Community Engagement

Chiapas (2017-present)

Since 2017, I have worked with the Capeltic coffee cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico, affiliated with the Mexican province of the Society of Jesus. Capeltic is a producer-owned cooperative of Tseltal indigenous coffee farmers in northern Chiapas, operating within Yomol A’tel, a network of solidarity-economy enterprises.

From 2017-18, I supervised the first household surveys conducted in the region and used them as the basis of my master’s thesis. In summer 2022, I returned to supervise a lab-in-the-field experiment that became the basis of my job market paper, Unpacking Side-Selling.

In addition, I have brought faculty, staff, and students from Jesuit institutions to visit Chiapas on numerous occasions. Working with the Ignatian Solidarity Network and EthixMerch, I helped Capeltic begin distributing its coffee in the United States for the first time via an online store. I am particularly proud of the work we have done with the Ignatian Center of Santa Clara University in developing a partnership between SCU and Capeltic that has resulted in two student immersion trips and the sale of Capeltic coffee on the SCU campus.

Here are some Chiapas Fieldwork Photos from the fieldwork we did in 2022.

Over the years, various people have written articles about my relationship with Capeltic.

El Paso (2018-2020)

From 2018-2020, I was the Director of Religious Formation at Sacred Heart Church, which is four blocks from the US/Mexico border. Here I first started thinking about the way that internal migrants help each other find jobs in the local manufacturing (maquila) industry that prompted the questions I address in my work on the transition into wage employment. A recent article gives more background about the Segundo Barrio Neighborhood.

Tijuana (Spring 2008)

As a Jesuit novice, in spring 2008, I worked at the Casa de los Pobres in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. There I began to learn Spanish as I served food to migrants every day and listened to their stories.