Home How We Help California's Children Children of Migrant Farm Workers
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0 Children of Migrant Farm Workers

Delivering Services Where They're Most Needed

California's role as the “bread basket” of the world is well known. The State has more than 90,000 farms producing 350 different crops and, for the past 50 years, California has been the top food and agriculture producer in the U.S. But it takes more than a great climate and fertile soil to produce all this bounty. It takes the back-breaking work of a dedicated labor force that is willing to move from farm to farm, crop to crop, wherever there is work to be done.

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Many of the State's estimated 500,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers are parents too, and their children must travel and work with them, exposing them to the immediate hazards of the fields and the longer-term hazards of poor health, inconsistent education and lack of a social network.

First 5 California knows that these children are hard to find and hard to serve. To address these challenges, First 5 California launched the California Children of Migrant Farm Workers Project, committing more than $10 million to increase and improve education and services for migrant and seasonal farm workers and their young children.


What Do We Know About Migrant Farm Workers and Their Children?

According to the US Census Bureau, migrant farm workers have:
  • The lowest family income of any occupation surveyed
  • The highest poverty rate
  • The lowest educational attainment

According to a California Research Bureau report, we also know that:
  • Forty percent are uninsured
  • Four out of five earn less than $10,000 annually
  • Seventy percent are non-citizens
  • Agriculture is the second most dangerous occupation in the U.S.
  • Only 13 percent of employers provide health insurance to their seasonal workers (according to a survey conducted by the Farm Employers Labor Service)

Finally, there are several barriers that make it difficult for farm worker families to get the services they need for their children, including:
  • They rarely have a fixed address
  • They typically live in rural and remote communities and often have no private transportation
  • Many speak little or no English
  • They are often unfamiliar with or are distrustful of government agencies or public services
  • There is little understanding of the importance of early childhood development

With all this in mind, the California Children of Migrant Farm Workers Project is working closely with the migrant farm worker community to develop effective programs to deliver much needed services to this hard-to-reach community.


Program Information

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