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“Groundhog Day,” or “How to Terrify Voters through Perpetual Crises”

AFOP Leadership to Gather in New Orleans

Inside DOL

USDOL Publishes 2024 H-2A Monthly AEWR

ETA recently announced 2024 H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rates (AEWRs) for the H-2A program on its website.


AEWRs are the minimum hourly wage rates employers must offer to and pay H-2A workers as well as workers in corresponding employment.  These new rates took effect on January 1, 2024.


While NFJP can only provide emergency services to H-2A workers, the AEWR affects NFJP-eligible farmworkers, too.  If an employer hires a mix of H-2A and domestic workers, for example, domestic workers’ wage rates must match the H-2A workers’ wages for the duration of the H-2A workers’ employment.

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Inside AFOP

Members’ Corner

AFOP Board Director Patricia Stovall-Lane Recognized as Rural Champion Partner

Hill Happenings

WIOA Could See Reauthorization in 2024 With the “Stronger Workforce for America Act” (SWAA)

Click here for AFOP’s full analysis

Workforce Development

US Unemployment Rate at Historic Lows, but Most US Workers are Unaware

The U.S. DOL Bureau of Labor Statistics released the most recent labor market numbers in January, revealing that, in December, the US employment rate held steady at 3.7 percent.  This makes the average for 2023 3.6 percent, the same average rate as 2022.  In a statement, the White House pointed out that “the jobless rate has been below 4 percent for 23 months in a row, an over 50-year record and indicative of the persistently tight labor market.”


And yet many US workers disbelieve or are completely unaware of these statistics.  In fact, the Employment & Training Reporter reports that many are actively worried about the job market.  


In a November 2023 survey, Rutgers University Heldrich Center for Workforce Development found that “67 percent of workers reported being somewhat or very concerned about the job market for those looking for work, and an equal share were concerned about job security for the employed.  Forty-one percent (of the employed) were concerned about their own job security.  Fifty-seven percent of all workers were concerned about the unemployment rate.”

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AFOP Health & Safety

AFOP Health & Safety Programs Year in Review

The AFOP Health & Safety Programs team has been busy serving the farmworker community through many activities, including training, national events, partnerships, the media, and more.  The success of 2023 could not have been possible without the dedication of our wonderful partners and trainers.

Here are a few of our accomplishments in 2023

New Funding Hub Available

AFOP Health & Safety has developed a new Rural Health & Safety funding hub:  a directory of active funding opportunities that helps awardees develop and implement health and safety programs for rural and underserved populations.  


AFOP will update the funding hub monthly.

Click here to see available funding opportunities

Children in the Fields Campaign

CIFC Contest Winner Featured on Bart Berkey Podcast

Emily Camacho, 15-year-old farmworker child and six-time winner of the AFOP CIFC Art & Essay Contest, joined AFOP CIFC Campaign Director Melanie Forti on Bart Berkey’s podcast:  “Most People Don’t… But You Do!”  Bart Berkey is a motivational storyteller and viral TEDx speaker who presented at AFOP’s 2023 National Conference.


Emily has been working in agriculture since she was seven years of age, helping her family pick apples and other crops in conditions ill-suited for children.  Emily goes to school, helps with the chores, plays basketball, and, yes, continues to work in agriculture.  


Emily eloquently shared about her experiences and challenges as a farmworker child in the interview.  You don’t want to miss it.  

Listen to the podcast HERE!

Sponsors Needed for CIFC’s 2024 Art and Essay Contest

AFOP needs support to continue the Art & Essay contest in 2024.  Sponsors fund the winners’ prizes and, depending on the amount, bring one or more of the contest winners to AFOP’s National Conference.  All donors receive full mention on contest promotions, social media posts, the winner’s booklet, the accompanying video, and CIFC’s website. Most importantly, supporters will have the satisfaction of knowing they have made a farmworker child very happy and helped in fostering his or her dreams of a brighter future.


If you are able to sponsor the contest, please contact Melanie Forti at forti@afop.org.

You can also support our work by purchasing merch from our online store!

What We’re Reading

LULAC National President Domingo Garcia issued the following statement following the news of the death of three refugees, a woman, and two children, in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, TX, days after U.S. Border Patrol was blocked from accessing portions of the U.S.-Mexico border at Shelby Park, in Eagle Pass, Texas.


"LULAC is deeply saddened by the news of the death of three refugees who lost their lives due in large part to failings in our country's border patrol policies and Texas Governor Greg Abbott's continued lack of compassion for humanitarian causes.”


LULAC has sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney for Eagle Pass to launch an investigation into possible murder, criminally negligent homicide, and child endangerment charges against those involved in the death of a mother and her two children.

Click here to read the letter

In a state that’s struggled with food security, shifting seasons and hotter temperatures brought on by human-caused climate change could allow Alaska farmers to grow more abundant and diverse produce.  But climate change can also bring drought, pests and permafrost thaw.


And it can make weather more erratic, too.  Tom Zimmer of Calypso Farm, just outside of Fairbanks, said that’s what he worries about most.


“Yes, frost-free days are increasing,” Zimmer said. “But the instability of the climate is making it probably more difficult to farm,” saying, there’s a disadvantage for every advantage that climate change brings.

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