Dear John,

The power of the Fair Food Program has been nothing short of transformative. In the past, a crew leader who groped members of his crew, or dragged women to the edge of the fields to assault them, could work for years without fear of consequences, while those who had the courage to report abuse would face swift and certain retaliation.

Now, with the Fair Food Program, there are finally real protections in place, and the shoe is squarely on the other foot. Today, farm bosses who dare sexually harass their workers are the ones who can be certain of swift consequences, while those who lodge complaints with the Fair Food Program can count on the program's proven protections from retaliation.

In the next ten years, we can build a future in which no farmworker has to check her dignity at the farm gate. You can be a part of this future as a Fair Food Sustainer. Click here to sign up as one of today's 10 new Sustainers!

Become a Fair Food Sustainer

The CIW's own Lupe Gonzalo and Nely Rodriguez describe what this change has looked like, as told by journalist and peerless Fair Food scholar Vera Chang:

"And yet, [Nely] Rodríguez and others working with the Fair Food Program have shown that the opposite is possible: When farmworkers have the opportunity to transform their work culture on their own terms, they seize it. CIW farmworkers have devised a unique mix of education, monitoring, and enforcement mechanisms that prevent—not just remedy—sexual violence at work.

... 'It’s a really beautiful experience,' Lupe Gonzalo told me about participating as a worker and now an educator for the FFP. Gonzalo, a former coffee farmworker from Guatemala, came to the U.S. when she turned 20 to work in blueberry, tobacco, and tomato fields. But she said that she was afflicted by all the abuses that women suffer, especially as one of just a few women working in the fields at that time.

Just as the FFP was beginning, Gonzalo attended a CIW education session that awakened her desire to speak out against violence she’s experienced and witnessed. 'That was the first time that I’d ever heard anything about workers having rights,' she recalled. 'After so many years, it was hard to believe.' Gonzalo told said she used to be shy and didn’t talk much. Rodríguez said the same thing about herself, too. Now both speak before thousands of people at a time."

Donate $10 a month

In the 10 years since the Program's inception, we have shown that it is, in fact, possible to uproot sexual violence in the fields, change a generations-old culture of abuse, and create powerful systems of accountability that keep people safe.

Imagine where we'll be in the next 10 years. Will you help us build a future without sexual violence for women farmworkers by donating as little as $10 a month today?