Scaling Farmworker Advancement Strategies
April 9, 2026
At a Glance
JFF shares lessons from Round 1 of California’s Farmworkers Advancement Program, highlighting how 12 organizations designed training, supports, and employer partnerships to advance economic mobility for over 1,000 farmworkers statewide.
Acknowledgments
This report and associated technical assistance and developmental evaluation provided to the Farmworkers Advancement Program (FAP) for Program Year (PY) 2023-2024 was funded by a grant award totaling $962,701.50 (100%) from the U.S. Department of Labor, with $0 (0%) financed from nonfederal sources. We want to thank EDD’s Special Populations Support Unit for its collaboration and support throughout this initiative, as well as the 12 project operators from FAP PY 2023-2024 for sharing their insights and expertise.
California’s Farmworkers Advancement Program (FAP) is presented as a first-of-its-kind, population-focused investment that channels Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Governor’s discretionary funds to improve economic mobility for farmworkers and their families. Through Round 1, 12 diverse project operators—including community-based organizations, workforce boards, community colleges, a four-year university, and a training provider—designed regional models that combine skills training with robust wraparound supports and emerging career navigation functions. Collectively, these efforts were intended to test what it takes to move farmworkers into quality jobs, strengthen organizational capacity in under-resourced communities, and surface program designs that can inform longer-term systems change, with Jobs for the Future (JFF) providing technical assistance and developmental evaluation.
By December 2025, the initiative had served roughly 1,050 participants—most of whom were unemployed at enrollment and faced multiple barriers such as low income, limited education, and language and literacy gaps. Project operators reported 1,159 Measurable Skill Gains, 293 industry-recognized credentials, and 227 job placements, with outcomes expected to grow as more participants complete training and transition into work. Training spanned sectors within and beyond agriculture, and many programs embedded culturally responsive, bilingual, and integrated education and training approaches to create accessible on-ramps to higher-wage opportunities. The report highlights how targeted investments, braided funding, and co-enrollment in programs like the National Farmworker Jobs Program can build stronger local ecosystems of support, while also acknowledging persistent challenges—especially limited bilingual training capacity, difficulty connecting participants to quality jobs, and the administrative demands of WIOA grants. These lessons shape a set of recommendations for both local practitioners and state agencies.
