Samantha Guerrero is a first-generation Idahoan and the daughter of Mexican Immigrants from Michoacán and San Luis Potosi. She graduated from the College of Idaho with her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology/Sociology and Political Economy. Samantha is a local immigrant rights activist, community organizer for IORC since 2019, and elected official for Idaho’s largest community college. Samantha co-founded the Idaho Immigrant Resource Alliance, a coalition of eight nonprofits, to bring together resources for immigrant and migrant families during COVID and to provide relief. Distributing local and organic food to rural areas where farmworkers live has been an eye-opening experience for the IORC ag and food team. There are very few BIPOC farmers in Idaho and we would like to support the next generation of land stewards, increase land access, and food access to all.
HEAL Food Alliance
2021 School of Political Leadership
Team: Idaho Food Sovereignty Project
Samantha Guerrero
Bilingual Community Organizer for Agriculture and Food, Idaho Organization of Resource Councils (IORC)
As one of the few organizations in the state of Idaho focusing on environmental justice, I believe SOPL will help us reframe what food justice is while allowing us to connect and learn from those who have been doing this work.
We are starting a food justice movement in Idaho that centers our BIPOC community. We need leaders that can influence food policy that centers sovereign community food systems and I believe SoPL can help us achieve this. Decolonizing the way we eat is the first step towards creating a food system that is just, culturally relevant, and non-exploitive to animals and the earth. It’s time we reframe what food is and is not.
Samantha on what SoPL means to her