La Cosecha:School Supplies Drive for Children of Farmworkers

La Cosecha was founded in January 2024 as a beacon of advocacy within UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, answering a pressing need for an organization dedicated to dismantling the inequities faced by farmworker communities. La Cosecha aims to address the complex and multifaceted issues that disproportionately affect the community, prioritizing the role of health and education. Our vision is to empower farmworker communities to gain further autonomy over their health and lives in the context of current circumstances.

The mission of our Back-to-School event: Planting the Seed is to connect students in farmworker communities to higher education resources. Children of farmworkers are systematically and disproportionately excluded from higher education spaces. Many are children of immigrants, meaning they are first-generation students encountering the complex US education system. Without personal guidance, the system becomes an increasingly difficult landscape to navigate. Opportunities are obscured when there is no mentorship, role models, and pathway into the system.

Farmworkers are some of the most underpaid individuals, with the majority of families falling beneath the federal poverty line which causes socioeconomic strain that can force children out of the education system making college seem like an unattainable dream. Children oftentimes have to work in the fields alongside their parents to support their household. The only legal child labor in the United States is in agriculture. Without any regulations, children are allowed to start working in the fields at the age of 12, accelerating the process of the farmworker pipeline in agricultural communities such as Oxnard. Time spent in the fields means time away from school. Approximately 50% of individuals engaged in agricultural work drop out of high school and end up in the fields alongside their parents. This continues the cycle of inequity these families are unjustly vulnerable to.

The first step in supporting our students is ensuring they have the resources and supplies they need to succeed in academia. Our goal is to raise enough funds to purchase 400 backpacks and school supplies for children of farmworkers. Each backpack will be filled with important school supplies such as notebooks, pens, folders, and highlighters. Despite working in the hottest weather and the most backbreaking work yearlong, farmworkers can struggle to purchase yearly supplies which can unfortunately lead to negative experiences in classrooms. Having these resources is fundamental in building up student confidence, ensuring that kids feel prepared as they navigate their education.

Please consider donating to help purchase backpacks and supplies for our farmworker community. We accept donations through this GoFundMe. For any questions regarding donations or to learn more about La Cosecha, please feel free to follow our IG: @lacosechaorg.