Janeth Tapia began working with the North Carolina Farmworkers Project in 2000 as an AmeriCorps volunteer providing health education to women farmworkers. Janeth was originally drawn to working with the agricultural community because she saw that they were some of the least privileged people with the most significant needs in the rural areas where she lived. Janeth then became the coordinator of a community health program focused on household pesticide prevention. Through this program she learned about and used the Popular Education model of teaching and became passionate about the method after seeing its success in the field. In 2004 Janeth began working as the Outreach Coordinator for the health program where she coordinated visits to farmworker camps; maintained connections with groups of volunteers, clinics, and students; and mentored and led the team of outreach workers. Janeth currently serves as the Director of Programs at NCFWP.
An expert in motivating the community, Janeth has overseen the enormous growth of the health program – from serving 130 workers in its first year to more than 3,000 today. Janeth continues to thrive and learn so much as every day is different and there are always more people to serve and new challenges to solve.
In the little free-time that she has, Janeth likes to walk in open spaces and parks and admire the plants and natural beauty around her. She also loves a good conversation, and will never say “no” to a good cup of coffee to accompany it.