MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

NOW IN THE THIRD YEAR OF THIS HORRIFIC PANDEMIC,

the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR) still feels the constraints community organizing and national advocacy strategies. Although, the BNHR never stopped its community work during these last few years.

The presential, one-on-one community education and leadership development plans did not occur in the ordinary, expeditious ways we were accustomed to in the pre-pandemic era. The pace of our national advocacy work changed in the form of fewer community educational delegations to meet in person with policymakers in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Instead, more advocacy events and actions were carried-out through virtual and online mechanisms. BNHR understood very early, at the beginning of the pandemic, the need to expand and consolidate the knowledge of digital and online tools to continue to advance our organization’s goals in such conditions. Adapting and getting used to new forms of communication

The neighborhood Human Rights Committees, where families and members of BNHR organize and participate, became virtual, and the unthinkable happened. Farmworker families from Southern New Mexico were now connecting, learning, discussing, and making decisions regarding the BNHR plans and campaigns through the online platform, Zoom. This was something we could not even imagine before the pandemic.

The communications and planning of our organizing and leadership teams advocacy, community organizing, and education plans. Public events typically done presential have now been organized virtually and digitally. Press human rights reports, and even our Annual Membership Assembly were done virtually or have strong virtual elements. Yes, we were able to adapt and invest more funds and resources to make the technology available to every level of the BNHR structure. However, we all know that actions, community education, and community organizing will always need personal contact, face-to-face, element to succeed. At the end of 2022, and with the pandemic under some control, we are now transitioning into a hybrid model where technological tools are mixed presential format.

Fernando Garcia