{"id":1980,"date":"2020-04-10T14:24:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T21:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/?p=1980"},"modified":"2022-02-25T14:25:51","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T22:25:51","slug":"agricultural-essential-worker-cards-issued-to-farmworkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/agricultural-essential-worker-cards-issued-to-farmworkers\/","title":{"rendered":"Agricultural Essential Worker Cards Issued to Farmworkers"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

VENTURA, Calif. \u2013 The County of Ventura, in a collaboration with the County Executive Office, the Farmworker Resource Program and the Agricultural Commissioner\u2019s Office, has provided Agricultural Essential Worker Cards to be used during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The cards are printed in English and Spanish, allow for employment information to be added, and identify the card holder as an essential worker for critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program is voluntary, free and created after various growers, community organizations and farmworkers shared that employees were afraid to go to work during the Ventura County \u201cStay Well at Home\u201d Public Health Order,\u201d said Rosa Gonzalez, County Executive Office, Community Liaison. \u201cAgricultural Essential Worker cards are intended to ease employees\u2019 concerns when traveling to and from work. Farmworkers are providing food on our tables and sustaining our nation\u2019s food supply during this pandemic. Their work is critically important during this time and throughout the year. We don\u2019t want them to be afraid. We hope these cards ease their fears,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say how grateful I am to all of the hardworking farmers, farmworkers, pest control workers, fresh food packers and all those who bring high quality food from our fields and ranches to our communities near and far. Our food system is critical to our County and Nation’s collective health,\u201d said Ed Williams, County of Ventura Agricultural Commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Essential Agricultural Worker cards issued to farmworkers will provide a level of assurance that those working to keep this part of our critical infrastructure going can continue to provide their invaluable service to the public with the full support of law enforcement and regulators,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in providing these cards to your employees, please contact the Agricultural Commissioner\u2019s Office at (805) 388-4222, or you can email your requests to lena.stehly@ventura.org<\/a>. Please indicate in your request how many cards you would like to be issued.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur farmworkers are essential to providing food. The County of Ventura is distributing these \u201cessential worker identification cards\u201d to local growers, to voluntarily use them and share with farmworkers during this time,\u201d said Talia Barrera, County of Ventura Farmworker Resource Program Manager.<\/p>\n

The Farmworker Resource Program, launched in July 2019, was developed by the Board of Supervisors and an eight-member advisory committee at the recommendation of Supervisors Steve Bennett and John Zaragoza. \u201cWe are most appreciative of the commitment and engagement of the Farmworker Advisory Committee, comprised of representatives appointed by the Farm Bureau and the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP).  The committee engaged the voice of both the farmworker and agricultural community to best inform the design and implementation elements of the program- which has been recognized as a model program,\u201d said Melissa Livingston, Chief Deputy Director of the Human Services Agency.<\/p>\n

The program coordinators assist in facilitating prompt resolutions to workplace concerns such as payroll issues and working conditions, navigating services available from public agencies, and leveraging existing resources. The program is staffed by two trilingual employees who speak Mixteco, Spanish and English, are knowledgeable about the agricultural industry, and serve as outreach resources to farmworkers and their employers.<\/p>\n

The partnerships developed through this program have been helpful in the COVID-19 response and outreach. 30,000 educational outreach materials have been provided with Farmworker paychecks, information has been provided through WhatsApp which helps community members who do not read or write, videos have been created in multiple languages and new platforms have been developed on social media to share the message.<\/p>\n

Through effective outreach activities, the Farmworker Resource Program has established partnerships between healthcare, education, human services and many other agencies that serve the agricultural community. \u201cThis program is an innovative approach to both supporting the County\u2019s 43,000 farmworkers and helping growers meet their need for workers,\u201d said Supervisor Bennett.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a longtime supporter of farmworkers, farmers and our agricultural industry in Ventura County,\u201d said Supervisor Zaragoza. \u201cThe program is providing a friendly gateway for farmworkers to seek helpful resources and address their concerns. With the support of the Board of Supervisors we have created an environment where farmworkers and growers can improve working relationships and during a time of emergency this is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

For additional program information, call (805) 385-1899, email HSA-AGFRP@ventura.org<\/a> or visit www.ventura.org\/human-services-agency\/farmworker-resources\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Para la versi\u00f3n en espa\u00f1ol, haga clic aqu\u00ed<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VENTURA, Calif. \u2013 The County of Ventura, in a collaboration with the County Executive Office, the Farmworker Resource Program and the Agricultural Commissioner\u2019s Office, has provided Agricultural Essential Worker Cards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.venturacounty.gov\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}