|
 | | |  | From the Desk of the Executive DirectorDaniel Sheehan, AFOP Executive Director November 25, 2024 |
| Washington is all abuzz with the new Congress now seated and the presidential inaugural just days away. The old adage of “What is Past is Prologue” certainly applies to the incoming presidential administration. This time around, the president-elect and his team are going to be far more politically savvy having learned a lot from their first rodeo from 2017-2021. Accordingly, the new administration will likely be far more effective in pursuing its policies and goals in the coming year. While I am tempted to editorialize on some of the well-advertised actions the new president has said he will take starting on Day One of his administration, I think it would be much more helpful to discuss here why I feel that the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) remains on solid footing going forward.
It will be no surprise when the new administration proposes to Congress that it eliminate scores of non-defense discretionary programs, like NFJP, as it seeks to pay for extending and expanding tax cuts and juicing defense accounts. NFJP remains different from so many of those other programs. Not only does it have years and years of data showing that it is one of the best, if not the best, job-training program at the United States Department of Labor (DOL). Through the engaged advocacy of AFOP members to educate Congress on the success of and continuing need for the program, NFJP continues to boast bipartisan support despite these highly politically polarized times. Just last year, NFJP was the only job-training program that the House of Representatives did not propose for cuts or elimination in its yearly DOL appropriations bill. In this year’s still-pending measure, NFJP is again fully funded, one of just a handful the House chose to so fund.
Why, you ask? Why, despite all the challenges that NFJP grantees have in reaching and serving farmworkers, should this program succeed year after year? Simply put, the folks who work NFJP do such a fantastic job, day after day, serving farmworkers and delivering this program for the federal government that Congress can hardly do anything else than wholeheartedly support their efforts. As we begin this New Year, AFOP salutes those hardworking, good souls who do everything they can, leave everything thing they have on the proverbial playing field, to make sure our farmworkers have a chance at a more stable and rewarding life. You make this weary world of ours go ‘round.
Happy New Year! |
| | | |  | Farmworker boys labor in the agricultural fields of the Pacific Northwest | Photo credit: OHDC |
| OIC of Washington Pursues Outcomes for Farmworker YouthOIC of Washington December 5, 2024 |
| Christian, a past NFJP participant, recently returned to OIC of Washington’s offices seeking support in launching his professional career. He had successfully completed his college diploma but was now struggling to secure interviews, despite having submitted numerous applications. Most of his job experience was in agriculture.
OIC recognized his potential and went all-in, determined to help him find a career that suited his strengths and abilities. OIC provided job development support, helped him submit more applications, and gave him referrals and references for jobs that matched his skillset. When Christian succeeded in obtaining an interview at the local SkillSource, OIC’s partner, OIC organized a mock panel interview to make sure he was prepared.
Not only did Christian get the job, but OIC received outstanding feedback from his supervisor afterward, who praised Christian’s performance and said that she could not have asked for a better employee. She also mentioned that OIC’s endorsement had influenced SkillSource’s decision to consider him, despite his limited direct experience in the workforce sector.
Christian shared his gratitude for the support he received from NFJP, noting how instrumental it was in helping him during his journey from youth to young adulthood. His story reflects the power of support, preparation, and partnership in helping young graduates reach their potential in meaningful careers. |
| |  | YouthBuild participants from PPEP, Inc., in Arizona and CCI in Idaho pose for the camera |
| PPEP and Community Council of Idaho Win YouthBuild GrantsEmployment & Training Reporter December 16, 2024 |
| The Employment and Training Administration announced $99.3 million in YouthBuild grants to 71 organizations across 31 states. Among the grantees were two AFOP members: Community Council of Idaho and PPEP, Inc., which received grants in the amounts of $1.26 million and $1.47 million, respectively.
YouthBuild provides out-of-school young people with education and construction job training, including hands-on work experience in the construction or renovation of low-income housing. The program also can offer supportive services, leadership development and secondary career training for other occupations.
|
| |
|  | CVOC Celebrates Staff’s MilestonesCVOC December 18, 2024 |
| Central Valley Opportunity Center (CVOC), Inc., recently celebrated milestone work anniversaries for many of its staff. Claudia Guzman, Gustavo Duran, Ernesto Rodriguez, and Jessica Fregoso were among those recognized for hitting 5-, 15-, or 25-year marks, while Jean Warren and John Jepson were both recognized for having worked with the organization for 40 years.
CVOC is a long-time AFOP member that has provided numerous education, training, and supportive services to farmworkers and other low-income individuals in Merced, Stanislaus, and Madera Counties in the Central Valley of California since 1979.
AFOP would like to say congratulations to all six of these special people for their hard work and steadfast commitment to serving farmworkers!! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |  | Labor Secretary Nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer | Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images |
| AFOP Welcomes Designated Nominee Chavez-DeRemer for Labor SecretaryNovember 25, 2024 AFOP |
| The president-elect announced his plans to nominate United States Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon) to head the United States Department of Labor, a post that requires Senate confirmation. News outlets have reported that union leaders urged the president-elect to select the congresswoman for DOL secretary. She is the first Republican woman and one of the first two Latinas to serve in Congress from the state of Oregon. The former Happy Valley mayor and businesswoman lost her bid to regain Oregon's 5th District in November. |
| | | AFOP Partners with NCFH to Minimize Impact of H5N1 (Bird Flu) on FarmworkersAFOP January 15, 2025 |
|  | AFOP recently entered into a service agreement with the National Center of Farmworker Health (NCFH) to help share resources related to the Avian Flu and other communicable diseases threatening farmworker health and safety. This partnership will help ensure that more farmworkers will have the tools and information they need to protect themselves against potentially deadly infection. |
|
| Avian Influenza, or bird flu as it is more commonly known, is a virus that most commonly infects poultry, wild birds, and livestock and can sometimes spread to people, particularly those who work closely with animals. Just like the regular flu, bird can cause severe illness or even death. The Center for Disease Control is monitoring its spread very closely and warns that workers on dairy farms where H5N1 is present as well as those who come into sick or dead animals on farms or at zoos are at the highest level of risk. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |  | AFOP Urges OSHA to Adopt Heat Rules, Cosignatory on Collegial EffortsAFOP January 14, 2025 |
| With the new rule for heat stress injury and prevention at its final stage in the approval process, worker advocate organizations flooded OSHA with public comments in support of the national heat standard for both indoor and outdoor workers.
“We enthusiastically support the department’s proposal to protect worker health and safety through these proposed regulations,” stated the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in a letter submitted January 14, 2025, which AFOP also signed. “When finalized, this rule will save thousands of lives by ensuring workers have common sense health and safety protections on the job.” |
|
| AFOP submitted separate comments highlighting the concerns of migrant and seasonal farmworkers. “Farmworkers work all day under extreme temperatures year-round,” AFOP stated in the letter. “During the summer, on an average day, temperatures in the fields are eight to ten degrees hotter than the daily high reported by the National Weather Service.”
With the public comment period now closed, the only thing that remains is for OSHA to finalize and implement the standard. The incoming administration may choose to withdraw the rule, so AFOP will continue to monitor this important new regulation. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |  | AFOP Health & Safety Accomplishments in 2024Melanie Forti, Director January 10, 2025 |
| The AFOP Health & Safety Programs team had an incredible 2024, serving the farmworker community through impactful activities such as training, national events, partnerships, and media outreach. This year’s achievements would not have been possible without the unwavering commitment of AFOP’s outstanding members, staff, partners, and trainers.
AFOP’s 2024 accomplishments include:
OVER 49,000 FARMWORKERS TRAINED Thanks to AFOP’s network of dedicated trainers, farmworkers and agricultural employers received interactive, multilingual, and life-saving health and safety training. Topics included Worker Protection Standard (WPS), Heat Stress Prevention, and other essential pesticide safety topics.
OVER 25,000 TAKE-HOME MATERIALS WERE DISTRIBUTED Bandanas, laundry bags, and brochures carried vital health and safety messages in multiple languages to farmworkers across the nation.
OVER 500 IMPACTFUL PARTNERSHIPS FORMED AFOP collaborated with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, community leaders, farms, and individuals, increasing its reach and impact through national events and key projects aimed at improving the quality of life for farmworkers.
THREE SUCCESSFUL NATIONAL EVENTS Three national events raised awareness about the challenges farmworkers face and their invaluable contributions to society. Highlights included collecting over 18,127 long-sleeve shirts, training over 1,000 farmworkers on heat stress prevention in just one week, and forming exciting new collaborations.
INNOVATIVE RESOURCES AND INITIATIVES LAUNCHED The Health & Safety team stayed busy developing educational materials, serving on advisory boards, supporting important causes, participating in national campaigns, and expanding its social media presence.
KEY FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES SECURED AFOP was awarded a Susan Harwood grant to continue providing heat stress prevention training. Additionally, the team applied for a 5-year cooperative agreement with the EPA to extend pesticide safety training through the National Farmworker Training Program.
As AFOP Health & Safety looks ahead to 2025, it is thrilled to continue building strong partnerships, expanding its programs, and securing additional resources to serve the farmworker community to an even greater extent. With those partners, AFOP is working to create a stronger, safer, and healthier farmworker community. |
| | | Melanie Forti Celebrates 15 Years with AFOPAFOP January 15, 2025 |
| AFOP Health & Safety Director Melanie Forti recently celebrated her 15-year work-iversary with AFOP, making her one of only two AFOP employees to reach that impressive milestone since the association’s founding in 1971.
Melanie Forti has been a dedicated advocate for underserved communities for her entire career, focusing on improving the quality of life for farmworkers through health and safety education. She joined AFOP in 2009 as an administrative coordinator. As she demonstrated her managerial skills, she won a promotion to program coordinator, then to program manager, then finally to AFOP’s Health and Safety Programs director.
“AFOP's work is deeply important to me because it shines a light on the vital contributions of farmworkers while advocating for their safety, health, and dignity,” said Melanie. “Supporting AFOP means standing up for justice and equity in the fields, where every worker’s well-being should be a priority." |
| | | | Late Breaking News: DOL Issues NFJP TEGL 18-16 Change 2AFOP January 17, 2025 |
| The Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) seeks to “clarify program eligibility for the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) authorized under Section 167 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).” AFOP is reviewing the document now and hopes to have its analysis to membership soon. |
| | |  | USDOL Announces NFJP Convening for March 2025AFOP January 17, 2024 |
| USDOL announced that it will hold a 2025 National Farmworker Jobs Program Convening Convening for three full days this coming March: March 4-6, 2025. NFJP grantees are encouraged to send up to three NFJP staff per grant, including those who perform administrative duties as well as those who provide direct services to farmworkers. The agenda for the conference will cover a wide range of topics that will, in DOL’s words, “equip grantees with the capacity to successfully administer grant requirements.”
AFOP Workforce Development Director Kendra Moesle has been working closely with DOL staff to organize the convening, including securing a brand-new hotel, the Arlo, for grantees’ overnight accommodations. The Arlo is situated at the corner of G and 3rd St NW, just blocks away from the Frances Perkins Building where the convening will be held. |
| | |  | Farmworker youth | Photo Credit: AFOP |
| DOL Runs Month-Long Competition for Limited NFJP Youth FundingAFOP Staff January 5, 2025 |
| On December 5, 2024, DOL opened a competition for the Program Year 2024 migrant and seasonal farmworker youth grants. The deadline passed just one month later, on January 5, 2025. DOL will award a total of $925,200.
We hope to announce the winners in the next edition of the Washington Newsline. |
| | |  | 2025 Poverty Threshold UpdateAFOP January 16, 2025 |
| The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the new 2025 poverty guidelines on January 15, 2025. These guidelines will soon be on public display in the Federal Register.
The poverty guidelines are one way of measuring NFJP applicants’ income levels when determining their eligibility for the program. Remember, the NFJP standard is 150% of the poverty guidelines, meaning that, in 2025, a family of four can earn $48,225 or less and be considered low-income for the program. That number has increased slightly over 2024, when the poverty level for a family of four for NFJP was $46,800. |
| | |  | USDOL Reaches Farmworker Settlement with Public CitizenPublic Citizen December 9, 2024 |
| The Department of Labor (DOL) has reached a settlement in litigation over its enforcement activities on behalf of farmworkers. Public Citizen Litigation Group represented six farmworker organizations that sued DOL earlier this year for failure to abide by regulations mandating that the agency coordinate its enforcement of statutes designed to protect farmworkers.
The settlement requires DOL to (1) establish and maintain a National Committee that will meet twice annually and guide DOL components on enforcement related to farmworkers, (2) establish a National Committee staff level working group that will meet at least quarterly, (3) establish Regional Committees that will meet at least quarterly and maintain contacts with farm labor groups, state agencies, and other interested parties, and hold annual public meetings in each region, and (4) develop annual national coordination plans and regional enforcement strategies for farmworker protective statutes. |
| | |  | USDOL Releases Updated Promising Practices in Achieving Nondiscrimination and Equal OpportunityUSDOL December 3, 2024 |
| DOL’s Employment & Training Administration has updated its Promising Practices reference guide correlating with specific nondiscrimination and equal opportunity requirements in WIOA Section 188. Section 188 prohibits discrimination against individuals who apply to, participate in, work for, or come into contact with programs and activities that receive financial assistance under Title I of WIOA.
These updates address the systemic barriers that individuals with disabilities may face due to their intersecting identities. The aim is to enhance the cultural competence of service providers who work with these individuals. |
| | | | |  | WIOA Included in Stop-Gap Spending Bill Before Deal FailsEmployment & Training Reporter December 23, 2024 |
| Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reauthorization legislation appeared in a negotiated stop-gap federal spending measure, but within 24 hours the incoming president called to kill package and Republican congressional leaders complied. This left the trajectory of fiscal year 2025 appropriations and the workforce development system’s authorizing legislation in doubt.
Workforce authorization was last updated in 2014 with the passage of WIOA. Before that, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was passed in 1998. Current legislation expired in 2020, but workforce programs, including NFJP, have continued to operate as Congress has continued to appropriate the funds. |
| |  | Biden Administration Finalizes Rules to Provide H-2A Workers Protection and FlexibilityEmployment and Training Reporter January 10, 2025 |
| The regulatory package for the H-2A and H-2B visas programs is titled Modernizing H-2 Program Requirements, Oversight, and Worker Protections. For both programs, the new regulations revise and clarify policies that govern fees that can be charged to foreign workers. These changes impose new consequences for companies that charge prohibited fees, and these can result in the denial of visa petitions. Another set of changes institutes new grounds for federal officials to deny visa petitions filed by employers or labor contractors who have committed violations of program rules or labor laws. Whistle-blower protections in the H-2 programs are strengthened by the rules. The regulations also allow workers more flexibility to change jobs. |
| | | | |  | Know Your Rights: Immigrant CommunitiesNational Immigration Law Center December 19, 2024 |
| As the new administration approaches, many are wondering what concerned groups can share with immigrant communities. NILC has recently updated its Know Your Rights materials, and plans to be out soon with additional information. You can find this important and timely information on NILC’s new landing page, below.
NILC will also present to the AFOP Leadership Conference on these pressing issues at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, January 29. |
| |
| DACA ACA Enrollment Stopped Again in 19 StatesNational Immigration Law Center December 10, 2025 |
| The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals recently refused to continue the stay of the North Dakota district judge's ruling that Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare eligibility for DACA recipients is unlawful.
The move effectively barred those who qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in specific states from enrolling in or getting subsidies for ACA plans. Those states were: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
The decision did not affect enrollment or coverage in other states. Open enrollment for ACA and other healthcare plans ended on January 15. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | | |  | Undocumented Immigrants Pay More Than Their Fair Share of TaxesThe Hill by Marco Guzman, Opinion contributor December 25, 2024 |
| While undocumented immigrants continue to be the incoming administration’s favorite scapegoat, we shouldn’t lose sight of one of the many ways these community members contribute to federal, state and local economies: through their tax dollars.
According to an in-depth analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the undocumented population in 2022 paid almost $97 billion in taxes, with over $54 billion in payments to the federal government and more than $37 billion paid out to states and localities. Put another way, the U.S. stands to lose $8.9 billion in tax revenue for every 1 million undocumented immigrants who are sent out of this country under a program of mass deportation. |
| | |  | Mexican immigrants, packed into a truck by U.S. Border Patrol, are transported to the border for deportation in 1954. | U.S. Border Patrol Museum |
| The US Has Deported Immigrants En Masse Before. Here’s What Happened.Politico December 29, 2024 |
| Trump wouldn’t be the first president to round up undocumented immigrants — criminals or otherwise — en masse. He would have to double his deportation numbers from his first presidency to break any kind of record. But if past removal efforts are any indication, governments don’t need to physically deport masses of people to accomplish their goals of sharply curtailing immigrant populations. Over the years, the biggest “mass deportations” in the U.S. have been, by and large, high-pressure publicity campaigns that stoked such fear among immigrants that they chose to “self-deport.” |
| | | |
|
|
|
| |
|
