CalAgrAbility staff participated in a number of health and ag events reaching farmers and their families in August. The Eat Real Festival in Oakland, CA was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association, one of the largest in northern CA. This was an opportunity for the staff to meet with small farmers and promote CalAgrAbility. At the local Tomato Festival in Woodland and the Pear Fair in the Delta Region, representatives met with workers and growers to disseminate AgrAbility info and identified two new consumers. National Health Center Week,August 8th through the 14th commemorated the service that health centers provide for medically underserved populations in the U.S. Farmworker Health Day was also recognized August 12th. CalAgrAbility participated in the Health Promotion Event at Madison Migrant Housing Center. Over 1,000 farm family members received vital health care.
CalAgrAbility also conducted a rehabilitation workshop for ALBA, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association. ALBA provides educational and business opportunities for farm workers and aspiring farmers to grow and sell crops from farms in Monterey County. In the Capay Valley, CalAgrAbility completed the 3rd and final part of the pilot three-session "Taking the Reins" arthritis class, which received good evaluations from the approximately 20 participants. The staff also attended the webinar, Fotonovelas: An Effective HIV/AIDS Education Tool for Rural Latino Communities, produced by the Farmworker Justice Forum. For more statewide coverage, CalAgrAbility was filmed and interviewed by the University of California’s News and Information Spanish Outreach Dept. This will be included in several TV spots for CalAgrAbility on farming with arthritis and heat stress and will be published on network and local stations' webnews.
CalAgrAbility staff members Martha Stiles, Emeralda Mandujano, and Crystal Martinez played a major role in the AgrAbility webinar, AgrAbility Outreach to Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers: Fotonovelas and Beyond. The team focuses on such issues as “Why Use Spanish-language Materials,” “Communication and Health Literacy,” and “Reaching Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers.”
Submitted by Martha Stiles