The purpose of the UFW foundation s project is to provide 600 disaster relief payments to 144,943ELIGIBLE farm workers throughout the united states for pandemic safety related expenses and…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service awarded a $97.8 million Block Grant to the UFW Foundation under the Pandemic Relief Activities: Farm and Food Worker Relief Grant Program (CFDA 10.181). The UFW Foundation will coordinate efforts with seven subrecipients to provide $600 disaster relief payments to approximately 144,943 eligible farm workers across the United States for pandemic safety expenses and other costs incurred due to COVID-19. Subrecipients include the UFW, PCUN, CIERTO, NC FIELD, Farmworker Association of Florida, Michigan Advocacy Program and BienEster. Funding will support outreach targeting rural areas and digital communications informing farm workers. The UFW Foundation will utilize call centers, on-the-ground intake, and online self-registration methods to process approved relief payments distributed via prepaid cards over the two-year grant period ending October 2024.

The purpose of the UFW foundation s project is to provide 600 disaster relief payments to 144,943ELIGIBLE farm workers throughout the united states for pandemic safety related expenses and othercosts incurred due to covid 19. As the lead organization, the UFW foundation will coordinate effortswith 7 subrecipients comprised of the UFW, pcun, cierto, NC field, farmworker association of florida, michigan advocacy program and bienester. Notably, this collaborative has experience providing on thegrounddisaster relief services to farm workers in washington, oregon, california, arizona, new york, north carolina, michigan and georgia. This project will include outreach activities targeting hard toreachrural areas as well as digital communications efforts to inform farm workers about the project. The UFW foundation will utilize three strategies which the organization has tested and implementedsince 2020 to provide disaster relief to eligible farm workers 1) eligible farm workers call the ufwf callcenter or subrecipients hotline for initial intake and processing of relief payments mailed by the prepaidcard vendor to approved beneficiaries 2) on the ground intakes followed by card distribution at alater date by subrecipients due to approval and ordering protocols, cards cannot be issued at the timeof intake, and 3) online self registration by farm workers that will receive payments once approved bythe organization and distributed by the pre paid card vendor. During the course of the grant period, theufw foundation will identify best practices to address challenges that might arise. Additionally, theorganization will monitor the number of eligible farm workers receiving relief payments.