Sembrando Prevencion Program -The Real Coachella – Housing for the Harvest Farmworkers
TODEC’s Sembrando Prevencion Program
Prevention, Education, Outreach, and Empowerment
For over 40 years TODEC’s work has been rooted in rural communities. The Inland Empire and Coachella Valley have been powered by the labor of immigrant and agricultural workers, whose contributions are essential to California’s economy. TODEC’s work centers these communities, supporting families, advancing dignity, and building long-term power.
“The strength of this movement comes from the people in the fields. Their resilience, their leadership, and their commitment to their families and communities are what defines our work.”
The Farmworker Justice Center
TODEC’s Farmworker Justice Center—is an initiative aimed at supporting the area’s vital immigrant workforce. The center provides free, walk-in services to workers and immigrant families.
Thousands of farmworkers live and work in the Coachella Valley, often enduring long hours in the fields with limited access to critical resources. The center offers a wide array of services, resources, and education. The center is a hub for our community offering comprehensive services and education designed to meet holistic needs of immigrant and agricultural workers and their families.
The Real Coachella Campaign
TODEC’s “The Real Coachella” campaign began as a grassroot movement over 20 years ago to uplift our local Eastern Coachella farmworker community’s inequities and their economic contributions. This was done with messaging, data, and by uplifting their stories of struggle to create awareness and systems that addressed the needs of this community. In addition, we wanted the world to know that as they were visiting our Coachella Valley once a year to play, we had local farmworker families that were struggling without access to any safety-net benefits, healthcare, clean water, dignified housing, and nor safety. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the wellbeing of these workers and their families, our local farmworkers kept up with the harvest exposing their lives to feed the world and keeping our state’s economy running. We lost many lives. While our country was virtual and on pause, these workers without access to privilege kept on working, “If they don’t work, they don’t eat”. This year (2020) we expanded our grassroot poster campaign to placing Billboards at all entry ways of our region, showcasing our year round superstars “Nuestros Campesinos” with messaging backed by data and research. Since then our “The Real Coachella” campaign continues to place billboards starting late March till May of every year. Intentionally aligning every year with the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Riverside County
Housing for the Harvest Program
Housing & Financial Assistance to Protect Essential Farmworkers and Food Processing Workers During the Pandemic.
Program Hours
Monday-Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm
Potential applicants can call to start their eligibility and application process.
1-888-863-3291
TODEC Legal Center has partnered with Riverside County and the State of California to coordinate outreach, housing services, wellness checks and ancillary supportive services.
The program provides one-time financial assistance of $1,000 stipend to cover lost work hours. The program also provide temporary housing options, including hotel and motel rooms, for farmworkers or food processing workers who are either COVID-19 positive or exposed to have safe and suitable places to stay in if they are unable to self-isolate at home.
