The FCWA Campaign and Education Coordinator Diana Robinson presented in two conferences this past month: the 5^th Annual 2012 National Immigrant Integration Conference on September 23 in Baltimore and the Food + Justice=democracy conference in Minnesota from September 24-26.

The National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC) is the largest national conference to bring together immigrant integration leaders and advocates from across the country. Diana presented in the workshop Taking Action to Improve Immigrants’ Wages and Working Conditions, in which she spoke about the importance of raising wages for food workers, having opportunities for advancement and also including workers in the definition of a sustainable food system.

The Food + Justice = Democracy was national meeting like no other led by a national steering committee of food justice activists, and the agenda elevated the food stories of communities of color and tribal nations. The goal of the conference was for participants to co-create a national food justice platform to push our government and our political leaders to prioritize a fair, just and healthy food system.

Diana helped to facilitate the People’s Movement Assembly group focused on labor and immigration.  In this session, participants went through a visioning exercise in which they drew images of our past, present and future food system.  This exercise helped participants to form principles and actions that would lead to achieving those principles.  Four other people’s movement assemblies focused on land, local food systems, historical trauma and hunger.  Each group came up with principles for what a just food system would look like.

Throughout the conference, participants heard from local initiatives to achieve food sovereignty and educate communities about health foods.  In addition, Diana spoke on a panel with Alliance members Center for New community and Coalition of Immokalee Workers and ally Centro Campesino and gave a presentation on our report The Hands That Feed Us, which emphasized the importance for workers being an essential component of a truly sustainable food system. The conference ended with the presentations of all People’s Movement Assemblies’ principles and the formation of regional groups to continue the work and implement the principles in some way.  Stay tuned for the Food Justice Pledge!