Illinois DREAM Act Now A Reality!
Alex Morales
Published: August 1, 2011
Governor Pat Quinn signs the Illinois DREAM Act
This morning hundreds of community residents, community leaders, elected officials and education activists gathered at Benito Juarez High School in Chicago to witness Governor Pat Quinn as he signed the Illinois DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act), setting an example nationwide on the positive steps the federal government should take to help undocumented students achieve their academic and career goals. As it is, The Illinois DREAM Act will set up a commission to raise private money for college scholarships. Illinois students can take advantage of the DREAM Act if they attended an Illinois high school for at least three years, received a diploma and have at least one parent who is an immigrant. Immigrant children here both illegally and legally can apply. It also allows anyone with a Social Security number or taxpayer identification number to enroll in state-run college savings programs. Governor Pat Quinn, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and other important officials took the podium to talk about the leadership that lead to the creation of the DREAM Act.
Ariana Salgado and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel
The elected officials were followed by what mostly considered the highlight of the event, a heartfelt testimony from Ariana Salgado. Ariana is a youth leader and undocumented student who shared her story on how she got involved in organizing in her community towards the goal of achieving this important piece of legislation. She shared how in her junior year of high school her school counselor told her it would be nearly impossible to go to college because of lack of financial assistance for undocumented students. Ariana's work and perseverance organizing paid off, and now undocumented students under law will be valued and respected. "The Illinois DREAM Act was not only urgent to us students, but also urgent to our parents who had sacrifice their life to ensure we can reach out our dreams." shared Ariana as the crowd stood up in ovation.
TRP efforts on education has led to the improvement of local schools, such as CPS' Jose Clemente Orozco Academy, and has foster community relationships between parents and school's administrations in Chicago's 25th Ward. Dedicated to promoting education, TRP's CEO Raul I. Raymundo, which is a 1983 Benito Juarez High School
TRP's CEO Raul I. Raymundo
graduate proudly shared his story. "As an immigrant myself I became naturalized shortly after I graduated high school and i went on to college. I value the overall importance of a college education and I know that all of you sitting out there are looking forward to a college education so you can contribute back to our community our great city and this great country we we all call our home". Raymundo stated that "According to Bloomberg/Business week study, documenting the valedictorian dilemma, in a lifetime of DREAM students this country could benefit from contributions of close to $8.6 trillion into our economy in just one generation". Finally, Raymundo urged all to redouble the efforts to push for federal DREAM act and eventually for comprehensive immigration reform.
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