RMM SPONSORS ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK!

            Six students, four from Vassar and two from Hobart/William Smith Colleges, chose to spend their spring break week in Lyons, NY rather than Ft. Lauderdale. Instead of sun and fun they chose to learn about rural workers, agriculture, tour Wayne County, and meet with state legislator or their staff regarding rural issues and concerns. The program was co-sponsored by Rural & Migrant Ministry,  The Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and  the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Vassar College

            The six interns participated in an intensive week in which they met and interacted with farm workers, farmers, advocates, local community, religious and political leaders. There was plenty of learning to be done in getting a handle on the complex issues involved in agribuisness. They received basic information from RMM staff on rural workers - Farmworkers 101. Herb Engman, former Director of the Cornell Migrant Program did a presentation on Agribuisness. Lew Papenfuse of  Farmworker Legal Services gave a briefing on the legal issues faced by rural workers. Dr. Lory Ghertner did a presentation on the work of the Border patrol and some of the issues surrounding enforcement of immigration laws. In addition, the students toured the area and visited work camps

            On Thursday the students visited Senator Nozzolio's office, sharing observations and asking question of the legislator's staff. Evenings were busy as well, as the students had dinner with and attended a rehearsal of the Justice for Farmworkers Music Team.   On Wednesday they had dinner and conversation with another group of workers, hearing their stories and concerns first hand. 

            Over the course of the week the students came to a deeper understanding of the difficulties faced in rural areas, especially by rural workers. They left more informed and with a desire to be advocates and allies for making changes that will assist and provide justice for those who grow, harvest, transport and process our agricultural bounty!

Justice for Farmworkers Campaign Update 

Many of you have been asking what is happening.  Well we are not sure.   As of January there is a new Legislature and a new Governor.   The wonderful sponsor of the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act in the Assembly, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, has reintroduced the Bill. (A 1652)   We are now looking for co-sponsors in the Assembly.   You can make a difference by calling your Assembly member and asking them to co-sponsor this Bill.  You can contact: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us

The Senate has gone back into Republican control (by one seat)  One of our lead sponsors in years past, Sen. Joe Robach (R Rochester) is now the chair of the Labor Committee.  We have not heard of his intentions.  The Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act (S1862) has been reintroduced into the Senate by Sen. Espaillat (D-Manhattan).  However, little can happen, unless the Republicans want it to.  That said, we are up to several things:

• introducing ourselves to new Senators
• seeking as many sponsors for S1862 as possible

You can make a difference by getting in touch with your senator and urging them to co-sponsor The Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act  (S1862) If you need info about contacting your Senators go to: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators

We have also been working with food justice groups to raise their awareness about farmworkers, and to ask for their support of farmworkers as a vital part of food justice.  You can make a difference by asking your CSA, Farmer's Market, food group etc. to endorse the Justice for Farmworker's Campaign. (The Endorsement form is on our web-site - under the Accompaniment tab and the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign)

We have also met with officials in the Governor's office, and they said the Governor is giving consideration to supporting the legislation.  You can make a difference by organizing a post-card campaign to the Governor. Get in touch with our office, and we will send you the original post-card to make copies. 

YOUTH ARTS GROUP NEWS!!!!

On March 19: YAG participated at the event called Coffee House at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, NY. Here YAG members presented the following: Elsa Lopez presented YAG mission and accomplishments, Cristina Cruz presented two spoken word pieces with the themes of farmworkers rights and negative media, all the members of  YAG presented our murals: 'Drawing a Negative Media' and 'Factory Workers Rights', and Amancio Salazar played a beautiful song on the piano. Our sincere gratitude to Rene Thiel and Diane Gismond for organizing a wonderful event.

YAG member presenting Mural

On March 25 we reviewed our program, our personal goals and accomplishments. All our members accomplished their goals, and they created some new goals for the rest of the year.

On March 26 YAG helped to clean the space at the First Presbyterian Church Of Middletown

On April 1 three staff members from Oakwood Friends School from Poughkeepsie visited our group to invite five of our members to participate at their Summer Advocacy Program, we began to watch a documentary called "TAPPED." We believe it is important to understand our place and role in our environment.

YAG members discuss 'Tapped'

On April 7, YAG presented our program at the Presbyterian Church in Port Jervis, NY. This was an opportunity to educate the audience about farmworkers rights and how the youth are creating a positive change in their community. We would like to thank Rev. Steve Huston for a warm and wonderful reception.

On April 8 we finished watching the documentary called "TAPPED." We had a very interesting conversation about the documentary, and most importantly we talked about our responsibility to our environment and the role of the government and big companies such as Nestle and Coca Cola.

YOUTH ECONOMIC EDUCATION GROUP YEG NEWS!

YEG members at Boston Equal Exchange

The Seven core members of The Youth Economic Group YEG of Sullivan County have chosen to create hand silk-screened canvas tote bags featuring the art created by YEG, YAG, and local artists of Sullivan County combined with poetry and socially responsible statements and phrases that capture the essence of RMM's mission and the vision and voice of the Group. The business plan will be completed in June and production is expected to begin in mid-summer.

YEG samples coffee at Boston Equal Exchange

 

The Youth Economic Group has also been invited to create an original window display in the old Rivoli Theater building on Broadway in Monticello this spring . This project is in partnership with the Village Planning Dept. and part of the Beautification Effort of Sullivan Renaissance. This is a great opportunity for the members of YEG to become  a local presence in the community while the re-vamped town of Monticello is emerging.

Type YEG Sale at Sullivan County Government Center.

 

YEG members are excited to hear the good news that we are the recipients of The Self Development of the People Grant. The group wrote this proposal and presented it themselves!! We are very proud!

 

SUMMER CAMP WISH LIST...

Donations of funds are the most welcome of gifts.  As we prepare for this year's day programs and overnight camp, there will be many needs for art materials and the support of the artists that use them.

During these difficult economic times, we have discovered a great need for these children and youth to have school supplies.  Therefore, our wish list again this year would be to collect 200 School Kits that can be given to each young person at the conclusion of the various programs they are participating in. Summer Day Programs will be held during July in the Mid-Hudson Valley, in Lyons located in the Finger Lakes Region, and our newly formed group in Sullivan County will be attending a special week-long program at Skidmore College - watch the Back to School Sales for more reasonable buys.These kits should include:  

2   composition or spiral notebooks

2 sturdy (2) pocket folders

A package of notebook paper

A box of Crayola primary color markers

A pencil box/envelope that includes:

1 package of #2 pencils (preferably Ticonderoga brand)

An eraser and pencil sharpener

A ruler

3-6 ball point pens

A school scissors

2 glue sticks

A package of notebook paper

A package of construction paper

**Please note: we do not need crayons for the kits!

Each completed kit should be placed in a large plastic zip lock bag.

In addition, for Overnight Camp we have a need for:

·         water bottles (Do you know of a bank or a Dr.'s office that has them for advertising purposes that might be willing to donate some?)

·         sleeping bags for our youth groups and summer campers

The nurses need:

·         10 - 12 tubes or bottles of maximum SPF suncreen

If you have questions, please give us a call at 845-485-8627.

Other Needs:

We have a wonderful intern this summer who is looking for a free room, house sitting situation, or affordable room. She will need something from June 1st through the second week in August. If you know of any suitable locales, please call the office 845-485-8627 

Rural & Migrant Ministry 
P.O Box 4757
Poughkeepsie, New York 12602 
hope@ruralmigrantministry.org 
845-485-8627
http://www.ruralmigrantministry.org/