Mission Statement / Misión
Mission Statement
Dartmouth students and faculty recognized the need to help immigrant laborers in our region. As a result, FUERZA Migrant Outreach was established by Dartmouth students and professors. FUERZA was founded with the purpose to build long-term, reciprocal relationships with migrant laborers and provide invaluable resources that will allow them to be self-advocates. Our immediate goal is to provide English literacy in order to facilitate interactions with community members and migrant workers.
Misión
Los estudiantes y profesores de Dartmouth reconocieron la necesidad de ayudar a los trabajadores inmigrantes en nuestra región. Como resultado, FUERZA fue creada por los estudiantes y profesores de Dartmouth. FUERZA fue fundada con el propósito de construir relaciones duraderas y recíprocas con los trabajadores migrantes y proporcionar recursos invaluables que les permitirán ser auto-defensores. Nuestro objetivo inmediato es proporcionar clases en inglés con el fin de facilitar interacciones con los miembros de la comunidad y los trabajadores migrantes.
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Our History
Dartmouth CoFIRED was founded January 20th, 2017 with the purpose of raising awareness about undocumented students at Dartmouth and other college campuses. Our mission is to foster discourse around immigration reform and to advance the rights of immigrants, undocumented students at Dartmouth, and of DREAMers across the US. Our aim is to increase awareness about issues faced by undocumented individuals and to create a deeper sense of understanding on why immigration reform is an immediate imperative. We have identified isolated migrant populations in New Hampshire and Vermont, and most of them are working in dairy farming with limited access to their surrounding community, and we aim to bridge the gap between their lives and the world around them. After proposing this service opportunity to Professor Douglas Moody, he and Professor Israel Reyes initiated a Dartmouth course in the LALACS program on local migrant experiences, which is has been offered for the first time in the spring term of 2017. LATS 37, Migrant Lives & Labor in the Upper Valley, presents opportunities for Dartmouth students and community members to provide ESL classes to the migrant farmworkers, and the students in LATS 37 have also been working to expand educational opportunities in the realm of financial literacy, health education, and farm worker advocacy. At the end of the spring term, Dartmouth CoFIRED will be continuing this service project as Fuerza Migrant Outreach. Fuerza means “strength,” and we chose this name because we believe it embodies our mission to strengthen and empower this migrant community, so that they may live more fulfilling lives in our community (the Upper Valley) where English language skills are a basic necessity.