{{Short description|American activist and labor organizer}} {{Infobox person | name = Greg Asbed | birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland | education = {{unbulleted list|Brown University|Johns Hopkins University}} | known_for = Coalition of Immokalee Workers | awards = MacArthur Fellow }}
'''Greg Asbed''' is an American activist, labor organizer, and human rights strategist. He is the co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a worker-based human rights organization based in Immokalee, Florida, working to eradicate modern slavery in the Floridian agriculture industry. In 2017 Asbed was named a MacArthur Fellow for "transforming conditions for low-wage workers with a visionary model of worker-driven social responsibility."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Greg Asbed|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2017/greg-asbed|access-date=2022-01-10|website=www.macfound.org|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Scheiber|first=Noam|date=2017-10-18|title=A MacArthur 'Genius' on Overcoming Modern Farm Slavery|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/business/economy/macarthur-genius-greg-asbed-ciw.html|access-date=2022-01-10|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Asbed is a first-generation Armenian American; his grandmother, Hripsimee, is survivor of the Armenian genocide who was forced into Syria. In a 2017 interview, Asbed connected this fact to his human rights work, stating "I have always felt a certain responsibility, as a bearer of DNA that was forged in the crucible of genocide, to the idea of universal human rights."<ref name=":0"/>
Asbed was born in Baltimore and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. His father immigrated to the United States from Kobane to study nuclear physics; his mother is a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Hospital.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2017-10-12|title=From Immokalee Organizer to MacArthur Fellow: Meet Greg Asbed|url=https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/from-immokalee-paralegal-to-macarthur-fellow-meet-greg-asbed/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=Cornell University Press|language=en-US}}</ref>
Asbed attended the Landon School and enrolled at Brown University. At Brown he studied neuroscience, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1985.<ref name=":1"/> After college he spent three years in Haiti where he learned Haitian Creole and became involved with a peasant movement.<ref name=":0"/> Upon returning to the U.S., Asbed pursued graduate study at Johns Hopkins University, where he received a Master of Arts degree in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|last=McDaniels|first=Andrea K.|title=Baltimore native and labor activist named MacArthur Fellow|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-hs-macarthur-fellow-20171010-story.html|access-date=2022-01-10|website=baltimoresun.com}}</ref>
== Coalition of Immokalee Workers == {{Main|Coalition of Immokalee Workers}} After working with laborers in Pennsylvania and Maryland, Asbed and his wife moved to Immokalee, Florida, in 1991.<ref name=":0"/> Working with farmworkers, they established the Coalition of Immokalee Workers; at the time of its establishment, the group was one of the nation's first centers dedicated to aiding migrant workers.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vann|first=Karine|date=2018-01-15|title=MacArthur Fellow Greg Asbed on the Power of Organizing in Immigrant Communities|url=https://armenianweekly.com/2018/01/15/greg-asbed-power-organizing-immigrant-communities/|access-date=2022-01-10|website=The Armenian Weekly|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2"/> At CIW, Asbed led the development of the Fair Food Program through which companies could pay a small premium for crop purchases in exchange for a commitment from growers to abide by a code of conduct relating to wages and working conditions; participating companies must agree to drop suppliers who violate the standards.<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Greenhouse|first=Steven|date=2014-04-25|title=In Florida Tomato Fields, a Penny Buys Progress|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/business/in-florida-tomato-fields-a-penny-buys-progress.html|access-date=2022-01-10|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As of 2017, 90% of tomato growers in Florida participate in the program.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Cohen|first=Lisa|date=2017-05-30|title=How America's 'ground-zero' for modern slavery was cleaned up by workers' group|url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/world/ciw-fair-food-program-freedom-project/index.html|access-date=2022-01-10|website=CNN|language=en}}</ref> The Fair Food Program has been hailed for its success in combating modern slavery in Southwest Florida and hailed as an exemplary paradigm for improving the rights of farmworkers.<ref name=":2"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Burkhalter|first=Holly|date=2012-09-02|title=Fair Food Program helps end the use of slavery in the tomato fields|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fair-food-program-helps-end-the-use-of-slavery-in-the-tomato-fields/2012/09/02/788f1a1a-f39c-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html|access-date=2022-01-10|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref name=":3"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asbed, Greg}} Category:American people of Armenian descent Category:Brown University alumni Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:American workers' rights activists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people