Sí Se Puede: David Villarino-Gonzalez

When labor leader Cesar Chavez founded The Farmworkers Institute of Education and Leadership Development (FIELD) in 1978, his goal was to inspire California’s rural workforce to gain self-sufficiency through employee-owned enterprises. “When we talk about self-sufficiency, what we're really talking about is rural communities – immigrant communities – prospering both economically and socially,” says David Villarino-Gonzalez, President and CEO, FIELD. Today, FIELD continues this core mission to improve the economic prospects of rural immigrant communities all over California. They do this through a variety of educational and workforce development training programs, and through developing local cooperative enterprises.

In this conversation, David shares what he’s learned working with his community, what capacity building means for FIELD, and the importance of listening to the people you serve. Joining him is Jorge Contreras, Manager, Financing at NFF.

In this video: 

0:25 FIELD’s work and goals.
1:10 How David’s family history inspired him to go into this work.
2:44 What FIELD learned working with its community of farmworkers and immigrants.
3:36 What Sí se puede [Yes we can] means to FIELD.
4:36 How a clear vision and core values guide decisions in serving a community.
5:43 How building capacity for FIELD means building the community’s economic confidence.
6:58 How economic and social prosperity lead to self-sufficiency.
9:03 Why listening to your community is essential.

Images of Cesar Chavez belong to the Ernest Lowe Photography Collection and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).

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