California Equity Journey
The California Equity Journey (CEJ) is a four-day, immersive, experiential learning journey that will foster a deeper understanding of the impacts of inequity, poverty, and injustice on local communities. The trip will have a special focus on water, sustainable agriculture, and farmworker experiences. Participants will learn as they listen deeply to community members’ experiences, and this will help us to identify the most effective solutions to foster economic inclusion and environmental justice in local communities. The trip is designed around dialogue with local community leaders and organizations in Modesto and in the Salinas / Watsonville area. Those who take this learning journey will broaden their California lens, get to know amazing local leaders and resilient communities, and be inspired to shape a more just and equitable future for our beautiful and challenging state. Join us!
Dates: September 26-29, 2025
Cost: $3,000 per person
Experiences will include:
- Participating in a listening circle to understand how local farmworkers are affected by contaminated well water, and how they are advocating for water justice
- Walking through the almond orchard of a second-generation almond rancher to learn about her sustainable agriculture practices
- Visiting a migrant farmworker camp and hearing the life journeys of women field workers
- Bonding with your fellow SV2 Partners on the bus and during late-night hotel chats and much more!
Learning Outcomes:
- Be better informed about priorities, issues, and challenges for California, especially water, agriculture, and farmworkers
- Understand how issue areas are related to each other
- Understand how different parts of the state are connected
- Learn how challenges are being addressed in different communities
- Gain confidence is learning how to spot and support opportunities
- Learn success stories and replicability in other communities and other work
Our learning will influence how we engage with and fund social impact organizations, emphasizing a renewed commitment to equity practices and actions driven by compassion. We also anticipate gaining a deeper understanding of the importance of supporting community-level upstream efforts and developing a more strategic approach to advocacy tools for systemic change. We value the time that agencies dedicate to us and want to ensure that our learning process is not extractive of local communities. To honor this commitment, we are offering honoraria to all organizations that meet with us. These honoraria represent a significant portion of the trip costs.
If you have questions about the California Equity Journey or want to indicate your interest in the trip before registering, please email Jody Chang at jchang@sv2.org.
