José Gómez Farmworker Justice Day
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019 (Week 6)
Library Lobby
9:30am – 1 pm and 2pm-4pm

José Gómez Farmworker Justice Day (FJD) is an annual event at Evergreen Olympia, now entering its tenth year.  We aim to build awareness and support for the efforts of farmworkers to gain safe and just working conditions in the United States.  Our partner, Community to Community (C2C), has been organizing farmworkers and working to transform our food system through principles of food sovereignty and agro-ecology for nearly fifteen years.  This year’s event celebrates the many accomplishments of the Farmworker Movement and Evergreen’s long-standing partnership.  We also honor José Gómez (1943-2014), who served as a member of the faculty teaching legal studies and as an academic dean at Evergreen, and worked alongside César Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the United Farmworkers Movement.

The forum invites farmworkers to share their experiences of industrial agriculture and to celebrate their hard won victories organizing for worker rights in the fields.  As we seek to build and participate in just and sustainable food systems, it is of vital importance to acknowledge the rights of farmworkers who are on the frontlines of exposure to harmful industrial agricultural practices. Evergreen invites those most impacted by these harmful systems to share their stories and struggles to create alternatives, including farmworker-owned cooperatives.  This community-based learning event represents Evergreen’s commitment to diversity and equity, and embodies high-impact practices that support student engagement with our broader community, particularly those who grow and harvest our food.

We invite prospective students, current Evergreen students, student groups and community members who have interests in farming, farmworker justice, food justice, agro-ecology, and sustainability to attend Farmworker Justice Day. Eight academic programs will participate in the day’s events, which include guest speakers and interactive workshops.  This event has been planned by the Center for Community Based Learning and Action, with staff and faculty who have strong relationships with community partners and represent different areas (agro-ecology, food justice, community-based learning, activism, farming, public health and others).  The event has been made possible thanks to support from the Clean Energy Committee, President’s Equity Fund, and The Farmworker Justice Solidarity Collective, an Evergreen student group that supports local farmworker efforts.  Our education partners and participants include South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC), Saint Martin’s University, and local youth farming programs.