From Dream to Action:
Immigration Reform in New York
Place Fordham Lincoln Center, 113 West 60th Street, 12th floor
Theme:U.S. immigration policy needs reform, but so far initiatives at the Federal level have failed. Of special concern are youth who immigrated as children but now face daily risks of detention or deportation and find it difficult if not impossible to attend college. Last year a federal bill to grant a path to citizenship for immigrant students passed the House, but fell five votes short in the Senate. In May 2011, New York State Senators Bill Perkins (Harlem) and Dan Squadron (Brooklyn) introduced a New York “Dream Act” extending financial aid to immigrant who came to the U.S. as children. In July California passed and Governor Brown signed the 2nd of three Dream Acts giving the children of immigrant’s access to public and private college scholarships. Maryland recently passed a similar bill.
Please join us to discuss the California and New York initiatives. We will discuss what can and is being done at the neighborhood, city and university level to make dreams of a quality education a reality, even without a dream act. Fordham was built by generations of immigrants; it operates in one of the largest immigrant communities in the nation: more can be done to help immigrants gain access to education and jobs. Please join us to discuss new initiatives, and hear what other New Yorkers are doing already.
Registration: This meeting is open to the public, but space is limited so please RSVP by sending an email to congress@fordham.edu with Immigration Conference 10-11-2011 in the subject line. Optional: please put your name, affiliation and email in the text of the email.
Planning Committee:
Elaine Congress, DSW Associate Dean, Fordham University GSS
Jade DeSaussure, MSW, Coordinator of Continuing Education, Fordham University, GSS
Dora Galacatos, Feerick Center for Social Justice and Dispute Resolution, Lincoln Center
Jason Hilliard, Executive Director, Hon. Gregory W. Meeks, U.S. Congress
Jairo Guzman, Executive Director, The Hopeline, Bronx New York
Darryl McLeod, CIPS and Economics Department, Fordham
Cosponsored by the Feerick Center for Social Justice
and the Center for International Policy Studies (CIPS)
