I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to be part of the 2025 ITF summer cohort. It has been a well rounded experience full of both ups and downs.
My placement was National Black Worker Center where I learned the art of organizing. It’s one thing to be part of a movement, but it’s definitely another thing to organize it. From meetings, paperwork, getting people to signup/ register, securing space, securing funding and most importantly, delivering the message to the people. These are all exciting “behind” the scenes work that I enjoyed.
A very important lesson that stood out to me was a statement often said at NBWC which was “meeting people where they are”.
I want to apply this to my life moving forward. I don’t need to wait to be in a particular bracket to start something, I don’t need to be rich to help others, I don’t need to be an influencer to share information. Where I am now, I can do something and someone will be moved by the act and same goes for other people.
One of my biggest challenge this summer was mobilizing community organizers. It’s with no doubt that the current climate in America as of now is a little on the edge, so it’s harder to get people together. Understandable that people are working overtime or are slammed with work so it was beyond my control to get people to respond to me. The most upsetting thing was hearing some farmworker stories from my fellow interns about the terrible living conditions, unreasonable long working hours and some of the abuse that’s farmworkers encounter. But I have hope!
Nonprofits like SAF bring to light and raise awareness. And because of that, there are new 25 individuals who are now driven and motivated to take on the movement, to fight against systematic racism, and against Environmental Injustice. This is only the beginning.
Written by: Vheneka Njovana, Into the Fields 2025