Safe space: Sierra College works to close achievement gap, help students with new undocumented center

Categories: In the Media

Published April 29, 2019.

Sierra College is working towards building undocumented student center and bringing more services for undocumented students on their two campuses, including personalized enrollment assistance, personal, career and academic counseling, financial aid assistance, student engagement center, on-campus food pantry, free legal consultations and more.…

Southwestern College Holds Ribbon Cutting for New Campus Dreamer Center

Categories: In the Media

Published April 25, 2019.

Norma Vizcaino, an Immigrants’ Rising Student Fellow, a DACA recipient and a computer science major, said immigrant students can often feel alone and isolated because it’s difficult to ask for help without feeling like a target.

“The Dreamer Center on campus is so important because students like me have somewhere visible to go to and ask for help and meet people you can trust,” said Vizcaino, a first-generation college student.…

Immigrants Rising 2019-2020 Fellowship Applications Now Open!

Categories: Career Programs, General Announcements

At Immigrants Rising, we believe education is the key to personal transformation. The opportunity to learn, whether it is in a classroom, at a job site or in other forms, gives individuals agency to improve their own lives. Undocumented young people, however, have limited access to professional learning opportunities that offer hands-on experience.…

New Report on Undocumented Students at CA Community Colleges

Categories: General Announcements, Higher Education, Resources

Expanding institutional support for undocumented immigrants ensures that California’s public higher education system will remain a beacon of hope and opportunity for all.

We’re excited to share our groundbreaking statewide landscape analysis of the California Community Colleges (CCC) resulting in the CCC Dreamers Project Report: Strengthening Institutional Practices To Support Undocumented Student Success.…

Bakersfield College seeks to provide more support for undocumented students with $115,000 Catalyst Grant

Categories: In the Media

Published January 29, 2019.

A group of Bakersfield College staff and students and community organizers gathered for the first time Friday afternoon on campus since receiving the Project Conexiones grant, also known as the California Campus Catalyst Fund. Bakersfield College is one of 33 California schools to receive the California Campus Catalyst Fund, a three-year initiative program funded and overseen by Immigrants Rising.…

Nafees: Rescinding the Texas Dream Act would hurt the state’s economy

Categories: In the Media

Published January 21, 2019.

The Texas Dream Act, passed in 2001, enables residents without legal status to pay in-state tuition fees at state colleges and universities. A new bill proposed by Rep. Biedermann, if passed, would not only rescind the Texas Dream Act and place a huge barrier on Texan immigrants but also hurt the Texas economy.…

VAWA Update

Categories: General Announcements

January 3, 2019

On December 21, 2018 VAWA expired at midnight due to the government shut down resulting in temporary funding cut off for programs that help victims of sexual assault, domestic abuse and stalking.

Grants already awarded under the law will not be affected by the lapse in its authorization, but the shutdown will delay payment requests from VAWA-funded programs.…

ONLY IN AMERICA: Renaissance Dreamer

Categories: In the Media

In this episode, Saba (PhD candidate, jazz pianist, entrepreneur, Dreamer activist, TedX speaker, and Entrepreneurship Fellow) talks about her contribution to the Grammy-nominated jazz ensemble album, “American Dreamers: Voices Of Hope, Music Of Freedom,” featuring the John Daversa Big Band and 53 DACA artists, which recently received three Grammy nominations.…

Asylum Update

Categories: General Announcements

November 20, 2018

On November 19, Judge Jon S. Tigar of the United States District Court in San Francisco issued a nationwide temporary restraining order that blocks the government from carrying out Trump’s presidential order banning those crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without papers from seeking asylum unless they wait at ports of entry.…

Undocumented on Campus: California Funders Come Together for Immigrant Students

Categories: In the Media

The California Campus Catalyst Fund is addressing a unique need that has gone otherwise unnoticed in the recent debates about immigration. The fund recently committed to supporting 32 campuses all across the state of California starting this fall, with money for resource centers, legal services, mental health services, and other types of support for undocumented students.…

California colleges get funding to expand services to undocumented college students

Categories: In the Media

Published October 15, 2018.

The California Campus Catalyst Fund awards grants of about $125,000 each to 32 public colleges and universities across the state, to expand legal aid, mental health services and career guidance to undocumented students. The funders of CA Catalyst Fund are also taking the unusual move of assisting students’ undocumented family members with services that range from legal consultations and mental health therapy to workshops on how to become an entrepreneur and civics classes teaching them how to participate in a city council meeting.…