexual harassment at work and are frequently isolated… (Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc.)” (National Farm Worker Ministry). The exploitation of these workers is extremely troubling and is why we chose to work with this project.

The Mission of the Farm Workers Association:

“FWAF’s long-standing mission is to build power among farmworker and rural low-income  to respond to and gain control over the social, political, workplace, economic, health, and environmental justice issues that impact their lives.”

3. The Proposal

Considering “85% of our fruits and vegetables are hand harvested,” the plight of migrant farm workers definitely affects us all, even if we are not aware of it (National Farm Worker Ministry). There are many interrelated aspects that contribute to a problem, and we have recognized that “women’s issues vary by society and require multiple strategies for liberation” (Naples and Desai). Therefore, as a class, we could not possibly address just one area. We have decided to set up our service learning project into three different categories which are raising awareness, hands on work, and raising support.

1. Raising Awareness

One of the biggest problems with human rights and other social issues happening around the globe is simply ignorance of the issue. People cannot change what they do not know. That is why we feel it is important and necessary to raise a consciousness throughout our community (and our world) if we are to work towards ending this problem of mistreatment of our migrant farm workers. We have a variety of ideas for how to spread the word on this issue. We plan to create pamphlets, flyers, posters, etc. that can be used while tabling. Kendall is going to get in contact with the mall manager of the Waterford Lakes Town Center to see if we are able to table at the Waterford Farmers Market. We will also be raising awareness through a symposium that will be headed up by Athia and Gumbs. In our tabling measures and our symposium there are a variety of topics that we can choose to focus on. The topics are as follows (as compiled by Athia and Gumbs):

•             The displacement of environmental racism

•             Legal rights for immigrant women
•             Pesticides and immigrant women’s agency over their bodies

•             Isolation and (in)visibility of immigrant women

•             Lack of accessibility to education, healthcare, etc.

•             Child labor laws effecting immigrants

2. Hands on Work

Another way we will be attempting to create positive change is through working directly with the migrant farm workers. We are hoping to arrange a “Garden Day” where we will carpool together and spend a day working side by side with these workers. This is a very important aspect of our service learning project since the issue of the migrant farm workers conditions is fairly new to some of us. It is important that we work with these farmers in order to somewhat understand the issue. We do not want to become like the anthropologists Trinh T. Minh-ha writes about as “the (unaware) informants who ‘gossip’ about other people’s business…”, although, how to completely avoid that is not known to me (70). However, we shall give our best effort to understand these farm workers and represent them accordingly.

            This is the area of our service learning project that I am most interested in. I do not like to speak of things I do not know about and I can say I know very little about the issues of migrant farm workers other than the research I have done for this class and the conversations with my good friend Kaley, who is very knowledgeable about this issue. I commit to helping in the organizing of our “Garden Day.” I also commit to educating myself further on this issue so I can be a better resource in the other aspects of our project such as the symposium and tabling.

3.  Raising Support

We all know monetary donations are always appreciated by non-profit organizations. Our third focus is to not only raise funds, but also to acquire donations that will be beneficial to the farm workers. While working on our “Raising Awareness” portion of our project we are looking to gather donations through tabling. We will also need to alert the community of our project so that they are able to donate. We can do this through creating flyers, taking letters to local business owners, having drop boxes in local businesses, and etc.  These donations will be used at the Women to Women conference for the migrant farm working women in Apopka. The needs for the conference are as follows (as provided by Meredith Tweed): shampoo/conditioner full size, hard lotion, shower gel, bar soap, tooth paste and brush, sun block, hair, brush/comb, hair clips, nail files, floss, and hand sanitizer.

Our timeline for the Women to Women conference (created by Kendall):

o   i.        February 11 - Heather will contact community partner for
conference date and times participants are needed 

o    ii.        February 15 - A signup sheet for will be made for those
willing and able to participate 

o    iii.        February 17 - Carpooling arrangement will be made for
participants who need transportation 

o   iv. February 18 - Heather will inform community partner of projected
involvement 

o   v. Conference Day - Participants will volunteer at conference

We will all be working throughout the different groups and helping our where help is needed. Although there are details that still need to be worked out I am confident that with Heather as our wonderful liaison, Athia and Gumbs heading up our symposium, and Kendall, who seems to have taken charge of our donations aspect we will figure everything out. I am committing to do my part and help in any and every way that I can.

Word Count: 1,190








Works Cited:

Farm workers Association of Florida. http://www.floridafarmworkers.org/ Web. 9 Feb. 2011. 

Naples, Nancy A., and Manisha Desai. Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. New York, NY: Routledge, 2002. Print.

National Farm Worker Ministry. http://nfwm.org/ Web. 9 February 2011.

Minh-ha, Trinh T. Women, Native, Other. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana Univeristy Press, 1989. Print.