Get YAYA to B.U.G.S

YAYA has been working hard all year to support farm workers and Dreamers in gaining a pathway to citizenship, and in fighting on multiple campaigns for farm workers to gain a union or labor rights agreement in their workplaces. You may not know that we have also been working with the Farm Worker Association to support their work on community history and racial justice with former Black farm workers in Apopka. We are at a critical moment in which YAYA members are initiating a sustained, focused effort toward this work.  YAYA members will be attending the Black Urban Growers Conference from October 19-21 in Durham, North Carolina, and will be presenting a workshop with Farmworker Association of FL and Hope CommUnity Center regarding the history of Black farm workers and the importance of preserving this history in communities around the U.S.


The work of addressing the continued injustices towards Black Farmworkers in our communities and preserving community history is being led by Black leaders and descendants of farm workers in all three of our organizations, YAYA, FWAF and HCC. YAYA members are forming a committee to work with Black farm workers in Apopka and possibly other areas of Florida over time. This work is VERY exciting as it connects land rights of descendants of enslaved people, indigenous land rights, and responses to systemic injustice including mass incarceration, and it is also a response to disenfranchisement of Black people within movements for farm worker and immigrant justice. Some of the ideas they have circulated are creating a documentary to record the history of the Lake Apopka workers, and partnering with Farmworker Association and Hope CommUnity Center to work with Black youth in Apopka to delve into local history through community gardens and connections to current Black farm workers and elders who previously did farm work.


YAYA is raising funds to send six people  (two members of YAYA, one member of Hope CommUnity Center, and three members of FWAF) to the conference, with a total cost of $3,000 for airfare, food, ground transportation, and conference registration. They will be staying in communal housing. If we exceed our goal, the extra funds will go toward YAYA’s future work supporting Black farm workers.. At the conference, they will make connections with over 400 + black farmers, herbalists, gardeners, food entrepreneurs, scholars, educators, health professionals, lawyers, policy makers, community & faith leaders, students and more from across the US and global south.  These connections will be critical for moving forward with conversations around history, current issues and food sovereignty and land rights as it affects Black farm workers and their descendants. The presentation by FWAF from the perspective of farm workers will have an impact on the national conversation being held at the conference, as well as on the participants from YAYA, HCC  and FWAF and the local work here.