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GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — A local community action group in the Roaring Fork Valley will host a public meeting tonight to drum up support for a bill that would allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition for college.
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Glenwood Springs Community Center.
The need to support the Dream Act - Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors - came up in a series of "listening" sessions in Glenwood Springs, Rifle, Basalt and Carbondale held by local college students who are also members of Congregations and Schools Empowered (CASE), said Mateos Alvarez, CASE coordinator in Glenwood Springs. "This is not amnesty. They're asking to be productive (students) and to earn their way through college."
What CASE heard in the sessions "was access to college for (high school) students brought here by their parents," he said, specifically that these children of undocumented immigrants must pay out-of-state tuition for Colorado colleges, which most cannot afford.
The bill, if it passes, would require students "to come to the United States before they are 16 years old and be here for at least five years," Alvarez said. It would grant them permanent residency status after six years if they meet certain standards, and after that they could apply for citizenship.
Among the organizers of the event are a handful of Colorado Mountain College students who are hoping to educate people about the need for the bill.
"We are trying to inform people," said CMC student Jorge Alvarado. "There are a lot of folks who don't know what the Dream Act is. (The meeting) will be an opportunity to get educated about it."
The group has passed the word about the meeting through the valley's high schools and CMC and has invited representatives for Rep. John Salazar and Sen. Ken Salazar.
"We want the Colorado legislators to have a big voice" in promoting the bill, Alvarez said.
Contact Donna Gray: 945-8515, ext. 16605
dgray@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO
The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Glenwood Springs Community Center.
The need to support the Dream Act - Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors - came up in a series of "listening" sessions in Glenwood Springs, Rifle, Basalt and Carbondale held by local college students who are also members of Congregations and Schools Empowered (CASE), said Mateos Alvarez, CASE coordinator in Glenwood Springs. "This is not amnesty. They're asking to be productive (students) and to earn their way through college."
What CASE heard in the sessions "was access to college for (high school) students brought here by their parents," he said, specifically that these children of undocumented immigrants must pay out-of-state tuition for Colorado colleges, which most cannot afford.
The bill, if it passes, would require students "to come to the United States before they are 16 years old and be here for at least five years," Alvarez said. It would grant them permanent residency status after six years if they meet certain standards, and after that they could apply for citizenship.
Among the organizers of the event are a handful of Colorado Mountain College students who are hoping to educate people about the need for the bill.
"We are trying to inform people," said CMC student Jorge Alvarado. "There are a lot of folks who don't know what the Dream Act is. (The meeting) will be an opportunity to get educated about it."
The group has passed the word about the meeting through the valley's high schools and CMC and has invited representatives for Rep. John Salazar and Sen. Ken Salazar.
"We want the Colorado legislators to have a big voice" in promoting the bill, Alvarez said.
Contact Donna Gray: 945-8515, ext. 16605
dgray@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs Colorado CO
