Known for many years as the Adult Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Program, its name was changed to the Farmworker Jobs and Education Program. This name change was effected to better align the Program with changes that occurred at the national level, least of all being the implementation of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 which now funds the Program.

The Farmworker Jobs and Education Program is directly funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Division of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Programs in Washington, D.C.. Funding is allocated to the states by formula and grantees selected through biennial competition. The designated grantee in Florida is the Florida Department of Education which operates the Farmworker Jobs and Education Program by submitting an annual plan to the U.S. Department of Labor that calls for the attainment of certain numeric goals, the achievement of specified performance standards, guaranteeing the operation of advisory committees by local projects, and the acceptance of responsibility for overall program and fiscal oversight.

The purpose of the Farmworker Jobs and Education Program of Florida is to strengthen the ability of eligible migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their dependents to achieve economic self-sufficiency through their participation in educational, skills training and supportive services. Program participants, after completing their educational and skills training goals, are then able to obtain full-time, year-round unsubsidized employment and as a result are able to make positive as well as dramatic changes in their lives. Emergency services (such as food, medical care, clothing, rent, utilities, transportation, car repairs, etc.) can also be provided to qualified in-stream migrant farmworkers. This assistance helps to sustain them until jobs can be found for them in agriculture or until other state or local agencies can certify them for other services.

The Farmworker Jobs and Education Program is administered by the Adult Migrant Program and Services Section of the Florida Department of Education. The primary responsibility of the Section is to represent the Florida Department of Education as the Florida grantee, with specific responsibilities related to the funding and operation of local projects, coordination of statewide activities, provision of technical assistance and evaluating local and statewide program performance. Local projects of the Farmworker Jobs and Education Program, in cooperation with local One-Stop Delivery Systems, provide core services such as outreach, information and referral to supportive services to all migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Education and skill training is provided to eligible migrant and seasonal farmworkers through programs offered by the local school districts, community colleges as well as private for profit and non-profit agencies. Program participants may receive a basic allowance of $2.00 per hour of instruction, plus applicable needs-based payments for transportation and childcare.

The Adult Migrant Program and Services Section has independently developed, implemented, or collaborated on many other projects such as the Farmworker Residential Training Center; the Farmworker Youth Training Project; the Agricultural Migrant Worker Itinerary Tracking System (AMWITS); JTPA Title III Freeze and Hurricane Andrews Recovery Programs; Development of Pesticide Safety Material with University of Florida/Institute of Food and Science (IFAS) and the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP); the Farmworker National Data Base Project; Farmworker Transportation Pilot Project; the Migrant Education Even Start Project; and in collaboration with the Title I, Child Migrant Program, the Summer Institutes for Farmworker Youth. The most recent of these special efforts are the AmeriCorps Pesticide Safety Training Project in collaboration with AFOP and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the Step Ahead to Success Project for farmworker youth; and the interstate demonstration farmworker migrant youth project Seeing Alternatives Valuing Education (SAVE).

CONTACT PERSON: Carlos R. Saavedra, Senior Educational Program Director, Adult Migrant Program and Services Section, Office of Workforce Education, Bureau of Program Planning and Development, Florida Department of Education, 8402 Laurel Fair Circle, Suite 212 , Tampa, Florida 33610: Telephone 813/744-6303; SunCom 512-1156; Fax 813/744-6296; SunCom Fax 512-1153; e-mail