THIS FARM WORKER DOCUMENTARY PROJECT NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT

Dear friends,

This coming year is going to be a watershed for farm workers. 

Wages have been going down, people are living in crowded conditions - sometimes even outside under the trees, in tents and in cars. The communities of indigenous migrants who harvest our food up and down the Pacific Coast have been rising in protest, and last year organized strikes from Baja California to Washington State.

In this crucial year I'm going to travel through the Pacific Coast's indigenous farm worker communities, working with and guided by community activists as we document peoples' lives.  We will produce a reality check - the hard work, the bad housing, but also the vibrant culture and the way people organize in response. 

I'm writing to ask you to help me.  I need to raise at least $20,000 to make this happen.  Beacon Reader has generously offered to help raise the money, and even to match every contribution made on its website, dollar for dollar.  But I only have a month, starting today.  Here's the address for the site where you can make your donation:

https://www.beaconreader.com/projects/living-under-the-trees-poverty-in-the-fields

The money will be used in the following ways:
---   It will produce large photographic prints that will travel through urban and rural communities
---   It will produce written narratives by indigenous migrants that will accompany the photographs
---   It will produce an interactive website combining the photographs and voices
---   It will publish the photographs and narratives in mainstream media, and eventually collected as a book.

You can make this photojournalism and deep reporting possible, by making a donation to this crowdfunding campaign.  I've been doing this work for over a decade, and your pledge will be carefully used.

This is work that will have an impact on people's lives.  It will be used to help reduce anti-immigrant hysteria, and support indigenous migrant communities as they seek understanding and justice.  It will educate people living in cities, concerned about the food they eat, about the lives of the people who put it on the table.

All donations are appreciated and will be acknowledged.  But if you donate at least $100, you can get an 8.5x11" print from the series we'll take this year.  If you donate more, we'll send you a larger print and books.  I'll even come and talk about the project with you.  The website explains it all.

On the site there's a short, 90-second video that also shows you the power of combining the voices of community leaders with photographs that document their reality.

Please be as generous as you can, and put me on the road this coming year.  You won't regret it.

Saludos,

David Bacon