The YoloWorks! team and our community partners came together for a special day to create welcome baskets for the residents of each center. These baskets are a gesture of good luck for the year ahead and a way to help workers save money as they get settled.  Each basket includes essential items like cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, soaps, toilet paper, paper towels, and helpful community resources. 

We are incredibly grateful for the generous donations received during our March drive in honor of César Chávez and Farmworker Awareness Week. Thanks to the support of our community and partners, we collected a large number of long-sleeve shirts and bandanas to help protect Yolo County farmworkers from sun, dust, and pesticides while they work hard to feed our communities. 

We’re proud to share that we received enough donations to support all three migrant centers in Davis, Madison, and Dixon. These items will be distributed during Welcome Day as farmworkers arrive and prepare for the season. 

On Monday, February 24th, YoloWorks! hosted a virtual Know Your Rights presentation with over 40 participants, including many farmworkers and migrant workers. The event created a space for individuals to express their concerns around current immigration issues and to learn about their legal rights and available resources.

Participants received valuable information from guest presenters on topics such as immigration resources, DACA renewals, and pathways to citizenship.

A heartfelt thank you to the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF), Legal Services of Northern California, and Catholic Charities of Yolo-Solano for their insightful presentations, and to all our community partners who contributed and participated in this empowering event.

YoloWorks!, in partnership with the Yolo County Workforce Innovation Board and the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), successfully offered free Spanish-language Northstar Digital Literacy classes to help Yolo County residents develop essential digital skills for job searches, employment, and daily online tasks.

The classes, open to all Spanish speakers regardless of computer experience, took place Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the Madison Room at the Gonzales Building (25 N. Cottonwood St., Woodland) during two sessions: November 6 - December 4, 2024, and January 8 - February 12, 2025.

The program covered basic computer operation, internet use, email, software like Word and Excel, and practical skills such as social media use, information literacy, and job search techniques. Participants completed assessments online at www.DigitalLiteracyAssessment.org to identify their strengths and areas for improvement.

The event successfully brought together 32 attendees, with the majority being farmworkers, providing them a valuable platform to voice their questions and concerns regarding workplace issues. The focus was on educating attendees about their labor rights and equipping them with the tools to identify and report workplace injustices effectively.

Representatives from key organizations, including the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Legal Services of Northern California, Cal/OSHA, Center for Workers' Rights, and the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, delivered informative presentations. Each organization shared insights about their roles and the processes for reporting labor violations, ensuring farmworkers understood how to access support and advocate for their rights.

Through this event, farmworkers gained practical knowledge and resources to address workplace challenges, fostering empowerment and preparedness to take action when faced with unjust working conditions. 

The Health Fair took place on Friday, September 8, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Durst Organic Growers’ Blue Building. The event offered free services for families and individuals, including information on COVID-19 and flu vaccines (safe for children 3+), diabetes prevention, dental health with free supplies, and basic health screenings such as height and weight checks. Additional resources included take-home COVID-19 tests, clothing donations from RISE, and updates on new healthcare facilities in Esparto by Winters Healthcare.

YoloWorks! attended the event to support farmworkers by providing county resources and services, ensuring they had access to employment assistance, community programs, and other vital support.

The 2nd Annual Yolo County Farmworker Resource Fair, hosted by the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), YoloWorks!, and the Yolo County Workforce Innovation Board, took place on Friday, September 6, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Woodland Community College. Over 30 regional organizations participated, connecting farmworkers and their families to essential resources, including food assistance, healthcare, legal support, housing, employment opportunities, and public benefits.

Recognizing the challenges farmworkers face, especially during the off-season, the event provided critical year-round support. Attendees received food box donations from Yolo Food Bank, transportation assistance from Yolobus, and enjoyed delicious cuisine from Las Brasas along with live music by Los Tres de Winters. Local leaders emphasized the importance of supporting farmworkers, who are vital to the local economy and global food systems, underscoring the community's commitment to their well-being.

YoloWorks! actively supports farmworkers in Yolo County through dedicated outreach efforts, ensuring they are informed about available resources and services. Our team meets farmworkers where they are—whether in the fields, at housing locations, or outside grocery stores—to bring critical information directly to them. By organizing events and pop-up outreach sessions, we create opportunities to connect with farmworkers in their daily environments, offering support on employment services, food access, healthcare, and other essential resources. These efforts help bridge gaps, build trust, and ensure farmworkers have equitable access to the assistance they need.

The Cultivo program, spearheaded by the Yolo Food Bank and funded by a $200,000 investment from Sutter Health, aims to address food insecurity among agricultural workers in Yolo County. A recent study by the Institute of Social Research at California State University, Sacramento, revealed an alarming trend: 53% of food-insecure households in the county have an agricultural worker at home, despite their essential role in food production.

The Cultivo program brings monthly pop-up food distributions directly to farmworkers' neighborhoods and workplaces, such as fields, farms, packing plants, and canneries. These distributions focus on providing fresh, healthy, and culturally appropriate food, addressing barriers like lack of access, cultural mismatch, and misconceptions about eligibility for charitable services.

YoloWorks! played a key role in connecting Yolo Food Bank with Farm Labor Contractors to ensure these critical food distributions reach agricultural workers effectively. Additionally, YoloWorks! continues to provide resources and support to farmworkers, further bridging gaps in services for this vulnerable community.

This collaborative effort reflects a shared commitment to combat inequities and improve the well-being of those who cultivate and harvest food for others while often facing food insecurity themselves.

Our YoloWorks team, in collaboration with EDD Workforce Services Migrant & Seasonal Farmworkers (MSFW) Outreach team, organized the first MSFW Resource Fair on Thursday, April 25th. The event took place at the community room of Mutual Housing at Spring Lake in Woodland. This is a housing community that accommodates over 100 farmworking families. Farmworker communities require various resources to support their members' well-being and livelihoods. Our goal was to bring together organizations that provide services for farmworkers in one place. This way, farmworkers could learn about available resources, such as education, health, legal, and employment services in time for the new season. More than 15 local organizations brought their services and resources to the community. La Superior Supermercado donated food and beverages for the event.

Welcome baskets are prepared by the Agricultural Labor Coordinator and volunteers from partner organizations during National Farmworker Awareness Week. These baskets include essential home cleaning supplies, such as hand soap, paper towels, all-purpose cleaners, toilet paper, Lysol wipes, and a laundry basket. 

The purpose of these baskets is to help farmworkers settle in and provide them with a healthy start to the season. It's a great partnership between local organizations to provide resources for our migrant farmworkers.

The welcome baskets were delivered to all 3 migrant centers on opening day, totaling 238 baskets.

During the last week of March, we celebrated National Farmworker Awareness Week by organizing our annual Long-sleeve and Bandana Drive. YoloWorks!, in collaboration with several partner agencies, initiated a campaign to collect new or gently used long-sleeved shirts, hats and bandanas to donate to farmworkers in Yolo County. 

We placed a collection box at our partner agencies' location and gathered the items from, March 25th to March 29th. Our aim was to show our support for the farmworkers and to help them stay protected from the sun and other environmental elements that they are exposed to daily while they work hard to provide us with food.

Valley Tire Center has proudly hosted the local Ag Fest during Ag Week in Woodland for 21 years. The event offers food, vendors, free merchandise, and resources to attendees. This year, YoloWorks! was invited to provide resources to over 150 farmworkers who attended the event. YoloWorks provided information on the local services and resources available to farmworkers.

YoloWorks!, Yolo Food Bank, and De Colores have collaborated with Mutual Housing at Springlake to provide resources and activities for farmworking families residing in the farmworking housing community. Mutual Housing offers housing to farm labor tenants, and every year, they organize a holiday celebration for their tenants. This year, we were invited to provide services and resources to the families. We interacted with more than 50 families, and we received a call from a local motorcycle club called Solo Cholos de Woodland, who donated items for children and adults. The event was a success, and families enjoyed the activities, resources, and gifts.

De Colores Resource Center and YoloWorks! partnered up to create a farmworker retreat with a focus on mental health and well-being. The retreat happened on Saturday, November 18th from 10am - 3pm and we had over 20 participants. The event featured a licensed therapist who speaks Spanish and understands the culture of many migrant and seasonal farmworker (MSFW) families. Our main goal was to provide MSFW families with tools they can use to address their mental health and well-being. We also hosted several workshops that brought conversations about work climate stress and cultivating community. During the event, farmworkers were given space to express their concerns regarding safety at work, farmworker rights, community support, lack of community resources, and the language barrier. Additionally, we had a personal trainer teach us about taking care of the body by doing routine stretches daily. Overall, this was an excellent event that helped MSFWs learn about mental health resources and gave them a space to express their concerns and understanding of available resources. 

In 2021, Governor Newsom signed SB 721, which would designate August 26 of each year as California Farmworker Day. Nearly 8,000 farmworkers in Yolo County are essential to the global food supply as well as our economy. We will have a resource fair and provide food and entertainment to highlight, remember, and appreciate the work that farmworkers contribute daily. The purpose of the event is to connect farmworkers and their families with support services and local resources.  

The multi-community event honored new and returning migrant farmworkers, recognized their contributions to the community and the vibrancy of California's population and economy, and connected them to a variety of resources. The festival, held at Esparto Middle School on Saturday, April 29th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., featured important community resources (COVID-19 information, local school enrollment, and resources, disaster preparedness, legal and other social services), free food, activities for adults and children, workshops, and entertainment. 

YoloWorks and Puentes Network collaborated to collect long sleeves and bandanas for our farmworkers in Yolo County's migrant centers. We were also assembling welcome baskets, which included basic house cleaning supplies such as hand soap, paper towels, all-purpose cleaners, toilet paper, Lysol wipes, resources, and a laundry basket! The purpose of the basket is to help farmworkers get started and wish them a healthy start to the season. It was a fantastic cooperative effort between neighborhood organizations coming together to offer resources for our migrant farmworkers. 

Rise organizes a gathering every three months for farmworkers in Esparto and the Capay Valley. They invite county-based partner agencies and organizations to present resources and services. We were given a table and had a chance to discuss our program and respond to inquiries for fifteen minutes. In order to build a database and inform our farmworkers when new resources are accessible, we developed a sign-up sheet for farmworker information. Overall, it was a fantastic event for the people of Esparto and the Capay Valley.

This project proposes to provide temporary relief to Yolo County farmworkers for the winter months of December through March when household income is most likely to decrease due to seasonal layoffs and families are most likely to experience food insecurity. Secondly, the project aims to increase long-term assistance using CalFresh by diffusing common misconceptions of CalFresh ineligibility for undocumented residents, destigmatizing the program as a welfare benefit deemed a Public Charge, and providing direct assistance to participants with CalFresh applications. Lastly, the proposal aims to engage participants in a comprehensive farmworker survey aimed at determining the current needs of this population to help address food insecurity and other determinants that lead to poor health outcomes including income, housing, childcare, and transportation.

This was a one-time project to aid Yolo County farmworkers who reside within the County to give them the financial means to access culturally nutritious meals during the winter months when household income has decreased significantly due to seasonal layoffs. This project was inclusive of our undocumented farmworkers who are even more susceptible to food insecurity during the winter months due to ineligibility for state unemployment benefits.