Slavery in America - Meet Antonio
Throughout our Recipe for Change campaign this summer, we'll be sharing stories about slavery in Florida's tomato fields. We are grateful to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for providing this story. Read More
Featured Recipe: Food Blogger Ali Ebright
Each week, the Recipe for Change campaign will feature a tomato recipe from a leader in the movement to end slavery, both here in the United States and around the world. You can sign up to get these recipes, along with information and stories on slavery in Florida's tomato fields and ways you can take action this summer. You'll receive one email per week between July 4th and Labor Day.
What’s in an overfilled tomato bucket? 45 cents.
Look again at this photo. Theres something wrong. Tomato farms that join the Fair Food Program dont have buckets that look like this one. But its not the bucket; its what inside!
The photo shows pickers hauling buckets that are overfilled by the new standards established by the Fair Food Program (FFP). In fields where tomatoes are grown under a Fair Food Agreement, buckets can only be filled to the rim, ensuring that workers are not underpaid and overworked.
According to the independent Fair Food Standards Council, the age-old practice of forced overfilling of picking buckets [was Read More
Holly's News From Washington - July 2012
Last month was a big month in the fight against trafficking. On the same day the U.S. State Department issued the annual Trafficking Persons (TIP) Report, Gary Haugen, founder and president of International Justice Mission received the abolition movements highest honor. Read More
Featured Recipe: Food Columnist Mark Bittman
Each week, the Recipe for Change campaign will feature a tomato recipe from a leader in the movement to end slavery, both here in the United States and around the world. You can sign up to get these recipes, along with information and stories on slavery in Florida's tomato fields and ways you can take action this summer. You'll receive one email per week between July 4th and Labor Day.
This week, we're excited to feature a tomato recipe from food writer Mark Bittman!
Mark Bittman (www.markbittman.com) is the food columnist for the New York Times magazine. In 2009, Mr. Bittman, who has been urging Americans to change the way we eat for decades, published Food Matters, which explored the crucial connections among food, health and the environment. Read More
Slavery in America: Get the Facts
Just over a week ago, we launched our summer campaign, Recipe for Change, here at IJM. Since then, a number of you expressed your surprise that slavery exists right in our own country, in an industry that touches your own lives. We were surprised to learn that too at first, so we wanted to give you more information about the problem, what's being done about it, and how you can help! Read More
Take Action on the TVPRA Today!
Today marks the one year anniversary since the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), S.1301, was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The TVPRA is the comprehensive legislation that enables us to fight human trafficking both at home and abroad. The reauthorization is necessary to keep the law current and make sure we keep pace with an ever evolving crime.
Read MoreAnnouncing our new campaign: Recipe for Change!
In South Asia, IJM staff partner with local officials to investigate slavery, free victims, and prosecute traffickers. But slavery doesnt just happen overseas; it exists in many forms right here in our backyard, and even makes its way to our dinner tables. In the past 15 years, over 1,000 people have been freed from slavery in Floridas tomato fields, where 90% of American off-season, fresh tomatoes are grown.
This summer, we have a Recipe for Change.
Read MoreFeatured Recipe: Gary and Jan Haugen
Gary Haugen serves as president and CEO of IJM, where he leads IJM's global casework and groundbreaking structural transformation of public justice systems worldwide (Gary was recently named a 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero by the State Department). He and his wife Jan love to cook, and this tomato sauce is the Haugen family-favorite! Read More
Slavery in My Own Backyard
I first heard the term modern-day slavery while sitting in my church pew one Sunday morning. We had invited a representative of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to talk briefly about working conditions in Floridas tomato fields. I left the service that day wondering if things in Florida could really be that bad. Slavery? This sounded exaggerated. It was 2011 slavery has long been abolished in our country. Two months ago our church offered a site visit to Immokalee, Florida, where we could meet and talk with members of the coalition.
I went. This is real. Modern-day slavery exists within 90 minutes of my home.
Read More