Who We Are Heading link
The Great Lakes Center for Farmworker Health and Wellbeing is part of a network of Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health funded by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Our center is comprised of academics and service providers across multiple disciplines who recognize the critical importance of hired migrant and seasonal farmworkers in sustaining agriculture and our food supply chain. Our team works in Illinois, the Midwest, and beyond to promote and protect the health and wellbeing of these essential workers.
Learn more Heading link
What We Do Heading link
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Research
We conduct original research to understand and improve the factors that affect farmworker health and wellbeing.
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Data Snapshots
We curate data on where farmworkers are located within Illinois as well as the occupational injuries they experience.
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Outreach
We partner with organizations that connect farmworkers with legal, health, and social support services.
Why We Do It Heading link
Our goal is to ensure safe working conditions, fair and equitable wages, social protections, and access to healthcare for those whose labor sustains all of us.
The Illinois, U.S., and global food supply chains are dependent on farmworkers, and yet hired farmworkers are among the most disadvantaged worker populations in the U.S. After decades of legislation, advocacy, and research trying to address health and justice for this vulnerable population, these issues remain unsolved.
The Center works to ‘move the needle’ on improving the health and wellbeing of farmworkers and their families in partnership with public health practitioners, researchers, policymakers, trade organizations, and everyone who cares about worker justice and equity.