1. NC FIELD • leadership
• education
Newsletter Second Quarter 2012
• dignity
We’re Moving Onward and Upward!
NC FIELD Family Moves Into Ren- Thanks to the hard work of NC FIELD
ovated Home in Kinston! Board Members-- especially co-chairwom-
an Melissa Bailey-- and collaborations with
After many bumps in the road, Angie the Fuller Center for Housing, The Chef
Mendoza and her family officially moved and The Farmer, and Northwestern Univer-
into their home in Kinston after two years sity in Boston, MA, NC FIELD was able to
of “sweat equity”. While minor repairs and hold a house dedication for Angie Mendo-
improvements are still being made to the za’s family on the afternoon of March 8th
house, NC FIELD hosted a housewarm- 2012. After a hard day of work, students,
ing party on May 8th to show off the community members, and Angie’s family
nearly completed home to the community. gathered at the house to officially dedi-
Alongside the Fuller Center, NC FIELD has cate it. Work on the house has continued
facilitated the ownership of this house for over the past few months, and the house
Angie and her family. The home is in a is nearly complete!
perfect location to access the clinic, An-
gie’s job, school, library, and grocery store
all without the necessity of a car. The
home will also serve as the new office of
NC FIELD and as a safe place for unac-
companied youth traveling on the migrant
stream.
Thanks, Emily! Congrats, Melissa! PJC and NC FIELD Spotlighted Dur-
ing Farmworker Awareness Week
May was an exciting month for NC FIELD NC FIELD and youth council members
as we saw some fundamental changes Neftali, Ingrid, Elvis, and Milly were featured
in our organization. Emily Drakage, co- in an extensive article in The Independent
founder and our first Executive Director, Weekly (click on link for original article) speaking
stepped down after two and a half years about the injustices of child labor and how
at the helm. We wish her all the best in their personal experiences have motivated
the new challenges she will be taking on, them as young people to express their
and we are so thankful to have had her emotions through artistic projects such as
as the guiding force during this crucial pe- photo making. Also featured were photo-
riod. With out a doubt, her vision, energy graphs taken by Elvis and Jonathan. Great
and passion are indelible in NC FIELD and work everyone!
have played a key role in creating many The article also outlined the collabo-
of the wonderful opportunities we have ration between NC FIELD, Student Action
undertaken. with Farmworkers (SAF) in conjunction with
Continued on P. 3
Continued P. 2

2. PJC Goes to Washington
PJC leaders Yesenia Cuello, Neftali Cuello,
and Milly Lima accompanied me to Washing-
ton, DC to participate in AFOP’s Youth Voices
in Action: Conversations from America’s Fields.
The two day conference featured farmworker
youth council members from Texas and North
Carolina. The event consisted of a series of
panel themes with the youth leading and di-
recting the dialogue while also leaving ample
time for questions and comments from the
audience. Panel topics included working in
the fields, race and discrimination, migrant NC FIELD at HKonJ
farmworker housing, educational barriers, and
health and safety. NC FIELD youth group members gathered
with masses of supporters on February 11th
for the Hundred Thousands on Jones Street
demonstration organized yearly by the NC
NAACP. There they encountered several other
groups supporting farmworker justice, immi-
grant rights, DREAM Act supporters, workers
rights, those in favor of equality regardless
of sexual orientation, education quality for
all, economic justice, voting rights, and jobs
access, among others.
The PJC photography exhibit was also
on display. The youth council members met
Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, sponsor and
supporter of the CARE Act as well as farm-
worker advocate Christine Chavez.
PJC, NC FIELD Spotlighted Cont. from pg. 1
On Thursday, March 29, at Duke Uni-
The youth made contacts with several
versity from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. advocates
other groups, and were later visited by Vic-
viewed the documentary “Uprooted Innocence”
toria Bouloubasis, freelance journalist and
and engaged interactively with a panel of
author of the blog, This Feeds Me. The event
farmworker youth featured in the film as well
marked the first time that youth marched
as policy experts discussing the current status
ina a public demonstration. Neftali remarked,
of child labor in agriculture and how we can
“Oh yeah! We HAVE to do this again!” Sa-
work together to address the inequalities. The
mantha was stunned by the number of peo-
panel was followed by a Q&A session and
ple supporting different causes and reflected,
a farmworker youth photography exhibit was
“It feels so good to just DO something! And
also on display. Thank you so much to Stu-
to know that other people are right there
dent Action With Farmworkers and the other
with us. I feel like we belong here!”
Duke organizers for inviting us up!

3. On March 31st, Cesar Chavez Day, Pod-
er Juvenil Campesino participated in the
Youth Arts Festival 2012 at Eastern Caro-
lina University. This event hosts over 100
artists from North Carolina to display their
work, demonstrate artistic techniques and
allow hands-on participation by the public.
PJC was on hand to exhibit their photog-
raphy and to talk to the visitors about
concepts of photography that are funda-
mental to their own photographic practice
such as “drawing with light” and the “rule
of thirds”. The youth also were able to
address with the public a wide range of Thanks, Emily... Continued from P. 1
issues, from the importance of youth art Fortunately, a woman of equal spirit
projects to child labor in North Carolina. and ability has taken Emily’s post: Melissa
Additionally, they had the opportunity to Bailey. Melissa has been working with East-
visit the other artists’ demonstrations to ern North Carolina’s migrant farmworker
learn about other crafts and try their hand community for over a decade, principally
at making something. through her efforts with the Migrant Educa-
tion Program of Lenoir County. She is also
a founding board member of NC FIELD,
FSC Grant Awarded! serving as Co-Chairperson, and has been
on the advisory board of many non-profit
The Fund for Southern Communities re- groups serving North Carolina’s migrant
cently awarded a grant to NC FIELD geared farmworkers. She is welcomed with great
at helping facilitate several Poder Juvenil enthusiasm, and and we are excited she
Campesino projects in 2012. The grant will be directing our efforts to continue
seeks to stimulate grassroots community the mission of NC FIELD.
building through media projects. Specifi-
cally, the PJC will be using a portion of Community Spotlight
this funding to host YouthSpeak 2012, a
sequel to last year’s successful youth-led It would be impossible to take on the proj-
forum. Additionally, they will be creating a ects we do without the energy and sup-
series of advocacy videos and printed ma- port of so many people from both within
terials highlighting child labor and health and beyond the Kinston community. So,
issues commonly afflicting farmworkers. we would like to thank Jimbo Perry and
These projects are an extension of the Josiah Corrigan for thier tireless efforts
PJC Media Team activities and enable and generosity with our housing project-
them to branch out beyond the photogra- their crew of UNC-CH students, also get a
phy exhibitions and publications they have “shout out” for coming in to put quite a bit
been doing these past few years. of “sweat equity” into the home. The PJC
garden is looking so lush thanks to VISTA
volunteer Sarah Gibson, Walter with Lenoir
County Cooperative Extension, and all of
those folks who donated seedlings and
seeds. Finally, we’d like to extend our sin-
cerest gratitude to Tristan Bruner- whose
spirit and generousity are constantly pres-
ent with NC FIELD. Thank you, everyone!

4. OVACIONES!
Poder Juevenil Campesino
PJC Garden in Full Swing
For the past few years the PJC youth group
has been learning about sustainable agri-
cultural practices. With help from several
organizations, some of the youth moved
forward this Spring with a plan, and have
implemented their first market garden! The
youth split into three teams: Farmers, Ad-
vertising & Marketing, and Accounting/Small
Business. There are more than one thousand
They have also distributed seeds and plants growing at the moment, with more
plants donated by Grow and Share in Ze- seeds being started! It looks as if tomatillo
bulon. We want to recognize the education will be the signature crop this year, accom-
facilitated by Billie Karel of Toxic Free NC panied by heirloom German Johnson to-
and Busha with CEFS in Goldsboro. Also, matoes. The youth have been working with
the consistent and dedicated work of Sarah Chef Vivian Howard of Chef and the Farmer,
and Claire with RAFI-USA was invaluable in a local Kinston restaurant, providing her
garnering local assistance and finding re- with fresh produce. They hope to sell at
sources like Grow and Share. Sarah also area farmer’s markets as well. Stay tuned
donated eleven hours of hard work planning for regular email updates!
and planting hundreds of seedlings! Walter
with the Lenoir County Cooperative Exten-
sion has visited and continues to help the
youth by setting up a drip irrigation system.
Also, work with Master Gardeners to locate
water barrels, test the soil and offer great
advice! This project is supported financially
by the NC Youth Food Network and, our
hero, Tes Thraves with CEFS. Seeds were
donated and a site visit was made by Anna
Pardo with Toxic Free NC, as well.
NC FIELD, Inc. 313 E. King St., Kinston, NC 28501
email: Executivedirector@ncfield.org www.ncfield.org
Mission: To create strategies and initiate collaborative actions that will promote justice and equality by
increasing access to opportunities for farm working communities in North Carolina.
Goals: End child labor in agriculture.
Develop and create additional migrant educational programming specifically for unaccompanied
minors and migrant children and youth
Eliminate food scarcity among the farmworker communities
Provide dignified housing for migrant farmworker families and unaccompanied youth
Executive Director: Melissa Bailey Chair: Peter Eversoll Secretary: Rachel Wright
Treasurer: Pedro Sanchez Legal Counsel: Scott Brown
Photos courtesy of: Jose Godinez, Melissa Bailey, Emily Drakage and Peter Eversoll unless otherwise noted.