These days the national news is full of stories about deportations and ICE raids, and the latest legislation that will vastly increase the ICE budget. In Wisconsin, studies by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School for Workers have documented the large portion of farm labor -- estimated at 70% -- done by immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker sat down two weeks ago with Mercedes Falk, the director of Puentes/Bridges, an organization based in Alma that works to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between dairy farmers and their Mexican employees. In this conversation, we hear about the cultural shift that has happened over the past decades as a result of Puentes’ work and learn why Falk applied to take part in Wisconsin Humanities’ Community Powered training program, becoming a Wisconsin Humanities Fellow. The year-long training session was cut short after only a couple of months when WH lost federal funding, but Falk offers her thoughts on what she sees as the value of skills taught in the program, including humanities-based methods of connecting through personal stories. She says that it’s at moments like these that community relationships really matter to help everyone feel safe. We promise you'll find hope in her stories

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This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.