NC FIELD

North Carolina Focus on Increasing Education Leadership and Dignity

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Hurricane Matthew Aftermath – Newsletter October

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Dear NC FIELD Supporters,

Thank you for supporting NC FIELD and farmworkers everywhere. Below you will find updates on our community and ways you can support farmworker families affected by Hurricane Matthew.
Community Update:
Hurricane Matthew caused damage and flooding throughout Kinston and the surrounding counties. It displaced many farmworker families and individuals, placing them in shelters, loosing their homes and valuables. Many families were without electricity and shelter.

Unfortunately the damage does not end there. Farmworker families depend on the work they perform in the fields and packing houses. The damage that Hurricane Matthew caused has left many farmworker families without a home, food, electricity and work. NC FIELD is partnering with community organizations to gather donations to assist farmworker families affected by Hurricane Matthew.

How to Help Flood Victims:
There are many ways that the community can come together to assist victims of the Hurricane Matthew.

There are many resources available for farmworkers regardless of their immigration status. Learn more about what resources are “unrestricted” / “restricted” and available to victims regardless of immigration status here.

Below is a list of shelters available:

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NC FIELD is accepting any donations to help victims of Hurricane Matthew. Below is a list of suggested items:

  • Canned fruits and Veggies (pop top cans)
  • Canned Meat and Fish (pop top cans)
  • Canned Beans and Soup (pop top cans)
  • Cereal, Oats, Oatmeal
  • Pasta, Rice
  • Peanut Butter
  • Hygiene Items
  • Blankets, Clothing, Diapers

*Items can be dropped off in Kinston or Greenville. Contact our staff for more information.

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You can also donate funds to our Hurricane Matthew Relief Fund via our webpage. 100% of donations will go to helping farmworker families get back on their feet.

NC FIELD to offer safe alternatives to farmworker families and children working in the fields.

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Press Release

Contact: Yessy Bustos, yessybustos@ncfield.org,  252-412-3669

For Immediate Release (October 3, 2016)

Kinston, NC – North Carolina Focus on Increasing Education, Leadership & Dignity, or NC FIELD based in Kinston, NC has begun a project to improve the education and health outcomes of farmworker families and their children by providing safe alternatives to field work.

The 3-year project is funded by a $350,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) of Battle Creek, Mich.

“Children who accompany their parents to work in the fields are at increased risk from a variety of health and safety hazards, from extreme heat to chemical exposure,” Yessy Bustos, Executive Director. “These children miss out on early childhood education opportunities. The New Horizons Project aims to enroll farmworker children in early childhood education keeping them out of their parents’ hazardous work environment. The project also provides paid work in child care for youth from farmworker families, allowing them to earn income outside of the dangers of agricultural work.”

The Project consists of three major components:

(1) training and employment for youth from farmworker families,

(2)  early childhood education and childcare placement for young children who are eligible for the HeadStart program, and

(3)  education and safety training,financial coaching, parent engagement, and family financial literacy classes with matched savings, and connection to wrap-around resources for farmworker families with young children.

The New Horizons project will create income-generating opportunities for farmworker youth ages twelve to eighteen, and will expand the number of Head Start-eligible farmworker children, ages zero to five.

In addition, NC FIELD will collaborate with Telamon Corporation, who will provide financial coaching and family literacy classes to farmworker families enrolled in the Head Start program, along with matched savings program towards financial stability.

Without this access to childcare services, these Head Start-eligible, farmworker children may otherwise accompany their parents into high-hazard work environments in agricultural fields.

 

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About NC FIELD

North Carolina Focus on Increasing Education, Leadership & Dignity, or NC FIELD is a nonprofit organization formed in 2009 that works with migrant and seasonal farmworker youth and families utilizing grassroots organizing principles to teach leadership, promote education and facilitate opportunities.

NC FIELD’s mission is to forge relationships that fill service gaps in the farmworker community, while increasing awareness of the plight of the farmworker. For more information, visit www.ncfield.org.

 

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes, Special emphasis is pair to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

 

Newsletter Issue Sept. 2016

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Dear NC FIELD Supporters,

Thank you for supporting NC FIELD and farmworkers everywhere. We hope you will enjoy some updates on the amazing work that we have been doing thanks to supporters like you!

Read more about:

Meet NC FIELD’s new Program Manager!

screenshot_20160915-124719_resizedWe are excited to welcome another full-time staff member, Yesenia Cuello! Yesenia joins NC FIELD as the Program Manager and will support the work of Poder Juvnil Campesino (PJC) and other NC FIELD initiatives.

Yesenia professional history includes serving as PJC’s first Youth President, serving on NC FIELD’s Board of Directors, and being a Migrant Recruiter for Lenoir Co.’s Migrant Education Program.

Yesenia’s personal experience as a former background and her professional background is a great addition to NC FIELD. We are confident that Yesenia will be a great role model for PJC farmworker youth. She can be contacted vial email at yeseniacuello@ncfield.org.

 

Meet NC FIELD’s new Executive Director!

13988157_1047204422067423_8727585488025706253_oIn other exciting news, Yessy Bustos has transitioned into an Executive Director role!

Yessy will oversee the administration, programs and strategic plan of the organization.  Yessy will also take lead of NC FIELD’s newly program: New Horizons. For more information about our new project read below!

Yessy can be contacted via email at: yessybustos@ncfield.org

 

NC Fields New Project: New Horizons

NC FIELD is proud to announce a new project, New Horizons, that aims to improve the education and health outcomes of farmworker families and their children by providing safe alternatives to field work.

The 3-year project is funded by a $350,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) of Battle Creek, Mich.

The Project consists of three major components:

  1. Farmworker youth training and employment,
  2. Early childhood education and childcare placement, and
  3. Farmworker education and safety training; and financial coaching, parent engagement, and family financial literacy classes with matched savings, and connection to wrap-around resources.

For more information check out our press release via our webpage!

 

PJC Youth Welcomes New Members

With the addition of our new Program Manager (Yesenia), our PJC Youth President (Jose) and Program Assistant (Ana) have continued collaborating with Lenoir & Greene Co. Migrant Education Program to recruit more farmworker youth to join PJC!

PJC has welcomed a total of 7 new members! This year PJC is looking at expanding their photography skills, public speaking skills, dealing with the media, learning about credit, and more!

Check out a video of last month’s meeting:

 

The Nation: Why Are Children Working in American Tobacco Fields?

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Great reporting from The Nation on young farmworkers:

Young farm workers are falling ill from “green tobacco sickness” while the industry denies it and government lets it happen.

The air was heavy and humid on the morning the three Cuello sisters joined their mother in the tobacco fields. The girls were dressed in jeans and long-sleeve shirts, carried burritos wrapped in aluminum foil, and had no idea what they were getting themselves into. “It was our first real job,” says Neftali, the youngest. She was 12 at the time. The middle sister, Kimberly, was 13. Yesenia was 14.

Their mother wasn’t happy for the company. After growing up in Mexico, she hadn’t crossed the border so that her kids could become farmworkers. But the girls knew their mom was struggling. She had left her husband and was supporting the family on the minimum wage. If her girls worked in the tobacco fields, it would quadruple the family’s summer earnings. “My mom tends to everybody,” Neftali says. This was a chance to repay that debt.

NY Times: Just 13, and Working Risky 12-Hour Shifts in the Tobacco Fields

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The NY Times published this great article, featuring Saray’s story…

PINK HILL, N.C. — On many mornings, as tobacco plants tower around her, Saray Cambray Alvarez pulls a black plastic garbage bag over her 13-year-old body to protect her skin from leaves dripping with nicotine-tinged dew.

When Saray and other workers — including several more teenagers — get to the fields at 6, they punch holes through the bags for their arms. They are trying to avoid what is known as “green tobacco sickness,” or nicotine poisoning, which can cause vomiting, dizziness and irregular heart rates, among other symptoms.

Saray says that she sometimes has trouble breathing in the middle of all the heat, humidity and leaves, and that she often feels weary during her 12-hour shifts, when she moves through the rows to pluck unwanted flowers or pull off oversize leaves for the harvest.