Maryland DREAM Act Passes

On Tuesday, Maryland passed its version of the DREAM Act which once signed by the governor, will allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition.

The new law, which Gov. Martin O’Malley has pledged to sign, will allow students to be recognized as residents of their home states regardless of their immigration status and pay in-state tuition at Maryland’s public four-year colleges if they clear three hurdles: graduate from a Maryland high school, complete 60 credits at a Maryland community college and prove they and their parents paid income taxes for the prior three years.

In Maryland, the law means the difference between $8,416 in tuition that state residents pay and $24,831 that out-of-state students must pay.

Read the whole story about this amazing victory here.

Students Organizing against 230% Tuition Hike Targeting Undocumented Students

Undocumented Students in Phoenix, AZ are organizing to fight back against a 230% tuition hike passed by the Maricopa Community College Governing Board which is targeted at undocumented students.

Out-of-state students taking six or fewer credit hours pay $96 per credit under the current policies, with a rate increase for more credits. The new rules will charge out-of-staters $317 per credit, or about $1,000 per class, even if they take a limited schedule.

"I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to go back to school in the fall. I was paying $300 per class. Now I'm going to pay $300 per credit. So then I would have to pay $1000 per class. If I could barely get $300 for one class, how am I going to get $1000 for one class?" said Maxima Guerrero, an undocumented student at Phoenix College.

Read the full article here.

COLORLINES says, "ScholarshipsA-Z Teaches Us How to Fight Back"

We are humbled to know that Rinku Sen (pictured left), President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and Publisher of Colorlines.com is inspired by the work of ScholarshipsA-Z and other youth leaders working to improve communities across AZ. She wrote about it in her most recent post on Colorlines.com.

Last week, Rinku Sen spoke at the University of Arizona and YWCA of Tucson, and shared personal stories about her own struggles to get involved in racial justice work. Her wisdom and honesty inspired many of us to keep fighting for justice in Arizona. She was powerful and profound and the members of our ScholarshipsA-Z team who had the chance to meet her are forever touched and grateful for her strength.

After reading her piece in Colorlines.com, here's a reaction from a ScholarshipsA-Z's board member:

"When reading the article, the truth was that plenty of emotions came to me. I had just finished watching the video of the DREAMER student that got arrested in georgia. Knowing that we are doing something to help gives me hope that someday, maybe sooner than later, everyone will have the opportunity to attend a college and reach their dreams. With time we have seen that education is the key to success, to be able to be heard and a tool that can never be taken away from you. Knowing that there are people out there such as Rinku Sen, who are fighting for the same cause we are, only gives me more hope that together, united we will make a difference and help out all those students out there that need our help. Knowing that someone like her will be spreading the word around about ScholarshipsA-Z, means only that we have lots more to work towards. Just want to say thank you to every single one of the members of ScholarshipsA-Z. You each bring something special to the group and con el favor de dios, juntos aremos cambios."

- Cristian E. Tapia
Member of ScholarshipsA-Z

ScholarshipsA-Z continues to fight for justice so all students have access to higher education, regardless of their immigration status. We invite you to be part of the struggle.

Undocumented & Unafraid: The Courage of DREAMers

Meet some courageous DREAMers (and support their cause):

• Dayanna Rebolledo
• David Ramirez
• Andrea Rosales
• Viridiana Martinez
• Jose Rico Benavides
• Georgina Perez
• Maria Marroquin
• Dulce Guerrero

Learn more about the stories of the Georgia 7.

On April 5th, these eight DREAMers from different parts of the U.S., with courage and determination, showed us what it means to fight for what you believe in, no matter what the consequences may be.

As a way of protesting Georgia's new law that bans undocumented students from attending any public college or university, these leaders and their supporters organized a rally and later a sit-in to block traffic and bring attention to their demands that higher education should be accessible to all students, regardless of immigration status.

As a result of their actions, seven of the DREAMers were arrested and are currently being held in jail on $2,000 bond.

They were courageous enough to fight for all of our rights to access an education. Now it's time to fight with them.

Donate to help them post bond and get out of jail.

Sign the petition to tell the presidents of Georgia State University and the four other public universities to refuse the ban on undocumented students.

Stay up to date with this information at The Dream Is Coming.

Racism, Feminism, Immigration & Organizing - Rinku Sen to Speak at UA

Tonight! March 29, 2011

6pm

Gallagher Theater, Student Union

University of Arizona

Author of The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization, and Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing, Rinku is a leading figure in the racial justice movement and has expertise in race, feminism, immigration, economic justice, philanthropy and community organizing.

Over the course of her career, Rinku has woven together journalism and organizing to further social change and has regular columns at Colorlines, Huffington Post, and Jack and Jill Politics.

This event is part of the Who Draws the Line? - Social Justice Perspectives on Diversity Speaker Series - sponsored by UA Student Services Fee, Tohono O’odham Nation, African American Student Affairs, Native American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, LGBTQA Affairs, Women's Resource Center, UA Bookstore, Office of the President, Dean of Students, and YWCA.

Arizona CEO's Say YA BASTA to Immigration Legislation

In a letter sent to AZ Senate President Russell Pearce last week, several CEO's of major employers and several businesses and civic groups wrote, "Arizona should be pushing for federal action on immigration and border issues."

As a result of their efforts, combined with the ongoing work of civil rights groups, activists, educators, students, and families, five anti-immigration bills were defeated last week. No motions to reconsider them were filed on Monday, the last day to do so. Community leaders working for immigrants' rights breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, before quickly fighting against the 20+ additional pieces of anti-immigrant legislation in AZ.

Here's a summary of what was defeated:

• SB 1308 and SB 1309 - two bills that challenged birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
• SB 1405 - would require hospitals to acquire immigration status of patients before providing care
• SB 1407 - would require schools to collect immigration data on students
• SB 1611 - 30-page immigration omnibus bill which contained similar provisions like the other bills listed above (written by Sen. Pearce, author of SB 1070)

You can read the entire letter from the AZ CEO's. While they don't seem to necessarily be pushing for better pathways to citizenship, they clearly are looking for better, FEDERAL solutions, that address the immigration issues faced by families every day. They want AZ to be focused on fixing it's broken economy.

The CEO's ended their letter with "Together, we can get results."

So what does working together look like?

~ mM

The I-Word

What do the following things have in common?

Jaywalking

Littering

Speeding

Rolling through a STOP sign

Downloading music without paying for it

They're all ILLEGAL.

What's not illegal? HUMANS. Immigrants are humans.

Sign the pledge. Drop the I-Word.