What We Do
NESDAC was established with the commitment to address California’s youth unemployment, agricultural workforce shortage and homelessness.
Our Mission
NESDAC brings massive resources, technical support and expertise into a struggling, distressed community, rural/urban, to help develop local workforce and local food systems. If struggling, distressed, poverty communities can be identified, then we can come along-side them and strengthen them with our resources and technical team composed of trained workforce, experienced farmers, agricultural specialists (engineers and scientists). We can then setup local producer-workforce in that community and cultivate Local Workforce (young women and men) that can become the strength that the local people turn to for their local food systems.
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
— Alice Walker
Our Focus
We at NESDAC have broadly described the problems of California agricultural worker shortage, youth unemployment and homelessness as follows:
The shortage of younger farmers/ranchers and flexible farmworkers in California is directly intertwined with decent worker housing, home ownership, and apprenticeship. Housing/home ownership and farmer training are key to attracting thousands and millions of the hardworking, job seeking unemployed, underemployed young women and men, who are inner-city youth, new college graduates, veterans, dislocated workers, homeless people, mothers in shelters, high school drop-outs, formerly incarcerated adults, etc. to name a few, to work in agriculture and agro sector. Without housing and training, there is no reliable path to true agricultural workforce diversity, inclusion, integration and sustainable solutions to a farmworker shortage.
Farmer, rancher and farmworker training programs in California have not been focused on helping rural youth and resource-poor people (public welfare utilizer) integrate into agricultural employment. As the result, depopulation and migration to urban and big cities have become the only options for rural dwellers seeking better living conditions. Consequently, rural communities are deserted, abandoned and poverty infested. USDA and California Legislature need to prioritize job creation and workforce apprenticeship in rural communities.
Because the USDA had not funded outreach, technical assistance, training and agricultural workforce housing for hardworking socially disadvantaged and resource-poor people in California. USDA, growers/producers, agricultural service providers, farmer and rancher training organizations in California had little to no experience working with African Americans and other people of color who are socially disadvantaged. Consequently, it was not possible for USDA and California growers to realize the benefits of utilizing the huge untapped local urban socially disadvantaged youth and resource-poor workforce.
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FOR BIPOC
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Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)
National Economic and Social Development Action Committee (NESDAC) advocacy, technical assistance and outreach program is an economic empowerment program that provides resources to underserved and socially disadvantaged farmers who are new, beginning, urban, black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) and others with little or no resources to operate a farm due to resource constraints, prejudice and discrimination. NESDAC provides parcels of land and equipment to individuals or families who would like to become independent producers (farmers/ranchers). NESDAC trains people to become farmers, ranchers, and agricultural workers by giving them the knowledge, skills, and abilities to produce and sell their products.
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Why NESDAC?
NESDAC will increase the economic opportunities for BIPOC and resource poor producers. We will provide solid mentoring and peer support, etc. We will deliver specialized agricultural outreach and technical assistance that specifically caters to BIPOC producers/farmers and other resource poor, under-represented, underserved and marginalized populations due to resource constraints, and prejudice, discrimination, etc.
NESDAC serves all people regardless of race, culture, religion, political affiliations, etc. We focus on the problems to be solved. For example, we focus on injustice, inequities, discrimination, poverty, barriers, refugee, underemployment, homelessness, etc. We create opportunities for resource poor, marginalized, underserved and socially disadvantaged producers.
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Advocacy and Advancing Racial Equity
We are prepared to work with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to develop a long - term strategy for outreach and technical assistance in Underserved and BIPOC Community in California. And we will help USDA and CDFA improve their relationship with BIPOC growers and enhance their abilities to deliver services to the farmers and, vice versa, the BIPOC Farmer Community to access USDA and CDFA resources. NESDAC is California-based, led and staffed by people from underserved communities; people who are African Americans, Indigenous, Asian, People of Color and other marginalized people. NESDAC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that trains people to become farmers, ranchers, and flexible workforce/farm workers.
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NESDAC One-Stop Service Center
Service center
Farmer, Rancher, Managerial, Flexible Workforce Training
Outreach and Technical Assistance
Mentoring and Peer Support
Marketing and Management Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) in coordination with USDA/NRCS
National Organic Program (NOP) in coordination with USDA/NRCS
SWEEP and Healthy Soil
Urban Farming & a path to family farmer/commercial farming (small farm and ranch ownership).
Cold storage and general post-harvest storage
Beginning Farmer & Rancher Training
Small Farm Recordkeeping
Marketing Product Forms
Input & output Record Forms.
Conservation Practice Record Forms.
Production and Cash flow Budget forms
Rev. Roosevelt Tarlesson
Co-Founder and Executive Director