Interfaith Action educates and animates people of faith to partner with the CIW in its efforts to improve wages in the fields, and put an end to modern-day slavery in the agricultural industry.
About Us
Who We Are
Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida (IA) is a network of people of faith and religious institutions that works in partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to improve sub-poverty wages and end modern-day slavery and human rights abuses in the fields. IA brings the spiritual resources of diverse faith traditions and the moral weight of faith-based voices in society to our work in collaboration with farmworkers for justice in the fields.
IA facilitates education for faith communities, including dialogue between farmworkers and non-farmworker people of faith, and animates people of faith to take action for justice in the agricultural industry. IA coordinates faith-based participation in the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food, leveraging the moral, consumer, shareholder, and social power of faith communities to effectively call on major tomato purchasers to ensure fair wages and human rights for farmworkers. 
IA played a crucial role in bringing about the historic agreements between the CIW and Yum Brands and McDonald’s, leading to real changes for the farmworkers who pick tomatoes for these companies.
IA also provides a wide range of logistical and technical assistance to the farmworkers of the CIW, both in Immokalee and in planning national tours and actions. IA is an affiliate of Interfaith Worker Justice and a founding member of the Alliance for Fair Food.
Partnering with the CIW for Farmworker Justice
Interfaith Action educates and organizes in partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). 
Our organizational philosophy is one of collaboration and partnership, rather than “helping” or providing services for farmworkers. Drawing on the teachings of our diverse faith traditions, we strive for justice, not charity. We take our lead from those most affected by poverty and exploitation— the farmworkers of the CIW— and work together with them to achieve the lasting, systemic changes the workers themselves have envisioned.
The CIW is a nationally-recognized human rights organization comprised of more than 3,500 Mexican, Guatemalan, Haitian, and Mayan Indigenous farmworkers and other low-wage workers based in Southwest Florida. The CIW works with the U.S. Department of Justice to combat modern-day slavery and also leads innovative efforts to improve the often brutal conditions faced by farmworkers today.
Since 1997, CIW members have uncovered, investigated, and assisted in the prosecution of six modern-day slavery rings, resulting in the liberation of over 1,000 workers. The CIW also has spearheaded major advances in corporate social responsibility, winning agreements with the two largest fast-food companies in the world— McDonald’s and YUM! Brands— to address the poverty and exploitation of tomato pickers in their supply chains. For their work, CIW leaders have been awarded the 2007 Anti-Slavery International Award, the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Award, World Hunger Year’s 2006 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award, the 2005 Business Ethics Network Award, the 1999 Rolling Stone Magazine Award for America’s Best Young Community Leader, and the 1998 Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award.
Board and Staff
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