FIELD President and CEO David Villarino sits down with Jorge Contreras, Manager of Financing at NFF

Cesar’s goal when he founded FIELD was to inspire California’s rural workforce to gain self-sufficiency through employee-owned enterprises. “When we talk about self-sufficiency, what we’re really talking about is rural communities – immigrant communities – prospering both economically and socially,” says David Villarino-Gonzalez, President and CEO, FIELD. As FIELD works to continues our mission to improve the economic prospects of rural immigrant communities all over California, we do this through a variety of educational and workforce development training programs, and through developing local cooperative enterprises.  

In this conversation, David shares what he’s learned working with his community, what capacity building means for FIELD, and the importance of listening to the people you serve. Joining him is Jorge Contreras, Manager, Financing at NFF. 

This conversation is part of NFF’s “Where We Go From” series, a collection of interviews where nonprofit and foundation leaders share advice on what brings them hope, how they respond to change, and what keeps them going. Visit https://nff.org/fromhere for more details.