Americorps Recruitment Fair coming up in Austin

 

American Youthworks now enrolling: conservation and green building programs

I've been hearing radio spots on NPR this week that American Youthworks is enrolling students for its programs.  These are good opportunities for learning skills and doing creative, helpful work in areas of conservation and green building.  American Youthworks operates Youthbuild and Texas Conservation Corps, which are Americorps programs that include skills training, living wages, health care and education awards toward college.  These are sustainable options for youth!  Check them out at www.americanyouthworks.org

Texas Conservation Corps gets the job done

This is good news published in the Austin American-Statesman about funding of the great local Americorps program, Texas Conservation Corps.  If you like working outdoors doing work like trail-building, disaster relief and environmental restoration, check this out.  Americorps provides a wage while you are working, health insurance, good experience for your resume AND an education award (money toward college or to repay student loans) when you complete your service.  Not only that, you are doing important work that helps our community and the natural world.  Some of Austin's hike and bike trails have been built by Americorps members with the Texas Conservation Corps.  Here is the Statesman story:

  

YouthWorks gets AmeriCorps funding

American YouthWorks has received $805,800 in AmeriCorps funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency for volunteering and service programs.

Building on the American YouthWorks’ Texas Conservation Corps program, the grant will fund 76 AmeriCorps volunteers who will tackle problems in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Their activities will include disaster response, coastal restoration and public land maintenance needs.

The Corporation for National and Community Service also will provide up to $348,900 in education scholarships for those AmeriCorps members to help pay for college, vocational training or student loans.

The Austin-based American YouthWorks is recruiting for AmeriCorps members to begin service this fall. For more information: americanyouthworks.org.

Undocumented students: keep college plans alive

The following commentary piece printed in today's issue of the Austin American-Statesman shares our views.  We meet many students in Austin's high schools who are affected adversely by immigration policies that threaten their families and their own future education.  It's important for undocumented students to know that, despite SB-4 legislation and the unwelcoming rhetoric of many Texas legislators, Texas law still allows undocumented high school students to apply for Texas Grant funding for college and in-state tuition when students meet these three qualifications:
1)  The student has lived in Texas for at least three years
2) The student is graduating or has graduated from a high school in Texas
3) The student signs an affidavit indicating intent to apply for permanent residency in the US
Thus, undocumented students who meet this criteria should fill out TAFSA forms for Texas financial aid for college, even though they are denied federal financial aid.  Also, a number of organizations and colleges offer scholarships that don't discriminate on the basis of citizenship status.
We believe that our communities are better when we make it easier rather than harder for all students to obtain a college education when that is their goal.

Here is the commentary piece by special contributor, Franklin Strong, in the May 30, 2017 issue of the Austin American-Statesman:

SB 4 hurts immigrants - and the rest of America
by Franklin Strong

A student I taught last year — I’ll call her Ana — comes by my classroom at the end of the day to ask if I’ll write a recommendation for her when she applies to colleges next fall. I tell her of course, and ask her if she’s excited to be a senior.

She says she is, but she’s nervous. “Why?” I ask. She talks about her ACT scores and college applications. She mentions that her Junior Seminar teacher is frustrated with her because, in making lists of colleges to apply to next year, she keeps refusing to include any out-of-state schools.

“Why?” I ask. “Why not keep a variety of options?”

“I’m undocumented,” she explains. “Well, I mean, I have DACA. I’m a DREAMer.”

I ask why that means she won’t apply to out-of-state schools. I know some schools won’t take undocumented immigrants, but many will. Why not focus on those?

“It’s just that I don’t want to fall in love with a school and then find out I can’t go there.”

She says she visited Colorado last summer with an extracurricular club and was enchanted by the state. She came home and told her mom she wanted to go to college there. Her mom was thrilled. So, this girl has been researching universities in the state and found one that appealed to her. But she won’t put it on her list.

Another student tells me about her aunt and uncle in Houston, who left for Mexico when it became clear Senate Bill 4 would pass, taking their son — this student’s cousin — with them. He was a senior, college-bound. Now, he doesn’t know when he’ll finish his education. This girl tells me her parents are considering doing the same thing with her. They’ve already pulled her brother out of his charter elementary school and put him into a neighborhood school.

“Why?” I ask.

“Less driving,” she says.

This girl loves acting; she is always writing about her auditions and rehearsals. Now, she says, she’s had to give it up, because her mom won’t drive her to auditions anymore.

Her family had two dogs, but they sent them to live with relatives in the country.

“Why?”

“They bark,” she says, “and we don’t want the cops to come because of the noise.”

The Houston Chronicle’s Lomi Kriel recently wrote about the lessons Texas can learn from how immigrants in Arizona have dealt with the immigration laws passed there in 2010. She describes one Phoenix couple that now hesitates before calling the police or before accessing public health care for their children, who are American citizens. After SB 1070 passed, Kriel writes, the couple chose to “make their lives smaller.”

This is exactly what I’ve seen with my students: a narrowing. A self-restriction. After the first travel ban and the February raids, Dana Snitzky wrote about the responsibility of bearing witness — of answering important questions like “Who has been detained?” and “Who has been denied entry?” and “Who has been deported?”

And she’s right: We need to hear about the five-year-old handcuffed at the airport. And about the father detained while taking his daughter to school. But we also need we need to record this narrowing, which is less likely to show up in statistics or in images on the news. We need to talk about the families who are too afraid of the police to keep their pets. The parents who drive to the store looking over their shoulders. The students limiting their college options.

If stripping people of their dignity, opportunities and joy is the method by which we achieve our goals, then we come up with monstrous ideas — like forcibly separating mothers and children, or holding undocumented immigrants in facilities with appalling conditions.

And we start by thinking that maybe it’s OK for people who aren’t supposed to be here to live lives that are dimmer and smaller. In doing so, we make our nation — and ourselves — smaller, too.

Strong recently completed a PhD in comparative literature and now teaches at KIPP Austin Collegiate High School.

Scholarships available for immigrant students in Texas

Good info in this article by Joy Diaz of The Texas Standard and reported on KUT radio this week:

It’s college application season, and for many colleges the due date is next month. That means now is the time for writing essays, rounding up letters of recommendation and – lest we forget – figuring out how you’re gonna pay for a college education.

There are loans, of course, if you qualify. There are also scholarships. Typically, if you’re undocumented, you’d be on your own. But a contested executive order on deferred deportations, better known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, could mean money in the bank.

When Pedro Villalobos started college, DACA didn’t exist. “It was really hard to find scholarships just because most of them require that you be a citizen of this country or a legal permanent resident,” he says. “So, at a certain point when you are trying to find funding for college – as an undocumented student you lose hope – because before DACA there weren’t many options for you.”

Then, after Villalobos got his BA in 2012, President Obama issued an executive order that would prevent him from being deported. When he applied for a spot at the University of Texas at Austin Law School, and got in, most of his expenses were covered – and mostly through scholarships.

Foundations and benefactors, like former Washington Post CEO Don Graham, have put millions of dollars into a scholarship fund for immigrant students whose parents entered the country illegally.

There have been close to 500 Dream Scholars and they represent most every continent, including Latin America. But that’s a small number of people compared to the 665,000 students who are protected from deportation through DACA.

Cristina Jimenez is one of the founders of United We Dream. It’s a non-profit that helps connect immigrant students with resources. She says few students even know they have financial options.

“Scholarship programs are still limited, but they are available,” Jimenez says. “You have many schools that have opened up scholarship programs. Different states, organizations like MALDEF – for example – have been providing scholarships to undocumented students for a long time.”

As for Villalobos, if immigration laws do not change by graduation day next year, he won’t be able to work as an attorney in this country. Some may wonder if he’s wasting his time and scholarships.

“I see it as an investment in myself, as an investment in Texas and as an investment in the United States,” Villalobos says.

Villalobos’ parents recently became legal residents. They had waited 16 years for immigration authorities to process their paperwork. In that time, Pedro Villalobos aged-out of his parents’ application. He had to start his own – from scratch. He’s hoping it wont take another 16 years to process his paperwork.

Local Americorps program looking for bilingual tutors

This is a great Americorps program in Austin:

ACE: A Community for Education

Sponsored · 

ACE is looking for bilingual tutors next year! If you're a native speaker or you're interested in practicing your Spanish, this is an awesome opportunity for you! Apply now!

Berea College: a sustainable education that you work for

One of the college brochures at our SOY table is for Berea College.  This is a unique school located near the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky.  I visited the campus this fall, and it is impressive and beautiful.

If you are a student who wants a good liberal arts education and have limited resources to pay for college, check out this school.  Instead of charging tuition, the school operates on a work-study model.  They also stress learning crafts and ecology.  We saw furniture made by Berea students that was finely crafted and met a Berea alum who is a master weaver in the town of Berea.  Now is the time to apply for Fall, 2014 admissions.  Here is more info about the school from their home page:

About the College

Berea College is distinctive among institutions of higher learning. Founded in 1855 as the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, Berea charges no tuition and admits only academically promising students, primarily from Appalachia, who have limited economic resources. 

Berea offers rigorous undergraduate academic programs leading to Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 28 fields.  All students work at least 10 hours per week in campus and service jobs in more than 130 departments.

The College has an inclusive Christian character, expressed in its motto ”God has made of one blood all peoples of the Earth.”  Berea’s primary service region is the Southern Appalachian region, but students come from all states in the U.S. and in a typical year, from more than 60 other countries representing a rich diversity of colors, cultures, and faiths. About one in three students represents an ethnic minority.

Berea continues to build upon a distinctive history of 150 years of learning, labor and service, and find new ways to apply our mission (the Great Commitments) to contemporary times bypromoting kinship among all people, serving communities in Appalachia and beyond and living sustainably to conserve limited natural resources.

Career Fair at Reagan HS

Tami and I were glad to be invited to staff a table at the Reagan HS career fair yesterday.  We had also tabled during lunch on Jan. 15, MLK's birthday, and we met the organizer of the career fair then.

There were a number of college representatives at the fair as well as some employers and other services.  Across from our table was a rep for GenTX, a program of the TX Higher Education Coordinating Board that helps guide students through the college application and financial aid process.  It was good to meet students who were involved in the Austin Fire Explorers, XY Zone program for young men and the Rock (music) Club.  They have lots going on at Reagan, which is an Early College High School, such as tutoring and after-school help with studying.  They also have a JROTC program, and some of the cadets (Air Force) were in uniform, so we were able to guide some of them to our literature, in case they were thinking of enlisting after high school.

Now is the time for students to be filling out their FAFSA and TAFSA forms for financial aid for college, so it was good to see that there is a lot of support for that at Reagan.

Our table, next to the Austin Police Department table

students came into the career fair through this tunnel, like the football players

The student staffing this table said this was a great group

Austin Fire Explorers program, where students learn about fire fighting and do service  work like helping to install smoke detectors

The career fair was set up in the gym

Your face here!

Student in the Rock Club stops by the table... and gets a sticker for his amp (above photo)!

table for Gen TX, which helps students go through the college application process 

  

Peace, art, scholarships (and other valentines) at Eastside Memorial HS

Tami and I had a great visit today at Eastside Memorial, both with the International School students and EM students during their lunch times.  We were set up in the hall foyer outside the cafeteria, and lots of students were interested in making valentines, stenciling folders and creating their own additional designs.  We had new info sheets listing some of the scholarships posted on the MALDEF site, especially for undocumented students (the list online is from last year, but most of the info should still apply.  Students should check about this year's deadline dates, though.)  We had application forms (one-page) for a local scholarship available for students in the Montopolis area, courtesy of one of our local supporters.  We learned more, also, about Eastside's resources for their international students and all who want to pursue college.  Undocumented students fill out paper TAFSA forms, and US citizens fill out FAFSA forms online, and the college/career room staff can help with that.  On February 4, Eastside students could attend a Financial Aid Saturday, co-sponsored by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, where help was provided in filling out FAFSA, TAFSA and scholarship application forms.

We added literature to the career room and library, next to where military brochures were stocked.

We checked out the great student art hanging outside the art room and admired the many hallway displays created by students.

Some photos from our day:

Students got the idea to start signing each other's folders...

 Items from our table:

 Tami at our table:

 In the International school, students come from many parts of the world...

 We restocked our literature in the school library, right next to the military brochures:

 Some examples of the remarkable student art portraits displayed outside the art room:

 Different times around the world...

 A hallway display:

 And this guy in the library... say wha???

Going solar for job training

A friend who lives in the new Mueller development just got a solar panel installed on her roof, and she said that about a third of the home owners in that neighborhood have signed up to have the panels installed through a rebate program with the city.  The solar industry is a good place to look for job training.  See the CoolAustinJobs site for info about this and other green jobs. 

Austin Community College offers programs and scholarships in the renewable energy field.  And there are other ideas in the Texas Green Jobs Guidebook.  Check them out!