Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas Por La Justicia invite you to the Annual Marcha Campesina | Sunday April 21, 2024 | starts 10am Edgewater Park, Mt Vernon WA

March with us to learn about critical issues Farmworkers are facing now and what actions you can take with us!

Celebrate the strength and resilience of farm worker families working towards a better food system.

We invite our friends and allies working for food and economic justice to join us- more details about the event will be shared as we get closer.

We need volunteers! If you are interested, contact us at marchacampesina87@gmail.com

Last week, Bellingham city council voted twice to suspend the Immigration Advisory Board indefinitely. Please join us for a Dignity Dialogue panel discussion and Q&A by local immigrant leadership to find out what will happen next if the board is suspended. Now is the time to show up and listen to immigrants in our community who have been working for years toward a collaborative relationship with city governance.

Join us on December 16 from 10-2 at 1295 E Bakerview Road to celebrate our work from the past year and begin organizing together for 2024. We can't wait to build this movement with you!

Join us at 1295 E Bakerview Road from 6:30-8:30 pm for updates on federal immigration reform policy endorsed by C2C. On a regional level, we will also be discussing local resources for immigrants and refugees, updates on the Immigration Advisory Board, and the people-led movement for an Immigrant Resource Center. Connect with your community, learn, and build with us!

On August 6th C2C will be publicly recognizing the anniversary of the passing of farmworker Honesto Silva Ibarra, who died due to heat stress and wildfire smoke in Whatcom County in 2017. It is also Hiroshima Remembrance Day. This year we recognize the intersections of many communities who have been impacted by Bellingham’s history of colonization, white supremacy and oppression. We invite you to join us for a 1 mile walking tour in acknowledgement and remembrance of our shared history; brief contextual talks will be given along the walk at historically significant landmarks. We will honor the lives of the Indigenous people who were violently removed from their traditional fishing sites along Whatcom Creek, the Japanese Americans from Bellingham also violently removed from their homes and interned in concentration camps during WWII, recognition of the continuing acceptance of racism symbolized by the honoring of Confederate General George Pickett on a local bridge, and farmworkers who continue to die due to lack of protections during climate crisis and exploitation.

This event is a collaboration between Community to Community Development, Nikkei Northwest, the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center, Whiteswan Environmental, and Northwest Youth Services.

We will meet at the Bellingham Theater Guild parking lot, 1600 H St, at 10 am to begin this walk. Parking has been offered for this event by the Theater Guild (thank you!) Bring a picnic lunch to continue community conversation on the library lawn following the walk. For more information contact c2cinfo@foodjustice.org

Join us at 9:00 am at Edgewater Park, 600 Beherns Millet Rd in Mt Vernon, WA. We will gather and prepare for the march to begin at 10 am. The schedule for the day will be:

10 AM The MARCH begins!

11 AM Stop at the intersection of Riverside Dr and E College Way

*Participants can join the march here

1:30 PM The march will stop at Horseshoe Park 1720 E Whitmarsh Rd

WE WILL CONTINUE WITH: FOOD, MUSIC, SPEAKERS, AND INFORMATION

*LIMITED PARKING

REST TRANSPORTATION AVAILABLE

DRIVERS AVAILABLE TO TRANSPORT PEOPLE TO THEIR CARS

TO VOLUNTEER: MARCHACAMPESINA87@GMAIL.COM

Join us in our new community space on Bakerview for an update on the Migration Makes Us Stronger Campaign and the work of the Immigration Advisory Board to establish a city funded Immigrant Resource Center. We will the context of years of community driven work that has led to this campaign and how everyone can get involved to support this effort.

Questions? email c2cmedia@foodjustice.org

MARCHA CAMPESINA! CELEBRATE VICTORY FOR TULIP WORKERS AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR FAMILIAS UNIDAS POR LA JUSTICIA!

MAY 1st 9:00 am, Edgewater Park, Mt Vernon

Come out this May Day and stand with the farmworker families who feed us and bring beauty to our lives! After years of wage theft, enduring harsh climate conditions, and working without proper protective equipment, tulip workers courageously walked off the job and organized a strike at Roozengarde tulips last month to demand improvements to conditions and pay. Within three days they secured direct negotiations with the company and won most of their demands! As farmworker families organize to stand up for themselves, community solidarity has bolstered morale and confidence. Come out this May Day to celebrate the victory in the tulip fields with the workers and let them know you will continue to stand with them for the long haul fight for a just food system!

Start time: 9 am Gathering, mistica

10 am (approx) march departs Edgewater Park

The march will proceed through Mt Vernon to Burlington (approx 4 miles) and end with a food and community celebration at Skagit River Park, 1720 E Whitmarsh Rd.

Donations to purchase food and drink for the celebration can be made at www.foodjustice.org/donate-1 or checks can be mailed to:

Community to Community Development 203 West Holly, Suite

311 Bellingham, WA 98225

We need volunteers throughout the day of the march! Sign up at tinyurl.com/marchacampesina22

The history of racism and slavery runs deep in the veins of agribusiness rooted in the United States. It keeps shifting names and rebranding as Big Ag finds sources of cheaper labor. Join us in a three part webinar series where you will have the opportunity to hear from advocates, organizers, elders and community who have been intergenerationally impacted by exploitation in the fields of the United States. These series will have interpretation for Spanish and Mixtec speakers. We hope you can join us.

March 11, 2022 Part one: "Indentured Servants in the Fields: The Fight Against Public Law 78/Bracero Program"

March 18, 2022 Part two: "Nuestros Abuelos Fueron Braceros":

March 25, 2022   Part three:  "Global Economies & Modern Day Slavery"

Register here: https://bit.ly/3Hs0Yh3

** flyer photo credit: David Bacon

Hosted by Evergreen State College

At this year’s Farmworker Justice Day, we will listen to FUJ and Promotora organizers as they once again share how they’ve responded to the urgent needs of workers: including the continued work to improve vaccination access among workers who are routinely put in danger by medical systems and our government, and the massive efforts to provide flood relief to farmworkers and community members who’ve been displaced, lost precious belongings, and lost work due to flood damages. We will see that these issues are combined through the ongoing and systemic exploitation of the workers, the food, the land, and our planet as a whole within the mechanics of capitalism.

More information and zoom link can be found here

The struggle to protect Mother Earth and all its creatures is inherently linked to the dignity of labor and worker rights, family, economic and racial equity; the lack of justice, so many times is focused on the bad news and suffering. The past two years our movement has been challenged yet again, farm workers called for help and we responded and met these challenges with the strength of our community's resolve to resist, the power of solidarity from our allies and the joy in our collective cultural and political knowledge. There is also beauty, hope and opportunity in the struggle and we want to be in relationship with you by sharing our experiences. During Encuentro Campesino, leadership from C2C and FUJ with special guest David Bacon will participate in three different panel discussions:

The Border Crossed Us
Building a Solidarity Economy
Growing the New

There will be an opportunity for Q&A following each panel discussion. Come share in the beauty of our movement and commit to moving forward with us toward a Just Transition to build the World we know is Possible.

***Register in advance for this webinar: https://bit.ly/3qqMol6

Spanish translation will be provided.

Come hear a report back from community member Lelo Juarez, who was racially profiled by Bellingham police in 2016, which resulted in his detention at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Team members from C2C will also give updates on current policy proposals, recent legislation that impacts community safety, and actions that community members can take to fight back against family separation in Whatcom County.
Please note space is limited due to covid precautions. Registration is required. RSVP here: https://forms.gle/uf8fs8kXUYdq2WVk9

*photo description: Lelo Juarez talking with a reporter about the struggle for workers rights at Sakuma Farms in 2014. Lelo has been a leader in the community from a very young age.

*photo credit: Edgar Franks

Rosa Martha Zárate Macías has been the coordinator of the Alliance of Ex Braceros of the North 1942-1964 since 2007. Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, she has resided in California since 1966, working in community development projects in Mexico and the U.S. and is founder of the Librería del Pueblo, A.C.

Rosa is visiting Bellingham for several educational events surrounding the publication of her latest book, "Our Grandfathers Were Braceros and We Too..." Our Grandfathers Were Braceros and We Too is a historical and living testimonial to the laborers who left their homes in Mexico during WWII to do their part in the war effort and with the hope of a better life for their families.

During this dignity dialogue, Rosa will participate in a panel discussion on the history of the Bracero program and the dangers of the expansion of the H2A guestworker program through proposed immigration legislation.

This is a limited space event. Reservations are required. RSVP here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJPO9ITs6uD5dOVjuhWJjP_E0pjhex6yC5dD_L6Tg46eqrJA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Our Grandfathers Were Braceros and We Too... is a historical and living testimonial to the laborers who left their homes in Mexico during WWII to do their part in the war effort and with the hope of a better life for their families. Besides the facts of their struggle that still continues, the book is filled with testimonials from the dwindling number of survivors of that time. Thousands of braceros, literally men working with their arms, formed an organization named, Alianza de Ex Braceros del Norte 1942-1964 (Alliance of Ex Braceros in the North 1942-1964), to persist in seeking the compensation they were denied by both the U.S. and Mexico as well as the recognition by both countries of the sacrifices they made.
Thousands died when, after being recruited, they were left to fend for themselves at recruiting stations with no food, water, shelter, or medical care available. Buried in mass graves, their bodies were often cremated in the holes other men dug. Those who were deemed fit endured demeaning medical exams and then were detoxified with DDT spray, before being shipped to U.S. farms. Under terms of the Bracero Program, 10 percent of the workers’ wages were withheld and deposited in bank accounts and eventually were to be redeemed in Mexico. For a variety of reasons, thousands of the braceros who either returned to Mexico or remained in the U.S. failed to claim their proceeds. Both the U.S. and Mexico have reneged on the promises of the Bracero legislation.
Five years ago, the braceros living in the US and Alianza members launched the Mis Abuelos Fueron Braceros y Nosotros También Project to help organize activities based on their claims, which have included seeking interventions through the U.S. House of Representatives, agencies of the United Nations and other international human rights groups, and public awareness.

Father José Alejandro Solalinde Guerra, a well-known Mexican advocate for migrant rights, says the book “is an excellent work of tremendous relevancy for our times, given its focus on the issue of migration and, above all, for keeping the struggle alive against the violations of labor and human rights seen in temporary worker programs.”

The authors have pledged to donate their proceeds from the sale of books to support the legal defense of the Alianza’s members.

Rosa Martha Zárate Macías has been the coordinator of the Alliance of Ex Braceros of the North 1942-1964 since 2007. Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, she has resided in California since 1966, working in community development projects in Mexico and the U.S. and is founder of the Librería del Pueblo, A.C.

Abel Astorga Morales, PhD, a Professor at Universidad del Valle de Atemajac in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Prof. Astorga Morales earned his Doctorate in Social Sciences and a Master’s Degree in the History of Mexico from Universidad de Guadalajara.

The translator of the Spanish text into English is Madeline Newman Ríos, M.A, a certified freelance interpreter and translator. She is the former director of the Guatemalan Education Action Project and editor of its Guatemala Review publications.

Hear voices from the Washington farmworker movement. Presenters: Community to Community Development, Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. This event will take place on Zoom.

more information here.

Plenaria de Trabajadores Agrícolas @ Día Legislativo Latino

17 de marzo de 2021

6:00 pm a 7:30 pm

Registración: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_iFsAYrwBSMO_vMyNFmNSdw

Únase al liderazgo de trabajadores agrícolas de la organización De Comunidad a Comunidad y Familias Unidas por la Justicia en la presentación del Sindicato liderado por trabajadores agrícolas más reciente en el estado de Washington; Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. Juntos informarán a la comunidad y a los legisladores del estado de Washington sobre las políticas, las regulaciones y la vida en un año de luchas y oportunidades que surgieron por la pandemia de COVID-19.

Escuchará testimonios de trabajadores agrícolas sobre la realidad de vivir con COVID-19. Esta plenaria es una desviación de nuestro Tribunal regular que hemos estado organizando en la legislatura desde el 2014 durante el Día Legislativo Latino.

Este evento será en español con traducción al inglés.

El plenario se abrirá a las 5:45 pm con una presentación de nuestro trabajo en 2020.

Si los protocolos de seguridad del COVID-19 lo permiten, esperamos regresar en persona a Olympia en el 2022.

¡Gracias por registrarse! ¡Nos vemos pronto!

Debido a la precaución de COVID-19, esta Plenaria de trabajadores agrícolas será virtual.

_____________________________________________________________________

Farm Worker Plenary @ Latino Legislative Day

Wednesday March 17th, 2021

6:00pm to 7:30pm

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_iFsAYrwBSMO_vMyNFmNSdw

Join farmworker leadership from Community to Community and Familias Unidas por la Justicia as they introduce the newest Farmworker led Union in Washington state; Trabajadores Unidos por la Justicia. Together they will report back to the community and Washington state Legislators on policy, regulations, and living in a year of COVID pandemic struggles and opportunities.

You will hear testimony from individual farmworkers about the realities of living with COVID-19. This plenary is a departure from our regular FW Tribunal we have been hosting at the legislature since 2014 during Latino Legislative Day.

This event will be in Spanish with English translation.

The plenary will open at 5:45 pm with a slideshow of our work in 2020.

We look forward to returning in person to Olympia in 2022, if COVID safety protocols permit it.

Thank you for registering! See you soon!

Due to the COVID-19 precaution, this Farmworker Plenary will be virtual.

JOIN US FOR CAGJ’s 14th ANNUAL SLEE GALA ON OCTOBER 17 - our first ever virtual SLEE! This year SLEE will highlight the hope embodied by youth on the front lines of the food justice movement.

TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE: https://www.biddingforgood.com/cagj
MOBILE SITE: https://bforg.com/cagj

KEYNOTE: Chef Tarik Abdullah, "Feed the People: Food, Kids, Community." Known for his innovative pop-up restaurants, Tarik is an experienced chef and youth educator. With deep roots in Seattle’s south end, his mission is to "Feed the People” creating community one meal at a time against a backdrop of great music and visual arts.

Recently, in response to the widespread impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Abdullah joined The Seattle Kitchen Collective, a group of chefs and restaurants providing meals for free to those in need, no questions asked.

COVID-19:
https://cagj.org/slee-2020/notice-about-slee-and-covid-19/
The COVID-19 pandemic has been profoundly disruptive to our communities, and emphasizes the vital need to work for stronger, healthier food systems. CAGJ is dedicated to continuing to raise awareness and mobilize for food sovereignty, with our partners locally and globally.

The SLEE! Gala will take place virtually on October 17th.

TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE: https://www.biddingforgood.com/cagj
MOBILE: https://bforg.com/cagj
*Sliding scale $40-$100: Please be generous in your support! We want to make this event accessible to everyone while also recognizing the need for us to raise crucial funds.

*Solidarity Tickets: We are committed to making this an accessible event for all. If you are unable to afford a full-price ticket, please contact Mads for Solidarity Tickets.

TABLE CAPTAINS: https://cagj.org/slee-2020/slee-table-captains/
Table Captains fill a virtual 'table' for as many people as you'd like, and provide CAGJ with important seed funds for our organizing. You can choose between buying a 'table' for your guests, or asking your guests to buy tickets individually.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Volunteers needed to help organize SLEE, and the day-of! If you are interested in volunteering before, or at the event, please email Sara: slee(at)cagj(dot)org

THANK YOU SPONSORS! Central Co-op, Equal Exchange, Farmer Direct Organic, Loki Fish Company, Madres Kitchen, New Roots Organics, Real Change, UFCW Local 21, UAW 4121

THANK YOU COMMUNITY PARTNERS!
Seattle Good Business Network

Please email slee(at)cagj(dot)org with any questions or reach out to Sara, our SLEE! Coordinator, directly at sara(at)cagj(dot)org

Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_iIp_m2hsQ3iK5IDquqwo4Q

As we stand at the intersection of multiple, intertwined global crises—an environmental justice pandemic, the threat of fascism and white supremacy, and the crash of the fossil fuel economy, it’s hard not to feel despondent about the future of humanity.

However, communities that have historically been most impacted by these crises—Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples on the frontlines of poverty, pollution and police violence, are also cultivating visionary strategies for building a better world—pathways to restore the balance of natural ecosystems and human relations, and sharing these across frontline struggles worldwide.

2020 has been a year of crisis. How can we forge a collective path towards a more just, equitable and green future?

**RSVP is required! Visit re-sources.org/recovery for details and registration. We will send those who RSVP instructions on how to join**

Please join us for this unique opportunity to hear leaders from Lhaq’temish Foundation of Lummi Nation, Community to Community Development, and RE Sources discuss how together we can turn the crises of 2020 into opportunities for creating an enduring, just and thriving future for all.

Featured speakers:
– Rosalinda Guillen, Executive Director of Community to Community Development
– Candice Wilson, Executive Director of Lhaq’temish Foundation of Lummi Nation
– Shannon Wright, Executive Director of RE Sources

Join at 5:15 to socialize with a smaller group of guests at your virtual table! Program begins at 5:30pm.

RE Sources has secured a challenge match to increase your financial impact, so please come prepared to make a gift that's right for you. Gifts received at the event or made via the donation link on the event webpage (re-sources.org/recovery) will be matched and split evenly between the three groups.

The James Beard Awards broadcast will take place on Friday, September 25 at 6:30 P.M. CT via Twitter from the host city of Chicago and celebrate previously announced honorees and will shine a spotlight on many of the nominees and be a night of storytelling surrounding the historic challenges this community faces and how we can work together to rebuild a stronger and more equitable restaurant industry. 

Rosalinda Guillen will be recognized for her decades-long commitment to justice for farmworkers during the event broadcast. Tune in to view the awards and watch a video made about the work that Rosalinda and the C2C Promotoras are doing in our community.

*Photo credit: Edgar Franks

Join us during Washington Cider Week for a conversation about agricultural labor communities in our state, with specific reference to apple and pear work. Finnriver cidermaker Andrew Byers will be talking with Edgar Franks, the Political and Campaign Director of Familias Unidas Por La Justicia, and Rosalinda Guile, Executive Director of Community to Community Development and a few others. We will be drinking Black Currant Cider together as we listen and learn about the essential labor of agriculture and the issues facing the communities who do this vital work. Register to participate here.

Join us in the capitol on International Worker's Day to call attention to the state's negligence of farmworker health and safety. As has happened so often in the past, farmworkers are expected to risk their lives during this crisis to bring food to our tables. Farmworkers are an essential workforce but they continue to be treated as expendable.

We will be driving in separate cars, meeting at a staging area (4701 Martin Way E, Lacey WA) at noon. From there we will car-caravan to the Capitol Building in downtown Olympia alongside allies from over a dozen organizations calling for justice for all essential workers.

This event will take place with social distancing protocols in place to maintain our collective health and safety:

1) Only carpool with the people you live with, otherwise you should drive alone

2) Please stay in your car for the duration of the event

3) Please wear a mask and gloves when stopping for gas or using restrooms between here and the staging area in Lacey

We are asking that participants only RSVP “going” if you are *committed* to attending so we know how many people to expect — this is necessary to guarantee our safe travels during the car-caravan.

Farmworker vehicles will go first in the caravan. When we reach the capitol (1:30 pm), farmworker leadership will exit their vehicles to participate in a socially-distant demonstration. Everyone joining this caravan in solidarity must stay in your cars! The demonstration will be live-streamed. Please join us in reciting the farmworker prayer in solidarity in your vehicles; share a recording of yourself using our hashtags: #CampesinosEsenciales2020 #MerezcoVivir #ManzanaoMuerte #EssentialFarmworkers2020 #DeserveToLive #ApplesOrDeath

If you have questions, please contact c2cinfo@foodjustice.org

(To see a list of the other organizations participating in the car-caravan, click here: https://www.facebook.com/events/256248942194712/)

Farmworkers may have only been deemed "essential" by the US government during the pandemic, but we know they've always been critical to keeping our food system running. Yet, their official, "essential" status hasn't improved their economic, workplace, or political conditions.

Join Food First April 23rd at 10:30 AM (PT) to learn more about farmworkers and our capitalist food system during COVID-19. This webinar will bring together Edgar Franks of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, an independent farmworker union, labor and photojournalist David Bacon, and a member from C2C’s leadership team. Food First will be moderating this event.

We will focus on the working conditions that farmworkers are enduring and learn more about how the Federal government is excluding immigrant farmworkers from federal relief packages, working to lower their wages, and expanding the unjust H-2A visa program. But we will also hear from our panelists about what farmworkers and organizers are doing to push back. There will also be a Q&A at the end of this webinar.

Register here to participate.

Farmworkers from across Washington State will bring testimony to tribunal judges on innovative systemic change led by workers; our recent victories; policy, climate change, pesticides and retaliation.

Come learn about local, state, and national immigration issues that are impacting our community. Racial profiling at the Peace Arch border crossing, legislation in congress, and the immigration advisory board will be discussed.

Join us for a follow up conversation with Enoka Herat from the ACLU to look at the ordinance passed by the City of Bellingham to establish a workgroup which will review immigration policy and make specific legislative recommendations. We will discuss how the work group fits into the Keep Washington Working Act, where the gaps are, and how the community can work to fill in those gaps.

Come learn about C2C's recent joint trip with leaders of Raid Relief to Reunite Families to San Antonio, TX where we met with front line grassroots community organizations, unions, a multi-faith coalition, and city officials regarding their immigrant justice work in response to the worsening conditions for migrants crossing the southern border into Texas. There will also be an update about the recent steps taken by the Bellingham City Council towards creating a new work group to once again consider policies for protecting immigrant families in Bellingham. It is especially critical that all of our allies that have been holding down the weekly C2C Dignity Vigils led by Brenda Bentley attend. Your commitment to speaking truth to power is needed more than ever. We invite all community members to join us in a participatory dialogue after our report back. Together we can take actions needed to create a safer community for all families.

Join us for a CELEBRATION! Come and listen to Correo Aereo's beautiful music that perfectly matches our Movement! Come and listen to our vision for the next 15 years!
We are still here. 15 years and our name Community to Community,
De Comunidad a Comunidad, C2C and our logo are recognized and respected in Whatcom and Skagit County, King County, Olympia and other areas of the State.
We are still active. Fighting with immigrant families against unjust detentions, working with our sister organization Familias Unidas por la Justicia to enforce labor rights and organize farm workers, collaborating with our statewide allies on climate justice and protecting Mother Earth.
You have all walked with us on easy sunshine filled roads, deep dark rough valleys and helped us climb some steep mountains! The road we are building together has included building bridges across deep divides, together we built sails that got us through rough waters. But the road is not finished, we know Another World is Possible! The current deep and dark political waters demand we all float together in a strong ship. Come and join us as we begin the next phase of C2C!

Get tickets here:
https://walkingwithc2c.brownpapertickets.com/