Growers First Inc.
P.O. Box 4227
Laguna Beach, CA 92652
Phone: 949.551.1085
Email: info@growersfirst.org
Growers First, 9th Annual Leadership Conference in Oaxaca, Mexico
August 2009
Laguna Beach, CA – Growers First, a leading advocate for small indigenous coffee growers, announces the sponsorship their 9th annual leadership conference to be held in Oaxaca, Mexico on November 11-13. Growers First has been working with coffee growers in Mexico for over ten years and held their first conference in 2000. The first conference had about 200 in attendance and this year, 4,000 to 5,000 are expected. In attendance will be village leaders, lay pastors and pastors from various parts of Latin America that serve in helping others in their local communities.
The majority of the world’s poverty stricken live in remote agricultural regions where they have neither the resources nor training to lift themselves out of subsistence living. Growers First provides training, education and collaborative efforts that empowers the poor to seek their own way out of poverty through hard work, entrepreneurial ingenuity and dignity. By creating and growing successful micro-enterprises, farmers can produce a sustainable income for themselves and their families that contribute to a better economic and social quality of life.
The conference reinforces and augments the training that is at the heart of the Growers First programs that are implemented in the rural mountain regions of Mexico and other parts of the world. In addition to providing medical and dental care at the conference for attendees, many breakout training seminars are provided on a variety of topics and a number of speakers provide insightful and encouraging messages for adults, youth and children. Attendance is free to all who are registered and they are provided with meals while at the conference.
The conference is held at the Montero family rancho who have hosted the conference every year since its beginning and has developed the conference site to become a self sustaining entity of its own.
Growers First is a 501(C) 3 organization that seeks to support the UN’s Millennium Development Goals through programs aimed at economic sustainability, empowerment through social equity, and creating a place at the table for the world’s poor. Detailed information about specific programs, geographical areas of involvement and our partnering activities are available on the Growers First website – www.Growersfirst.org. For further information, contact Monica Prado – monica@growersfirst.org
