Farm Workforce Modernization Act poses setbacks for workers and growers / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by
IMG_0973

Community members, along with representatives of Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia join in a 2019 People’s Tribunal addressing the mistreatment of H-2A farmworkers at Crystal View Raspberry Farm in Bellingham, WA

November 30, 2019  Dena Jensen

Update, December 14, 2019: On Thursday December 12, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, HR 5038, was passed out of the House in the Congress. It now moves to the United States Senate.

Local farmworker advocacy organizations, Community to Community Development,  and Familias Unidas por la Justicia have been of significant support to H-2A visa workers, locally in Whatcom County, and in other areas in the state, as they were in June of 2019 in Grant County, Washington, at the King Fuji Ranch in Mattewa. Continue reading →

Worthy of honor and respect: the 2019 Farmworker March for Dignity / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by

August 8, 2019 Dena Jensen

It’s been held for years. I have been to four. This year was the second time I’ve marched the full route. The annual Farmworker March for Dignity starts at dawn, with many people leaving their home destinations around 4:00 a.m., in carpools or individually, to arrive at shuttle locations and park their vehicles.

Continue reading →

Annual Farmworker March Spotlights Worker Violations at Crystal View Farms / Press Release, Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia

Posted on by

August 2, 2019 Press Release, Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Annual Farmworker March Spotlights Worker Violations at Crystal View Farms

Farmworker March for Dignity

When: Sunday, August 4, 2019 4:30 a.m

Starting point: 1431 Sunset Ave. Ferndale, WA

BELLINGHAM, WA August 2, 2019 – This Sunday, hundreds of people will march 14 miles through rural roads of Whatcom County for the annual Farmworker March for Dignity, organized by Community to Community Development (C2C) and Familias Unidas por la Justicia. The march kicks off at dawn, the average time a Farmworker begins working in the field. Leaders from C2C, Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ), and Cooperativa Tierra y Libertad will start the march at a Customs and Border Patrol station, the site of border militarization, detention and deportation impacting Farmworkers families in the region. 

Continue reading →

‘Bellingham, Washington, should become a Sanctuary City’ / Facebook post, Vote Von for the Peoples of – por las Gentes de – Bellingham

Posted on by
Click the graphic to access Von Emeth Ochoa’s video with accompanying transcription on his Vote Von for the Peoples of – por las Gentes de – Bellingham Facebook page

July 2, 2019 Von Emeth Ochoa, Candidate for Bellingham City Council, Council At-Large position

Bellingham, Washington, should become a Sanctuary City. In no uncertain terms.

Reading Aloud: Things I learned from the forwarded documents from Community 2 Community/Comunidad a Comunidad and a letter from Sheriff Elfo from 2017, forwarded to me by https://noisywatersnw.com/

Continue reading →

2019 Farmworker Tribunal and Latino Legislative Day on Community Voz / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by

March 30, 2019 Dena Jensen

Click the graphic to access a recording of the 3/20/19 Community Voz radio show

For those who didn’t catch it on air, the March 20, 2019 Community Voz radio show on KMRE centered on the trip that members of the Bellingham women-led , grassroots organization, Community to Community Development (C2C), made to Olympia on March 18, 2019 for the 6th Annual Farmworker Tribunal and Latino Legislative Day. 

Continue reading →

2/26/19 Community Voz radio show on SB 5438, offering protections to farm workers / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by

March 14, 2019 Dena Jensen

Click the graphic to access The Western Front article, “Community to Community Development Takes Fight for Agricultural Workers, Immigrants Rights to State Legislature”

I just listened to a recent Community Voz radio show on SB 5438 – which recently passed the state senate – a bill that would provide a source of funding and resources to provide better oversight to help prevent abuses of the H-2A visa agricultural program. You all should listen too. There’s a ton of information and analysis packed into the hour-long show that will help you better understand the bill. (Great music too!)

Continue reading →

Some same old lines and some questionable progress on immigrant protection: notes on the 2/25/19 Bellingham City Council Justice Committee meeting / Noisy Waters Northwest

Posted on by
Click the graphic to access video of the 2/25/29 Bellingham City Council Justice Committee meeting

It’s been two full years since the City of Bellingham abruptly pushed aside the Keep Bellingham Families Working ordinance in favor of approving their own ordinance regarding immigrant protection. In all that time there has been no amending of that ordinance or activation of civilian oversight or of a safe space to report discrimination or persecution.

Continue reading →