Community Wellness Day with Las Fotos Project

“Las Fotos Project's Community Wellness Days are rooted in care and connection, creating a space for community members to share a meal, make art, and access vital resources.” Alanna Araujo, Las Fotos Project Community Leader

This month Youth To the People is excited to continue its ongoing collaboration with Las Fotos Project (“LFP”), an LA-based nonprofit that centers community and inclusion in all of their work.

During Community Wellness Day, which will take place the weekend before Dia de los Muertos, YTTP will be sponsoring free fresh produce packages sourced from Catalan Farms, a local Latina owned organic farm in San Benito County. LFP partners with Polo’s Pantry to coordinate a safety system for securing produce that ensures farmworkers are not in harm's way during produce delivery.

Catalan Family Farms was founded by María Inés Catalán. She immigrated to the United States in 1986 and picked broccoli and carrots in the Salinas Valley of California. Her father was also a migrant farm worker, but her grandfather had owned land that the family farmed in Mexico. Catalán’s life took a different turn when in 1994 she entered an organic farming training program at the Rural Development Center in Salinas. This incubator program helps farm workers become organic farmers by providing training in farming and marketing while also leasing them land.

After graduating, Catalán became the first Latina migrant farm worker to own and operate a certified organic farm in California, and the first Latina in the country to found a farm that distributes produce through a community supported agriculture program. Since running Catalán Family Farm, Maria Ines has gone on to help organize small farmers who continue to face challenges to access the market. Through the Coalición de Pequeños Agricultores (Coalition of Small Farmers) she helps coordinate growing schedules, aggregate orders, and direct farmer purchasing.

Community Wellness Day is part of a bi-monthly community program led by Las Fotos Project that is welcome to all and everything is free. We're excited for our YTTP friends to join us this month for free activities, Dia De Muertos weekend festivities, and great opportunities for continued social connection & community. Be sure to check out Las Fotos Project event opportunities in your community here:
https://www.lasfotosproject.org/events