Rooted in Community, Rising for Justice: Our Journey through HEAL’s 2026 SoPL
Welcome to the third and final post in our 2026 School of Political Leadership (SoPL) blog series! This year, 10 food justice leaders are building powerful advocacy campaigns that drive racial, economic, and environmental justice in our food and farm systems
By: Juana Cordova and Sasha Reyes, Workplace Climate Collaborative Team, Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project
Our journey to the HEAL School of Political Leadership (SoPL) is deeply personal and rooted in the very communities we advocate for every single day. We stepped into this space not just as professionals, but as people who come directly from the community we serve. Every day, we see low-wage workers denied the basic dignity and respect that every human being deserves.
For us, this mission is a continuation of our families’ legacies. Growing up, we witnessed firsthand the immense barriers our parents faced as low-wage workers, enduring workplace violations and a lack of respect in the job sectors that keep this country running. That struggle goes back generations; Juana’s grandfather and uncle were braceros, working tirelessly to put food on the tables of millions, yet receiving little to no protection or gratitude in return. On the other side of our shared passion, Sasha’s journey took shape through college; supporting farmworker coalitions and seeing firsthand the massive, inspiring footprint of national movements.
Bringing these separate threads of our lives together made us realize something crucial: we needed to understand exactly how that kind of collective power is grown and sustained.
Working together at Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP), inspired by urgent research on the desperate need for both heat and cold safety regulations in the workplace, we knew we needed a sharper toolkit. We joined SoPL to learn how to turn our deep-rooted passion into concrete, life-saving protections for workers.
We envision a world where we aren’t just reacting to injustice, but actively advocating for laws to prevent it. Our vision is to advocate for heat and cold safety regulations across Illinois for both indoor and outdoor workers. We want to see clearer policy guidelines that guarantee wage increases, establish a significantly higher minimum wage across all sectors, especially for those wrongfully labeled “unskilled,” and worker protection from harm and retaliation.
For our team and our cohort, our immediate vision is fixed on advocating for the Workplace Extreme Temperature Safety Act (HB3762) and for hard-earned overtime pay for farmworkers. Our goal is to empower our community by directly educating workers on the importance of heat and cold safety protocols, making them the leading voices and authors of their own protections.
Moving forward, our approach to engagement is shifting from the inside out. One of our biggest breakthroughs during the sessions was learning how to map out and identify key players to move our campaigns forward. Hearing from seasoned organizers like Jose Oliva, HEAL Campaigns Director, completely shifted our perspective. He shared his own campaign experiences, illuminating exactly who we need to speak with and how to tailor our messaging to distinct audiences to garner authentic support.
Historically, our campaigns have relied heavily on external policy, but we’ve learned that we need to also engage the workers themselves much more deeply within the campaigns. SoPL provided the exact bridge we needed to turn our dreams into a reality. It has shown us the raw anatomy of a successful campaign, teaching us the intricate pieces of power mapping and tactical communication.
Through SoPL’s connection to HEAL’s massive coalition, we’ve also been given a front-row seat to see how organizing works. From utilizing the impactful mini-grant provided to us, to the intense preparation and successful execution behind the La Raza Article, this experience has taught us the profound level of dedication, alignment, and teamwork required to fundamentally advocate for workplace conditions for families just like ours.
After this experience, our understanding of communication and power has completely evolved. We’ve learned that strategic communication is crucial, and it requires a multi-faceted approach. A message isn’t just delivered in a meeting, it lives through guerilla marketing, energetic rallies, community-led social media campaigns, and direct events. We have reclaimed the truth that legislators work for us, and they are a vital tool to be leveraged for systemic change.
As we near the end of our time with SoPL, we are leaving with a profound sense of hope. We discovered that there are far more people willing to come together through this grueling process than we ever could have imagined. At the heart of our journey is a new way of looking at our mission. While we know that funding is crucial to keep our programs running right now, our true goal goes far beyond that. We are striving to build a world so fair and balanced that the structural gaps we are fighting to fix won’t even exist anymore. Together, we are fully committed to this lifelong fight.
About Juana Cordova!
Juana is a Bilingual Outreach and Intake Coordinator at Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP). Juana is a first-generation Latina from Lake County, Illinois, and draws strength from her family’s roots in Michoacán, Mexico and their Purepecha heritage. Her grandfather and uncle were both Braceros who faced wage theft, racial discrimination, and inhumane working conditions. Raised in a low-income household, she witnessed her mother endure exploitation and instability in the restaurant industry. These personal and family struggles shaped Juana’s deep commitment to justice and fueled her passion for workers’ rights. She earned a degree in Political Science with a concentration in Law & Courts, and a minor in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago to better serve her community. Today, she advocates for low-income, immigrant workers and their households through FLAP, helping them understand their rights and access vital resources. Grounded in lived experience, Juana is dedicated to fighting for dignity, fairness, and justice for workers across Lake County.
About Sasha Reyes!
Sasha is a proud first-generation Latina from Chicago’s south side and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Sociology. Raised in a Spanish-speaking household, she is bilingual and fluent in English and Spanish. Passionate about community advocacy, Sasha co-founded an after-school club in high school and later became involved in labor rights work during college, joining a national campaign that successfully pressured Trader Joe’s to pay farm workers fairer wages.
After graduating, Sasha joined First Defense Legal Aid, where she delivered bilingual “Know Your Rights” workshops under the guidance of attorneys. Her lifelong mission has always been simple: to help people. She brings that commitment to her current role at FLAP (Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project) as a Bilingual Advocacy and Intake Specialist. There, she supports immigrant and low-wage workers by distributing vital legal information, regardless of immigration status, ensuring they are empowered and informed.