Service Learning Proposal For Women To Women Conference
By: Taimar Branch, Julie Sautner
Feburary 16th, 20012
Professor- Meredith Tweed
WST 3015-0001
Community Partner Profile:
Community Partner: The Farm Worker Association of Florida
Contact: Dr. Maria Santana
Community Partner Mission Statement: “to build power among farm worker
and rural low-income communities to respond to and gain control over the
social, political, workplace, economic, health, and environmental justice
issues that impact their lives” (Farm Worker Association of Florida). http://floridafarmworkers.org/index.php/about-us/vision-a-mission
Political and/or Social Basis for Organization: The association was
founded and organized by farm workers in 1983, who wanted to acknowledge and
act on the needs of other farm workers in Central Florida. “The founding
purpose of the association was to organize farm workers more effectively in
their struggle for better housing, wages, and housing conditions”( Farm
Worker Association of Florida). http://floridafarmworkers.org/index.php/about-us/our-history
Community Partner Needs:
In correspondence with UCF Women’s
Studies Program; the Farmworker Association of Florida is hosting an annual
“Women to Women” conference. This conference is an educational event for
migrant female farm workers. To help make this a successful event, volunteers
are needed to provide their time and skills to these women in need. The
identified needs are as followed:
·
There is a need for volunteers to help gather donations of
hygienic supplies for the women’s gift bags: shampoo, conditioner, body lotion,
sunblock, toothpaste and brushes, hair combs, brushes, clips and head bands.
·
On-site childcare is also being provided for the women who have
children under the age of ten. Volunteers will provide this service of
childcare, which would allow the parents to fully focus on the day’s
informative event.
·
There is also a fundraiser being held, which will raffle off two
year passes to Bush Gardens, Aquatica or Sea World priced at five dollars a
ticket. The volunteers can be responsible for the sale of the tickets which
would increase the intake funds amount that would benefit the association and
future events.
The Proposal:
The following is a proposal to outline the needs, motivation and practicality
for a service learning project to benefit The Farmworkers Association of
Florida . The following proposal contains why the Farmworkers Association of Florida
would benefit from this Community Outreach project, an outline of the work I
plan to do to profit their cause, the why this should be included in a course
on Women’s Studies, and a timeline of events. This proposal will be flexible to
meet the needs of the both the Service Learning project and the community
partner so everyone benefits in the end.
Need for volunteers for the Community Outreach Program
The Farmworkers Association of Florida again, serves
to acknowledge and act on the needs of other farm workers in
Central Florida. The founding purpose of the association was to organize farm
workers more effectively in their struggle for better housing, wages, and
housing conditions.
There aren’t a whole lot of
opportunities for the migrant farmworkers of Florida many suffer due to poor
sexual health, hygiene education and other personal health issues. More
specifically and most importantly, the Women to Women conference serves to cater to those needs and shortcomings in the
areas of hygiene education and personal health education for migrant female
farmworkers of Florida. So students involved in this will be beneficial in
providing the free childcare, fund raising, raffle sales, supply collection
etc. Without the use of volunteers, the execution of the Women to Women program
really wouldn’t be possible.
Plan Proposal:
Throughout the
remainder of this semester, we will be diligently working to collect supplies
that fit every need of the Women to Women conference. In order to do this, I will be teaming up
with churches in my local area to run and organize supply drives to collect
hygiene products such as shampoo, conditioner, headbands, brushes, combs, deodorant,
toothbrushes, toothpaste, washcloths, and also recyclable grocery bags to carry
all of these supplies in. Each woman participant will be taking them home.
If sufficient amounts of supplies are not
being collected between churches, I plan on tabling outside of grocery stores
in my local area (Publix, Walmart, Whole Foods) to bring awareness to people
about the cause the Women to Women Conference serves, and asking for any
donation monetary or supply wise they could make toward the cause. This will
also be an opportunity to sell raffle tickets 5 dollars apiece for the chance
to win 2 year passes to Busch Gardens.
Rationale for Women’s Studies:
The
Farmworkers Association of Florida and more Specifically the Women to Women Conference,
serve to help and prosper the migrant (women) farmworkers of the state of
Florida to not have them held back by the patriarchal system, but to educate
them and provide information and support to help move them past the boundaries
that patriarchy, prejudice, and in some cases lack of education and resources
our society places upon them. I feel that this cause most relates to the Third Wave of
Feminism, which seeks multicultural inclusion and represents women from all
walks of life. So that women of various social locations, including the scopes
of race and social hierarchy, should receive assistance likewise from the gains
of the movement of the Third Wave Feminists.
I have been communicating with Dr. Maria Santana the UCF Campus
Coordinator of the Women to Women Conference through email to find out what the needs dates and deadlines
of this event are. I will be in weekly contact (face to face or email) with Dr.
Santana and her Women’s Studies class who are facilitating the bulk of this
event to keep on track with the vision and needs for this event, and keeping
them up to date on the supply drives I will be running and the status of the
raffle tickets.
Timeline:
Pending approval of this proposal and aware that this
timeline may be revised if need be:
2/25/12- Begin supply collection drives and raffle sales
- During this time execute and continue weekly
collection and continued reminders of need
- During this time
continued raffle sales solicitation in my classes and around my community.
3/31/12- 10:00-2:00 Women to Women Conference in Apopka Fl,
at Church of the Holy Spirit (will be there from set up to clean up times may
be adjusted)
Works Cited
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/p/third_wave.htm
http://floridafarmworkers.org/index.php/about-us/our-history
Word Count: 1046
