Labor Justice Department
MICOP’s Labor Justice program advocates for fair employment practices and empowers farmworkers to address workplace abuses like wage theft, discrimination, and retaliation. Through training and organizing, MICOP builds farmworker leadership to improve labor conditions and strengthen enforcement of labor laws. Funded by the National Employment Law Project, MICOP partners with the CA Labor Commissioner to pursue unpaid wage cases, promote strategic enforcement, and develop community-public partnerships that advance justice and compliance in California’s labor system.
Tequio Youth Group
Tequio Youth Group develops the leadership skills of indigenous Mexican youth to promote indigenous pride, encourage academic achievement, and advocate against bullying of indigenous young people. In 2012, youth leaders of MICOP’s Tequio youth leadership program, were responsible for the adoption by local school districts of a policy banning the use of derogatory terms such as “oaxaquita“ in three school districts and successfully advocating for indigenous language access in the Oxnard High School District. From 2014-2015, participants of the Tequio Youth group participated in a two-year systems change campaign called “Fields to College,” in which they advocated for increased language resources for parents and students of Oxnard Union High School District (OUHSD) where they all attended. This campaign had two parts: first, to increase language access to their immigrant indigenous parents and second, to increase English language tutoring and improved English language classes.
Tequio Youth learn to be leaders as they engage in greater MICOP causes, while they decide which goals and objectives they would like to take on. Academic achievement is one of the pillars of the Tequio Youth Group. Unlike many of their peers who often leave school to work in the fields, nearly all Tequio participants graduate from high school and matriculate into college. Tequio Youth Group gives young people the skills they need to succeed in achieving their goals, as they also work to create positive social change for their community.
Tequio Youth Scholarship
Established in 2012 to inspire and encourage academic success in the indigenous community, the Tequio Scholarship Fund provides individual grants to college students from Ventura County who are of indigenous Mexican roots from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero. The term “Tequio” describes an indigenous person’s desire and obligation to assist their community. We provide these grants in the spirit of Tequio, and we seek to support highly motivated students who share this commitment to serve their community. As you climb, may you lift your community with you.
Collaborative Projects & Campaigns
In recent years, farmworkers across the region, facing rising housing and living costs, have led strikes for better wages and working conditions. Empowered by their status as essential workers, they joined forces with Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) and the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) to form Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central (Alianza Campesina). Alianza Campesina collaborates with farm workers across the Central Coast to organize and advocate for the rights of farm workers and improved working conditions.
On April 1, 2024, Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central (Alianza Campesina) released a report titled "Harvesting Dignity: The Case for a Living Wage for Farmworkers." The report not only sheds light on the realities surrounding the pay farmworkers receive and their workplace conditions but also underscores the pressing necessity for farmworkers to be justly compensated for their arduous labor.
Project MILPA
Project MILPA is a collaborative project between MICOP, CAUSE & Lideres Campesinas to advance farmworkers-led regenerative agricultural cooperatives and land trusts in Ventura County through systemic policy change and a local demonstration project that promotes the restoration and stewardship of open space and farmland while advancing collective power and economic justice for those who work the land.
In June 2024, MICOP, along with CAUSE and Lideres Campensinas,
launched the “Healing Land, Collective Power” report on the barriers and opportunities to establishing a farmworker cooperative in Ventura County. The report's methodology included farmworker surveys, farmworker focus groups, interviews with field experts, a literature review, and policy recommendations. Part of this work has included training for farmworkers on cooperatives and the establishment of a farmworker leader known as MILPA (Misión, Independencia, Logrando, Poder y Aprendizaje).