A look at the partnership with Coalition of Immokalee Workers

by Margaret Mwale

Leonel Perez, a CIW member, with Rev. Frank Corbishley, Chaplain of the Episcopal Church Center at the University of Miami. Photo courtesy of CIW.

Self-Development of People (SDOP) in its 37-year history has partnered with more than 5,000 economically poor, oppressed and disadvantaged groups in the United States and internationally.

Recently I sat down to talk by phone with Gerardo Reyes Chavez from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a SDOP recently funded partner, and Jordan Buckley with Interfaith Action, a group that works in partnership with CIW to improve sub-poverty wages and end human rights abuses in the fields. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a 3,500-member, community-based workers' organization comprised largely of immigrants from Guatemala, Haiti and Mexico that work in low-wage jobs throughout Florida.

A group from St. Maurice Catholic Church, including Fr. Roger Holoubek, prays before a Burger King picket with Just Faith and CIW members. Photo courtesy of CIW.

In mid-2007 SDOP partnered with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers by awarding the organization a grant for $21,200 to enable group members to engage in a new community center project. As part of this project, the group has been able to use the SDOP grant to continue to run a radio station called “Consciousness Radio” or “Radio Conciencia” on 107.9FM. Mr. Chavez explained there is a constant stream of new people moving into Immokalee, a farmworkers community in Southwest Florida. Most of these people are recent immigrants for whom English is a second language so they speak little or no English. According to Mr. Chavez, commercial radio does not provide a voice in the indigenous languages spoken by the farmworker community or address issues that impact this community, such as human rights abuses. Radio Conciencia addresses these issues. He shared how when Hurricane Wilma hit, Radio Consciousness was able to alert everyone in their indigenous languages (Zapoteco and Mixteco spoken in Mexico, Mam and Kanjobal spoken in Guatamala, Haitian Creole and Spanish) of the impending danger and how coalition members went to transport people from their homes to shelters since most people do not have cars. After the hurricane Radio Conciencia also broadcast where to obtain clean water, ice and other supplies for the farmworker community. It also suggested a plan to county commissioners and disaster relief agencies on how to distribute food and supplies and created maps for the agencies that enabled them to reorganize their distribution plans for more effective distribution of the food and supplies. Because the coalition is comprised of farmworkers, it has a better sense of where these people live.  

Mr. Buckley told me "through the CIW´s partnership with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other people of faith across the country, we find ourselves on the threshold of a more modern, more humane agricultural industry. By continuing to work together, we can assure fair wages and safe working conditions for farm workers and dignified consumer options for people who not only love tomatoes, but indeed also that the dignity and human rights of the farm workers who picked those tomatoes are being respected and honored."

In 2003 the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for its work against modern-day slavery. CIW has also been involved in the Campaign for Fair Food that has included efforts led by people of faith, farmworkers, students, unions and other grassroots organizations across the country to eliminate labor abuses and sweatshop conditions in Florida and other states.

Self-Development of People, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA) enters into partnerships with community groups of economically poor people who want to change their lives and communities. The National Committee carries out its work by making grants to, and entering into partnerships with, community groups that meet SDOP’s criteria for funding. Grants are normally not more than $20,000. Prospective applicants can apply for grants from both local and national SDOP Committees.