Hello Friends.
With the timeline for resolution of the lawsuit challenging the President’s November 2014 executive actions extending far into the future, and with less than half of those potentially eligible having taken advantage of the original DACA program, the time is ripe to re-focus on the opportunities available under “DACA One”.
Many of you have expressed interest in attempting some coordinated efforts in September and October that will bolster outreach and assistance related to the DACA program, with special emphasis on “non-traditional” applicants and educational advancement. So far those with broad buy-in include: identifying non-traditional DACA youth as case examples/media interviewees; organizing a press conference to emphasize that the original DACA program is unaffected by the admin relief lawsuit and more than 50% of those potentially eligible still to come forward/apply; and hosting a high-profile local application processing event/information session that includes an adult education/career pathway counseling or system navigation element.
We have scheduled a briefing call on Thursday August 20th from 3:30-4:30pm EDT; 2:30-3:30 CDT; 1:30-2:30 MDT; and 12:30-1:30 PDT to get feedback on these ideas and explore additional ideas of ways to move forward in promoting DACA and educational success for DACA-eligible youth. Feel free to post your reactions or ideas here as well, and/or suggest additional items for the call agenda.
You will also see that we’ve added new resources to the website’s Resource Library. They include MPI’s new national, state and county data profiles of the DACA population and our report on implementation of the DACA renewal program; also added are: results from a survey of DACA recipients on the program’s impact; a report on the characteristics and experiences of undocumented undergraduates; background information on Chicago’s efforts to provide access to internships and job opportunities for undocumented youth; and a report on barriers to higher education facing undocumented youth.
Eager to hear your thoughts and to help with efforts that lead to DACA’s promise being realized!
Margie
Educational Success for DACA-DREAM Youth 