It’s summer of 2025 and the news is full of stories about deportations and ICE raids. In Wisconsin, where studies done by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School for Workers suggest that a large portion of farm labor is done by immigrants, many of whom are undocumented, this has serious repercussions. Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker sit down with Mercedes Falk, the director of Puentes/Bridges, an organization based in Alma that works to bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between dairy farmers and their Mexican employees. In this conversation, we hear about the cultural shift that has happened over the past decades as a result of Puentes’ work and learn why Falk applied to take part in Wisconsin Humanities’ Community Powered training program. The training program was cut short when WH lost federal funding, but Falk offers her thoughts on what she sees as the value of skills taught in the program, including humanities-based methods of connecting through personal stories. She says that it’s at moments like these that community relationships really matter to help everyone feel safe.

Additional Links to check out:

→ Community Powered training program

→ Puentes/Bridges

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.