We are excited to welcome Sylvia Zapata Shoemaker as SAF's new Executive Director, starting with us on June 1! Sylvia is a third generation Texan and a Winston-Salem State University and La Joya High School graduate. She grew up in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and in Washington's Yakima Valley, where her parents worked in the... [Read more]

This new crop of activists will begin their summer with a five-day orientation to learn about the issues facing farmworkers. They will spend their summer providing health, legal, community organizing, and educational outreach to farmworkers and their families. Check out their placements below and follow their stories from the fields on the Field Notes blog this summer.

PROCESS Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) hired Popular Education Consultants (PECI) to facilitate SAF’s 2022-2026 strategic plan process. Beginning in October 2021, PECI conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, reviewed organizational documents, and facilitated three organizational assessment workshops, a report-back meeting with SAF constituents, two sessions with the Executive Committee, two sessions with the staff,... [Read more]

Hello SAF community, I am writing to share some important news. As SAF celebrates its 30th anniversary, I have decided to transition from my role as Executive Director. I was an intern in the first official Into the Fields program in 1993. After 28 years on staff, I am excited to see what is next for... [Read more]

Our theme for National Farmworker Awareness Week this year is Todos Unidos / Everyone Together. For each day of the week of action, we'll be highlighting well-known and lesser-known activists in the history of the farmworker movement. Learn about these important activists and the issues they worked on below and make sure to share the... [Read more]

To celebrate Black History Month this year, we hosted "Grown with Black Hands: A Panel Discussion with Former Black Sharecroppers and Tenant Farmers." We had a powerful, moving discussion with former sharecroppers and tenant farmers and current Black farmers in NC. A huge thank you to our panelists, to Faithfull Farms for beautifully hosting us... [Read more]

Former SAF Levante youth member and current Campbell University student Maria Celeste Carbajal recorded this video about her role as a farmworker youth and advocate. Maria was a co-investigator for the Child Labor Study project between SAF and Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Click below to watch the video, which is being screened at the... [Read more]

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– Joanna WelbornSAF Communications Arts Director Folding tables and chairs, tents, portable lights and examining tables, extension cords; laptops, cellphones, hotspots, clipboards, forms; masks, scrubs, blood pressure cuffs, water bottles, insect spray. These are the materials and equipment needed for a mobile clinic visit to a farmworker labor camp with the North Carolina Farmworkers' Project... [Read more]

– Joanna WelbornSAF Communications Arts Director On a recent outreach visit to a labor camp in eastern NC, Farm Labor Organizing Committee organizer Maria Mejia checked in with workers about union business and how they're doing and gave out late Father's Day treats. SAF intern Rachel Scrudato interviewed two worker leaders about why they're part... [Read more]

A meaningful experience from last week was being able to volunteer at the Covid vaccine clinic in Vass to vaccinate a total of 265 farmworkers which is twice as much as last week. I learned about DACA renewal and helped to fill out the form for a client. Last week I went to a camp with... [Read more]

SAF staff and Into the Fields interns participated in a lobby day organized by the Immigrant's Rights Alliance to speak out against anti-immigrant legislation at the General Assembly on June 9.Intern Brandy Fuentes spoke at the event and said, "North Carolina has placed a significant financial barrier between undocumented students and education. I, like thousands... [Read more]