National Library of Medicine Grant (G08)The 1960 CBS broadcast of Edward R. Murrow’s Harvest of Shame brought to light the profound health inequities experienced by migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Many of the inequities documented at the time continue to exist today in our current agricultural and food systems, including exposure to pesticides and other hazards, challenges accessing healthcare, limited workplace protections, and barriers to health literacy. Indeed, farm work is one of the most dangerous occupations in America, especially in North Carolina.
To address this, the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine has awarded us a three-year health disparities grant (G08) to improve access to quality health information and resources for migrant and seasonal farmworkers as well as outreach workers. ECU, N.C. State University’s extension toxicology program and Student Action with Farmworkers are leading the effort. Additional organizations supporting the work are the N.C. Farmworker Health Program and the N.C. Community Health Center Association.
The grant project involves a three-level approach to promote health literacy among migrant and seasonal workers across North Carolina:
identify and assess health information designed for farmworkers and promote the submission of evidence-based education materials to the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) HealthReach database;
increase knowledge of NLM resources for farmworker health outreach workers and pilot technology to enhance education in combination with professional development opportunities;
provide Wi-Fi hot spots and access to the internet in combination with health literacy training at farmworker youth programs and migrant labor camps.
(Read ECU’s 2019 news release about this grant).
As of 2025, we have disseminated countless health information resources and hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots to migrant farmworker families and labor camps. According to our data report, we are at roughly 1,000 downloads of our health education materials!!