Money, Money, Money

Financial aid has proven to be a tough road bump for many Dreamers. However, it will now seem even more dim for these students as Obama's new budget plan for 2011 cuts about 4.9 Billion dollars from the Department of Education. If finding money for college seemed hard enough already, then be prepared for a tougher road. Of course, the possibilities of getting scholarships are still avialable, but it's definitely a lot more tougher now that many US citizens will also have a tougher time getting money since federal aid will now decrease.

The good news is that Senator Dick Durbin announced that he will reintroduce the DREAM Act, although this new version of the bill is expected to narrow down the number of eligible students. All I can say is that undocumented students must now keep trying harder to stand out and give Congress and the rest of America a reason to pass this bill. Hopefully they will soon realize the importance of an education.

Last Quarter

Now that I'm reaching the final steps of my project, I'm starting to see that time goes by a bit too fast sometimes. I still haven't reached most of my goals, but I feel that this type of work definitely requires a lot of time and dedication. An advocate can have a rough time. So far I haven't had any negative feedback, only a couple of suggestions on how the bill could be improved, such as ensuring it acts more as an earned right rather than a gift.

The Facebook page is going well; so far I have 100 members in my group. The only problem was that I made the facebook a group instead of an actual page. I don't invite people to the group, I put them in the group. It's a different process and my group can't be "suggested" or "invited" to other friends.

The only thing that worries me is the time, but hopefully the relaxed classed will give me more time to focus on the project.

Facebook Update

Finally, Facebook will be available to all students during the school week, so I can actually take on the task of building a facebook page on the DREAM Act. I had already found a DREAM Act Houston page, however the page did not have accurate e-mail adresses and information, so I could not really contact the admin of that page. I decided to make my own page then, realizing that I could easily get about 200 members from school and friends, and then hopefully the group would reach others through them. Hooray for networking!

So first of all I decided to link both my blog and my webs to the page for easy access and media circulation. I'm going to try and keep this page updated as much as possible. Hpefully once I get a reasonable amount of members I can do a sort of group rally or something of that magnitude.

Going online

Recently I've been thinking about making a facebook page and calling it "DREAM Act Houston". I'm not sure if someone has already made a group similar to that, but I wouldn't mind collaborating with this person. I think it would probably be one of the fastest ways of getting my message out there since almost everyone uses Facebook today. I would probably be posting up links and any articles I found on the web. What I really look forward too is getting a certain meeting or event once I get a big enough group and do some rallying. Let me know what you all think.

Michelle Obama on Education

I found this video on TED in which Michelle Obama stresses the importance of education in America's 21st century.




As one can see education is very crucial to America. If we allow more students to receive a higher education, it will benefit America as a whole. This young generation needs as many resources as they can to financially afford college in order to deal with the problems that are piling up in our country.

The Dream Isn't Dead

As many of you know, the Dream was blocked last week. Senator Harry Reid amended the Defense Bill and attached the Dream Act to it. Many had their hopes running high since the democrats had the number advantage, but it wasn't enough.

But no immigrant should feel disappointed; this was only another step in making change. Now that the DREAM Act has attracted many people's attention, the issue is starting to heat up again. Many believe that the DREAM Act can still go off as a sole bill. We must keep pushing forward and let that momentum from this last debate propel us towards action.

Here is an article from the Washington Times Communities on the aftermath of the failed legislation.

The Dream

You might be asking yourself- What is this "Dream" that Marc is talking about? Well, for those of you that don't know (which I am pretty certain that not many of you don't), I am talking about the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act is a bill that, if passed through congress, will allow many undocumented students who have gone or are going through the rigorous American education system to achieve their American Dream. They will be allowed to receive In-State tuition, qualify for many scholarships, seek jobs after college, and, most importantly, avoid discrimination.

I've currently asked a couple of students from my local high school if they knew what the DREAM Act is, and about 90% of them didn't have a clue what it was about. Whether the DREAM Act issue is taken positively or negatively by American citizens, in order for there to be any heat in the topic people need to be informed.

Those who do find out about the DREAM Act could be saying, "This is the best idea ever", or they could say, "What a horrible proposal". Either way, my mission is to help people realize the opportunity and massive door that could possibly be opened.