☀︎ 2024 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2024 ENCUENTRO

Welcome to the 2024 Encuentro!

Immokalee, FL ☀︎ Aug. 30 - Sep. 2, 2024

Back by popular demand, the Student/Farmworker Alliance Encuentro is a decades-long grassroots organizing tradition that brings students and young people from across the country together for a weekend of skill-building, strategizing, creativity, and reflection, all grounded in the fight for Fair Food in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers! Scroll down to see the Encuentro’s roots.

☀︎ 2021 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2021 ENCUENTRO

Still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, SFA continued hosting its annual convergence virtually to strengthen its network and raise consciousness about the historic Campaign for Fair Food through a weekend of creativity, strategizing, skill-building and reflection.

Read more in the 2021 Encuentro Program

☀︎ 2020 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2020 ENCUENTRO

Due to the pandemic, this year’s SFA Encuentro was the first virtual encuentro in SFA’s history. The theme — Piecing Together Justice — highlights the importance of intersectionality in the SFA’s work.

☀︎ 2019 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2019 ENCUENTRO

As the theme of this year’s Encuentro — La Lucha Sigue — suggests, the battle for dignity and respect in the fields is far from over. And the moment for us to come together couldn’t be more perfectly timed.

Read more in the 2019 Encuentro Program

☀︎ 2018 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2018 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2017 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2017 ENCUENTRO

Boot the Braids is a student-led campaign aiming to remove Wendy’s from campuses. It was inspired by SFA’s victorious Boot the Bell campaign against Taco Bell.

This year’s Encuentro focused on building strategy for the national Boot the Braids campaign against Wendy’s.

☀︎ 2016 SUMMIT

☀︎ 2016 SUMMIT

The Boycott Wendy’s Summit bridged SFA with the larger ally network to provide a chance to connect, deepen our work with the CIW, further develop our commitment to this struggle, and increase our consciousness of the state of our world.

Read more in the 2016 Boycott Wendy’s Summit Program

☀︎ 2015 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2015 ENCUENTRO

At this year’s encuentro, SFAers worked on:

  • Launching back-to-school escalation plans around the Wendy’s student boycott

  • Strategizing new ways to continue building the Publix campaign

  • Building strength and solidarity across grassroots movements for justice

  • Sustaining the future of SFA's organizing through skill-building workshops and other tools for leadership development

Learn more in the 2015 Encuentro Program

☀︎ 2014 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2014 ENCUENTRO

This year's Encuentro aimed to lay the groundwork for an intensive year of on-campus organizing to escalate the Boot the Braids campaign.

☀︎ 2013 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2013 ENCUENTRO

Over 70 students and young people from over 20 states converged in Immokalee, for an in-depth weekend of strategizing, relationship-building and reflection on our power as youth.

Knowledge was shared, relationships were formed and strengthened and many plans were created and set in motion for this coming school year, aimed especially at Wendy's.

☀︎ 2005 ENCUENTRO

☀︎ 2005 ENCUENTRO

SFA’s first annual Encuentro was held back in 2005! Unfortunately, though, pictures and documentation from these early Encuentros are missing.

60+ students came together in Immokalee to share stories, skills, and songs while strategizing for the next phase in the struggle for farmworker justice: taking on the rest of the fast-food industry following the CIW's agreement with YumBrands. The first SFA Steering Committee was formed shortly after.