An organizing report, a brand-new website, and a list of caravans from around the country… Here’s all you need to join the CIW’s major spring action in New York City, March 10-12!
In less than one month, farmworkers and their families from Immokalee will head north to New York City — the finance capital of the world — for the next major mobilization in the Wendy’s Boycott.
This time around, the action is leading farmworkers and their consumer allies directly to the doorstep of the Wall Street investment firms and funds behind Wendy’s fast-food burger business. From March 10-12, thousands of farmworkers and their consumer allies will be taking New York City by storm with the 3-day Follow the Money March from Brooklyn to Midtown Manhattan, to protest Wendy’s unconscionable failure to join the Fair Food Program, the undisputed leader in combatting sexual violence, forced labor, and other human rights violations in the US agricultural industry.
And now YOU can also make your plans to join us for this historic march for farmworker justice! If you haven’t already, take the time to register for the Follow the Money March’s 3-mile grand finale on March 12, which kicks off at 5pm from Union Square Park.
The Follow the Money March website is live!
Over at the Wendy’s Boycott website, you’ll be able to find a set of new webpages with all the details on the logistics, programming, and resources for the Follow the Money March. Keep checking back in the weeks to come as the organizing team puts up the final march route map and investor targets, a full schedule of events, and ways to support the major action from afar.
Just released today: the long list of caravans and flight mobilizations — with caravans leaving for New York from cities and states across the country— spearheaded by dedicated members of the Fair Food Nation! Check out if there’s a mobilization leaving from a city near you:
Northeast Bus Mobilization: Rhode Island – Billie McKelvie, billie@sfalliance.org; Massachusetts – Gold Carson, gold@sfalliance.org
Washington DC Bus Mobilization: DC Fair Food, dcfairfood@gmail.com; Billy Hackett, billy@sfalliance.org
Texas Bus Mobilization: Blanca Estela Delgado, delgado@borderworkersunited.org
North Carolina Caravan Mobilization: Estefany Bonilla, estefany@sfalliance.org
Tampa Flight Mobilization: Amber Pirson, amber@sfalliance.org; Andrea Hernandez-Sabanilla, andreahs@sfalliance.org
Miami Flight Mobilization: Emily Reyneri, emily@sfalliance.org; Johania Charles, johania@sfalliance.org
Fort Myers Flight Mobilization: Banesa Perez, banesa@sfalliance.org
Gainesville Flight Mobilization: Brett Hymel, brett@sfalliance.org
Washington State Flight Mobilization: Julian Rocha, julian@sfalliance.org; Banna Gebre, banna@sfalliance.org
Don’t see your city? Get in touch with us at organize@allianceforfairfood.org for resources on how to start up your own caravan to the Follow the Money March!
As we count down the days until we march on the Wall Street power players behind Wendy’s, here’s a report from the CIW leaders and Alliance for Fair Food organizers that have already settled into the Big Apple for a month-long effort to mobilize thousands of New Yorkers to march behind the Fair Food banner with farmworkers next month:
Off with a bang! During our first week of intensive organizing ahead of the big Follow the Money March from March 10-12, our mighty team of farmworker leaders and ally organizers has galvanized the support of hundreds of students, people of faith, city council members and community activists from across New York City! Not only have we organized the support of countless new allies into the Fair Food movement — with a packed schedule of back-to-back classroom presentations from CUNY colleges to Columbia — but we’ve also spent time deepening our relationships with long-time CIW supporters. In doing so, a beautiful and flourishing partnership has been established with our friends at The Workers Circle, who have designed a worker justice curriculum alongside the CIW to present to dozens of Jewish youth organizations and synagogues across the NYC area in the next month! And that work has already begun. . .
On the NY City Council resolution front, Student/Farmworker Alliance leaders in the city and students and families from The Workers Circle have been enlisting new Council Members to support Resolution 1156 urging Wendy’s to join the Fair Food Program and support farmworkers’ human rights. So far, the numbers of co-sponsors has jumped from six to 16 over the course of a few days, and we expect many more to sign on in the coming days as the resolution prepares to be heard before the Committee on Civil Service and Labor very soon!
And finally, with all the excitement and buzz around the big Follow the Money March that has been building across New York City in the last week, a new wave of local organizers have reignited New York Fair Food during this critical moment in the Wendy’s Boycott. Drawing upon years of CIW solidarity work by the former Community/Farmworker Alliance, the resurgent coalition of students and youth, faith-based groups, and community leaders will play a leading role in organizing for the big finale on March 12, and create a long-term strategy to mobilize support in NYC until Wendy’s comes to the table once and for all!
Stay tuned for more details and organizing updates about next month’s Follow the Money March, and if you know any professors, congregations, or organizations in New York that might be interested in hosting a presentation or announcement by a CIW leader before March 10, please reach out to us at organize@allianceforfairfood.org. More soon!
