MIDLANDS NEWS SERVICE

August 21, 2008

Farmworker agency closing Omaha office

By: Cindy Gonzalez , Midlands News Service

A statewide agency created 30 years ago to prepare migrant and seasonal farm-workers for other jobs is shutting down its Omaha office.

Ella Ochoa, director of the NAF Multicultural Human Development Corp., said there are not enough eligible migrant workers in the Omaha area to justify operating the office at 4826 S. 24th St.

The Omaha NAF branch, one of seven across the state, will close at the end of September.

In its heyday, the Omaha site overflowed with seasonal workers seeking to be retrained for jobs beyond sugar beet fields and apple orchards.

After the office closes, area clients who can prove a history of farm work and are legal residents of the country can access vocational services through the organization's Lincoln office, Ochoa said.

To be eligible for the services, clients must have earned more than half their income in the past two years from fieldwork. Funding for the farm-worker programs come from a U.S. Labor Department grant.

As migrant enrollment decreased over the years, the Omaha office of NAF -- formerly known as the Nebraska Association of Farm-workers -- stepped up to fill another niche: English and civics classes for the general immigrant population.

The English classes became so popular that people waited to get in.

"That program excels. It's fantastic,'' Ochoa said, "which is why it took so long for us (administrators and the board of directors) to come to this decision.''

Funding for the English classes is provided through a different federal source, the Department of Education. Ochoa said that money alone is not enough to keep the NAF building afloat.

Vicki Bauer of the Nebraska Department of Education said she's working on a plan to move the English as a Second Language slots to another site. NAF's institutional presence and longtime ESL teacher, Rose Velasquez-Herrera, have provided valuable services, she added.

"We're sorry to see them close,'' Bauer said. "They definitely met a need in that community.”