Students for Fair Consideration

E4FC is now accepting applications for our 2010 New American Scholars Program!  E4FC’s New American Scholars Program provides financial awards and support services to low-income immigrant college students who live or attend school in the San Francisco Bay Area.  We provide scholarships of up to $5,000 to cover tuition and other college expenses. Scholars are selected for their academic excellence, financial need, and community impact, regardless of their citizenship or residency status. Scholars are also expected to participate in E4FC events and commit to community service or professional development activities for the year.

Please share this information and application with all deserving Bay Area immigrant students. We strongly encourage them to apply!

Please note the following changes this year:
- We have expanded our applicant pool to include students who attend college in the San Francisco Bay Area, in addition to those who live and went to high school in the area.
- Applicants are now required to complete a Preliminary Online Application as well as the Paper Application.
- All application materials must be received by Friday, March 5^th.

Application Process
The application deadline is Friday, March 5th. Applicants are now required to complete and submit both a Preliminary Online Application and a Paper Application, which includes essays, transcripts, and recommendations. To download the application and for additional information, please visit: http://e4fc.org/scholarsprogram.html.

Profile of 2009 Scholars
In 2009, we received 130 applications and awarded 9 scholarships. In selecting recipients, we considered students’ academic performance, financial need, commitment to earning a college degree, and personal character.  Last year, our scholars had an average family income of $26,000.  For college recipients, the average cumulative college GPA was 3.23. For high school recipients, the average weighted GPA was 4.05.

For additional information, visit: http://e4fc.org/scholarsprogram.html.

Papers showing in Oakland on 1/21

Hi E4FC Students:

PAPERS is a new movie about undocumented youth and the challenges they face as they turn 18 without legal status. It’s been getting a lot of attention nationally, and it’s about to come to the Bay Area! On Thursday January 21st, Papers will be showing at the Oakland Public Library. Jodi Mitchell, the Teen Librarian who’s organizing the event, is looking for students who might be willing to participate in a short Q&A after the screening (see Jodi’s note below). If you’re interested, can you please contact her? Also, please forward the Facebook invite to all your friends and allies!

Thanks, Kathy

Hi Kathy,

I am looking for knowledgeable student volunteers who can facilitate a short Q & A session after this movie is shown. The movie starts at 6 PM on Thursday, January 21st and is 90 minutes long. We have to have everyone out of the auditorium at least 5 minutes before 8 if not a little sooner!
Also, I have promotional flyers about this event that I would like to distribute far and wide if anyone would like to pick some up; or have some mailed to you?

Please share this widely! Send to youth organizations, teachers, schools, faith based organizations, other libraries, etc. This is the Northern Californian premiere viewing. Program is free and open to all. Can seat 130. First come first served.

http://papersthemovie.com/upcoming_events/locations.html#CA

Please share Oakland Public Library Facebook event invite with everyone:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=name&id=1075364299#/event.php?eid=367071015401&ref=ts

Thanks,

Jodi Mitchell
Teen Outreach Librarian
Youth Leadership Council Facilitator
Oakland Public Library
125 14th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
jnmitchell@oaklandlibrary.org
(510) 238-7233 work phone

During the E4FC and S4FC Holiday party, I had chosen to share the following quote by Mark Houlahan: “If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page.” To me, it seemed to be the best way to greet the upcoming year.

Before I begin on my plans for the new year, I would like to note that 2009 was also a great year. Although I had feared and was anxious about my first semester of college, I was able to persevere and finish my first semester. Personally, I consider this to be an accomplishment. I was on the border of opting out and taking the easy way out, but I stuck with it and I emerged victorious! I am looking forward writing more victories in the pages of my life.

On such an optimistic note, I believe that 2010 will be a good year. I have drawn up and listed my resolutions and change is coming! This spring semester I will be working on two projects: an art auction with Monica and a mentoring program for high school students at Pittsburg High School. I am certain that both projects will bring great opportunities to many deserving students and that I will be able to learn and grow in the process. I am still currently arranging the mentoring program with the AP coordinator. As I receive more details on the projects, I will update.

Remember, we are the authors of our lives and we hold in our own hands the power to act and create. I hope that everyone is doing well and that 2010 has begun on a good note for everyone as well.

Folks: This is a great story. Read it. Kathy

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03alien-t.html

Excerpt:

In lyrical passages of “This Side of Paradise,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s young alter ego, Amory Blaine, is awed by the “great dreaming spires” of Princeton and its “lazy beauty, its half-grasped significance, the wild moonlight revel of the rushes.” Three generations later, Harold Fernandez was no less awed by the castle-like dormitories, the teeming libraries, the hoary traditions.

But Harold Fernandez was different from most freshmen. Amory Blaine had been to prep school, and his mother, though not of the privileged class, had raised him to appreciate the treasures of Western culture. Harold had been raised in the streets of Medellín, Colombia, listening to tango and salsa lyrics that spoke of the harsh local realities of violence, drugs and prison. His American schooling was in a gritty factory town, West New York, N.J.

He also harbored a secret. He had entered Princeton using a fake green card and Social Security number that he had acquired in the immigrant black market, because he had been smuggled into Florida on a leaky boat crowded with illegal immigrants….

Dear friends and supporters,

Today, we are going to witness a defining moment in history in our lives.

On January 1st, 2010, four passionate young immigrant students from Florida will walk 2,000 mile and 4-month long journey to rewrite the American History. These bravery students will begin to walk from Florida to Washington D.C. to bring sense of urgency to solve our broken immigration system. They are demanding President Obama to stop the separation of families and deportation of DREAMers. Most importantly, they want to see just and humane immigration reform that includes equal access to education, an end to the separation of families, worker’s rights, and a pathway to citizenship. By May 1st, 2010, they hope to stand in the U.S. Capitol with thousands of people across from the states to rally for the comprehensive immigration reform.

I want to share one of the four walker’s story, Gaby, who truly inspired me and thousands of other people in this country.

Gaby moved to Miami at the age of seven. Gaby holds an Associate of Arts degree in Music Education, and an Associate of Science in Early Childhood Education, as well as a BA in Exceptional Education Degree K-12 from Miami Dade College. She was the Student Government Association President at the Kendall Campus of Miami Dade College and the Florida Junior Community Colleges Student Government Association President in 2005-2006, representing 1.1 million students throughout Florida. Since 2003, she has been an advocate for the DREAM Act and in-state tuition and was one of the founding members of S.W.E.R. Gaby is a woman that would give the clothes on her back to help someone who needs it more. She walks for all the children without a voice and is willing to sacrifice herself to pave the way for their future because she believes in the power of love. She also believes that “the meltdown of our society will not start with global warming rather with intellectual freezing,” and she “can’t understand why we continue to detain young vibrant students when we know that we only live once and the future depends on the youth.” She walks because in her heart she knows that faith without action is dead!

Our task is clear and simple, we have to make these student’s dreams into reality. We must, because their dream is our dream, and their future is our future. We must, because if alone, can’t reach the final destination. They are calling us in California, they need our help. We may not be able to walk with them physically, but we can surely help them in many different ways. There are several ways we can help the students: 1. Fund-raise 2. In solidarity, fast and walk in our home base. 3. Visit trailofdreams.net to show our support. These are the ways to help them to achieve its goal, but there are plenty of other ways to help them as well. With that being said, I’m determined – I’m determined to sacrifice and risk myself to help them. However, my sacrifice is far beyond the measure from these bravery students, but I want to show in solidarity of support and I want to be part of making a history in 2010.

So then, my question is, will you sacrifice with them? I believe through sacrifice is the only way to make our dreams into reality. Imagine how difficult for them to make a decision to sacrifice their education, their time, and their own body. They are completely exposing and risking themselves just to represent on behalf of 12 million immigrant’s dreams. Despite of all the odds and challenges, they are willing to fight for the dreams that will determine our future. Through this movement, I can clearly see the sense of urgency. They cannot wait, I cannot wait, and we as DREAMers cannot wait for another decades to fix the broken immigration reform. We cannot wait and time is now! I can see it, I can see it. So let’s make these student’s dreams into reality.

The time is critical and the opportunity is near, we must act as if 2010 will be the last chance for us. So let us sacrifice our needs and show our strength to reach our dreams. During a President Election campaign, Obama gave a great speech in the day before the Martin Luther King’s Holiday Day. He said, “Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone. So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.” Again, this movement shouldn’t be just four students alone. This is not a Florida’s action; this is a national wide action to fulfill our dreams.

2010 is going to be a special year for all of us. It is the year that we don’t need to just dream, it is the year that we will make our dreams into reality. It will be the year that we will celebrate together and begin a new chapter for our lives.

I want to close out with speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave during civil rights movement’s era. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to this fatigue the week after the Selma March in a message titled “Our God is Marching On. “We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. Some have literally slept in the mud. We have been drenched by the rains. Our bodies are tired and our feet are somewhat sore. But today as I stand before you and think back over that great march, I can say, as Sister Pollard said—a seventy-year-old Negro woman who lived in this community during the bus boycott—and one day, she was asked while walking if she didn’t want to ride. And when she answered, “No,” the person said, “Well, aren’t you tired?” And with her ungrammatical profundity, she said, “My feet is tired, but my soul is rested.”

My prayer goes out to four bravery students walking Florida to Washington D.C.

Sincerely,
-Ju

This is my first piece ever done using technology. It’s a piece made of three separate pieces that all speak to the same issue…the inequality in our educational system created by the broken immigration system. The piece is to be read from left to right starting from the steel balls. The piece in itself is pretty self explanatory, legal status holds many students back from getting their education and going past high school due to their inability to afford the cost of college.

As you may know, congressman Luis Gutierrez introduced Comprehensive immigration reform in December 15th, 2009. Since the actual bill carries 644 pages, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium summarize key bullet points of the CIR bill, specifically focus on legalization persons who brought to the U.S. before age of 16.

Here is the following:

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009 has special rules for persons brought to the United States Before the Age of 16:

1) exempt from paying $500 fine if brought before the age of 16, have resided in the U.S. for at least 5 years, and were 35 years of age or less at tim application under CIR ASAP
2) eligible for accelerated LPR status upon graduation from high school upon completion of two years of college or military service OR or employment for at least two years prior to date of application (full-time, part-time, or seasonally).
3) eligible for naturalization three years after date of LPR status is granted.
4) sec. 411 calls for the repeal of section 505 of the “Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996″ – in other words, gives states less reason to cite federal law to deny undocumented students in-state tuition benefits

Requirements for earned legalization (specific eye towards undocumented young people):

1) Demonstrate contribution to the United States through employment, education, military service, or voluntary or community service, where applicable. Exemptions: 1) undocumented people under the age of 21 of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and 2) individual brought to the U.S. before the age of 16, have resided in the U.S. for at least 5 years, and were 35 years of age or less at tim application under CIR ASAP
2) Complete criminal and security background checks
3) Establish registration under the Selective Service (if applicable)
4) Meet English and civics requirements. Graduation from a U.S. high school or receipt of an equivalency degree will meet the English proficiency requirement
5) Undergo a medical examination
6) Pay all taxes (same exemptions as #1)
7) Show admissibility to the U.S

Town Hall Meeting on Immigration, 12.18.09., at San Francisco.
(pictures/videos/etc.. more coming soon)

Would a truly reputable national newspaper use the N-word to describe African-Americans and say it is just “company policy?”

I doubted it. But that the USA Today has done something similar.

On December 15, USA Today ran an article titled “Groups try to delay deportations of illegal students,” in which they called young immigrant students in the United States “illegal students.”

USA Today reporter, Emily Bazar (ebazar@usatoday.com), says she is just following company policy when she labels young immigrants without papers as “illegal students.” See the email where she justifies her actions by implicating that even the National Council of La Raza agrees with the usage of the word.

Appalling, isn’t it? I get the “illegal immigrant” euphemism because that slur is familiar. But just what exactly is an “illegal student?”

Erin Rosa from Campus Progress lays a must-read snarky smackdown on USA Today for using the term “illegal student” especially since it is almost impossible to be one in the United States:

First off, schooling for primary and secondary education is compulsorily in the United States, meaning that public schools are obligated to teach every child, undocumented or not. Even if Bazar is talking about higher education, universities and colleges are not legally bared from teaching to undocumented immigrants so long as they pay their own tuition bills. (Obtaining financial aid or in-state tuition is another story.) So, if “illegal” is being used by USA Today as an adjective to describe students in the United States, what is it about their status as scholars that would specifically make them illegal?

How can a group of people create and label disenfranchised populations in dehumanizing terms? This labeling process is based on the same institutionalized racism and homophobia directed against minorities. Niggers, fags, gooks, chinks, flips and so many other labels have been used to subjugate and subordinate people throughout history, denying them claims to citizenship and civic participation. This is not any different. “Illegal” is yet another otherizing and offensive term that we need to eliminate from public discourse as a way of describing people.

No human being can be illegal. Click on this link to tell USA Today to stop competing with the archaic immigration system and drop the use of the word ‘illegal’ http://www.change.org/actions/view/ask_usatoday_what_do_you_mean_by_illegal_students

[...]

Dear E4FC Crew,

Hope you are all doing well. I have an update from a past event I organized at City College of San Francisco (Ocean Campus).

I organized the first student-run training for CCSF counselors and faculty about AB540/undocumented students. It was the first time I organized an event of this kind, and I felt proud of myself. I would like to enormously thank Perla, my S4FC advisor, for going beyond her role as advisor, not only during the preparation of the event, but also afterward. I also want to thank Kathy for providing me the opportunity to be part of the E4FC Crew and be able to access to all the networks and resources as a Student Ambassador. Also, I want to thank  Beleza for her always supporting words. And thank you to Andrea for coming from SFSU, and to Ingrid for coming all the way from Stanford in order to give their testimonies.

The event lasted two hours and went pretty smoothly. All the people who attended became interesting in learning more about undocumented students’ issues and left the event willing to provide their support  in the future. The student testimonies really impacted them, as I saw at least two counselors crying.

The image I attached is the sticker I designed for CCSF counselors. The stickers will be kept posted in counselors’ office doors, guaranteeing that future undocumented students will feel empowered to ask for help.

Thanks for all your support E4FC!