2010 Newsletter

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As 2010 ends, we invite you to celebrate and support the work of our youth and young adults!

Dear friend,

As we approach the end of 2010 we would like to thank you for your support! We could not do our work without you!

We would also like to invite you to join us in our struggle with farm workers to bring justice to the fields! Please consider making an on-line tax exempt donation to YAYA to support young people working in solidarity with farm workers.

Lets celebrate the work of YAYA in 2010!

In this issue:

Supporting tobacco harvesters
Supporting tomato pickers
Immigration reform
Bicycle drive
Immersion opportunities
Using music, poetry and art to spread the message
Outreach
Fundraisers
Working in solidarity
Our friends in the struggle
YAYA On-line

1. Supporting tobacco harvesters

YAYA members worked in solidarity with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee throughout the year! They attended the RJ Reynolds Shareholders Meeting in NC and the FLOC action in Detroit, during the US Social Forum. YAYAs also danced and sang in the streets of Orlando while distributing fliers that explained the relationship between Chase Bank and the exploitation occurring in the tobacco fields.

In December they organized a flash mob at a local Chase bank, leafleted in front of Chase bank branches during the National Day of Actionand set up a radio show to talk about the campaign.

2. Supporting tomato pickers

YAYA members continued to support the Coalition of Immokalee Workers by organizing and participating in several events throughout the year. YAYAs and farm workers supporters delivered letters to the managers of Publix Supermarkets, worked with other organizations to bring the CIW’s Modern Day Slavery Museum to their Communities, mobilized 45 people to the Farm Worker Freedom March in Lakeland, and organized a rally in Winter Park to demand that Publix Supermarket join the campaign for fair food.

3. Immigration reform

Although both AgJOBS and the DREAM Act were defeated this year we would like to celebrate YAYA’s work to raise awareness about the realities of our undocumented brothers and sisters.

In 2010 YAYA organized two rallies to support of AgJOBS and the DREAM Act in Orlando (one in June and
the other one in May).

YAYAs also planned demonstration against SB1070 in Arizona and S-COMM in Florida. YAYAs made up a song
for LeMieux about the DREAM Act and made several presentations about immigration
at places like Stetson University, Valencia Community College, St Margaret Mary Catholic Church, the Apopka
Office of the Farm Worker Association of Florida, and the “Education not Deportation” event in Orlando.

In August a representative of LeMieux visited Apopka and spent half of the day with immigrant families and YAYA members who shared their stories as undocumented immigrants. After this visit we were almost certain that LeMieux would not support AgJOBS or the DREAM Act.

YAYAs also attended events in support of immigrants organized by other organizations such as the March for Immigration Reform in Washington DC, a SWER action for the DREAM Act, a Democracia Ahora event, a prayer service organized by FOCUS, a Trail of Dreams event in St Augustine and a march for the DREAM Act in Downtown Orlando.

4. Bicycle drive

This year YAYA has continued building relationships with farm worker communities, while protesting the racist laws that prohibit undocumented immigrants from getting a drivers license. It is the organization’s aim to make the bike deliveries a space for education and organizing against the forces of oppression and criiminalization of immigrants in this country, This year YAYAs delivered bikes in the cities of Apopka, Hastings, Fellsmere and Armstrong. To date YAYAs have collected, fixed and delivered more than 350 bicycles across Florida.

5. Working with farm workers

YAYAs are grateful for the opportunities that they had in 2010 to work directly with farm workers. The Evergreen YAYA chapter sponsored a literacy ESL tutor training, Orlando YAYA presented information to farm workers about S-COMM (a program that criminalizes undocumented immigrants) and YAYAs volunteered in Apopka, Pierson, Hastings, Seville, Deland, Spuds, Fellsmere and other areas of Florida.

6. Immersion opportunities

Immersion trips are important because they help participants gain a deeper understanding of the struggles faced by farm workers and how they can work in solidarity with them to achieve justice. This year young people participated in immersion trips in the communities of Cornelios (Oregon), Fellsmere and Immokalee.

6. Using music, poetry and art to spread the message

During 2010, YAYAs partnered with sympathetic musicians, poets and artists to spread the word about the need to reform our agricultural system.

YAYAs tabled at the Harvest of Hope Festival, a Dead Prez concert, a Harvest of Hope Concert and an Urbe Prima Concert. Theyalso used art, music and poetry on other occasions. YAYAs made parade puppets, organized an outreach event with music and poetry and organized a flash mob at a local Chase bank in support of tobacco pickers.

7. Outreach

This year YAYAs outreached at various events including the University of Central Florida (UCF) Diversity Week, a panel discussion on the Apopka Memorial Quilts, the Human Rights Forum at UCF, a membership meeting at the First Congregational Church of Winter Park, two movie screenings of the documentary H2 Worker, various activities during this year’s Farm Worker Awareness Week, and a farm worker panel at Evergreen University in Washington State.

YAYA is very grateful to Julie Norris and Front Porch Radio for allowing the organization to do several radio show specials about farm workers. You can listen to the podcast of these shows by visiting Front Porch Radio’s Web site.

8. Fundraisers

YAYAs worked hard to raise the funds needed to continue our work for justice. They sold tacos at a local Catholic Church, raffled items, washed cars and organized garage sales on several occasions. They also played soccer to raise funds for the work of the Alliance of Active Women and NFWM.

9. Working in solidarity

YAYAs support the struggles of their brothers and sisters outside of the farm worker movement. A delegation of YAYAs attended the School of the Americas Watch Vigil in Georgia, where they also volunteered with the Campaign to stop Killer Coke. In June, a group of YAYAs traveled to Detroit for the US Social Forum, where they learned about other struggles and also presented two workshops about farm worker issues. Finally, Orlando YAYAs support Unite Here! local 362 and their efforts to improve the lives of workers in Central Florida.

10. Our friends in the struggle

In addition to the organizations that we worked with on the events listed above, we would also like to acknowledge the support of Peace Passers, Charity Cars, and more importantly our parent organization National Farm Worker Ministry. We love and appreciate all of you!