service learning proposal

Explain how your service project addresses these larger systemic global issues and what steps your group will take toward this goal.

"Our local issue relates to lack of resources and tools available to migrant farmworkers. We will take steps toward providing resources and tools to them by working with our CP, YAYA, the Youth and Young Adult Network of the National Farm Worker Ministry, on a community garden project, garden tool donation and long-sleeve t-shirt drive. Through this we hope to address the larger systemic global issue of unfair treatment and working conditions of those farm workers that are not from the United States."

edit:
"We propose to address the larger systemic issues of the treatment and unfair conditions of farm workers, focusing on women farm workers. We know that “women produce 70% of the food on earth but they are marginalized and oppressed by neoliberalism and patriarchy” (What Is 1). These systems of oppression often deny farm workers and food producers basic and equal access to the food they produce. As the price of food increases and food is scarcer, women become malnourished, “as they eat last after providing for their children and family members” (Desai 21). One possible way of addressing this issue is to “produce food for local consumption” (Desai 24). To lay a foundation for both environmental and production sustainability, it is crucial that the community eats the food it grows.

In joining YAYA’s Community Garden Project in Fellsmere, we will work side by side with the local farm worker community to create not just a source of pesticide-free food for the community, but, more importantly, to collaborate in developing a space for the community to interact. Through our group’s involvement in the Project we are also working toward the goal of fostering solidarity between the Orlando and Fellsmere communities, setting the foundation for a connection which will hopefully outlast this project.

We seek to engage and collaborate with our global partner, La Via Campesina, and to effectively connect our local work with global efforts toward agricultural justice and solidarity among multiple communities. Throughout this project, weekly email with the La Via Campesina will clarify how our progress works in accord with the organization’s needs."