Indigenous Farm Worker Project

Oregon Law Center - 030098

Abstract Number: 030098

May 2003

Oregon Law Center (OLC) created the Indigenous Farm Worker Project (IFP) in 2002 to provide legal services and community education to indigenous farm workers from Mexico and Central America working in Oregon. OLC implemented this project in 2002 to ensure indigenous farm workers, irrespective of their English or Spanish language abilities, could receive services from OLC. OLC dedicates three staff members - one attorney and two trilingual outreach workers - to provide services to the indigenous farm worker community in Oregon. The IFP provides legal services in employment and labor cases, housing cases, individual rights cases, and health cases which includes pesticides and field sanitation issues. Many indigenous communities in Oregon maintain close ties with other people living in Oregon from their hometowns in Mexico or Central America through hometown associations. Hometown associations are informal organizations that serve to maintain social contacts as well as facilitate fund raising to send money back home. OLC has met with several hometown associations and will soon develop mini-workshops for hometown association members on topics the members wish to discuss.

IFP, like other OLC projects, is community based and client oriented. The service priorities are based on input from clients and client organizations. Most of the intake is done through extensive outreach to the client community- visits to where the clients live, where they worship and where they gather. IFP provides culturally appropriate public education and materials in the community to make clients aware of their legal rights, familiar with the legal system, and better connected to legal services providers. IFP hires employees from the indigenous community because they understand the community, its needs, languages and cultures. IFP strives to establish and maintain open communication and trust with the community it serves.

Oregon's indigenous farm worker community speaks a number of indigenous languages including Mixteco, Triqui, and Kanjobal, most of which are not written languages. OLC created specialized outreach materials which include audio tapes in Mixteco and Spanish explicating their rights as well as illustrated handouts. Through OLC's experience working with Oregon's indigenous farm worker community, IFP staff members have also given numerous presentations to governmental agencies and social services providers in order to ensure their services are accessible and prepared to deliver culturally competent services to the indigenous farm worker community. OLC also compiled a list of competent indigenous language interpreters that may be used by organizations in Oregon in the event they need additional language capabilities.

Additional Information:

Julie Samples
Oregon Law Center
230 West Hayes Street
Woodburn, OR 97071-4623
Phone: (503) 981-0336
Fax: (503) 981-0373
Email

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