From First Church UCC Phoenix:
On Monday [October 11], First Church Immigration Task Force members delivered tuition checks to three Maricopa Community Colleges on behalf of Dreamers attending five different Phoenix Union high schools. These checks cover the costs of dual credit classes for a unique group of PUHSD students who came to Arizona as young children with their undocumented parents. Because of Prop 300, passed in 2006 by Arizona voters, they are required to pay out-of-state tuition at community colleges and state universities in Arizona. The costs are prohibitive. While their American citizen classmates pay about $300 for a 3-credit community college class, Dreamers pay three times as much, or $1000.
Our ability to offer this assistance from our First Church scholarship fund, established in 2011 to help Dreamers pursue their education goals, is totally dependent on the continuing generosity of faithful donors. Over the years, funds helped North High students attend Grand Canyon University, helped our own Daniel Rodriguez finish law school at ASU, and paid application fees for DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. In the last four years the fund has also been used to pay tuition for dual credit classes for high school students.
This year’s Phoenix Union “class” includes students attending Maryvale, Metrotech, North, Franklin, and South Mountain. Students will earn credits through Phoenix, Gateway and South Mountain community colleges. Additionally, two students from Tolleson’s Copper Canyon High School will earn credits from Estrella Mountain Community College. Their goals range from starting a home remodeling business, to learning about finance and real estate, to opening a salon, to earning degrees in engineering, psychology or computer science. One student wants to pursue a community college program that will allow him to become an ultrasound technician. Another student wants to begin her nursing major at a community college before transferring to ASU.
It is exciting to be part of the launch of these young people. If you, as a member or friend of First Church, have donated to the ITF scholarship fund or supported First Church in any way over these last ten years, you are part of the “team” that brings life to these goals for our Dreamers. But our work can’t stop here. As an immigrant welcoming church, we will continue to be on the front lines at the Welcome Center, we will continue to host asylum-seekers and/or refugees in our sanctuary suite, and we will continue to advocate for needed policy changes here in Arizona and in Washington, D.C.
If you would like to be more involved with the work of First Church’s Immigration Task Force, contact Jane McNamara at janehmcnamara@gmail.com.
And if you would like to know more about the Scholarship Fund from someone who benefitted from the fund, listen to Daniel Rodriguez tell the story of his pursuit of his educational goals. He recorded the video in February, 2021, at a time when we expected many Dreamers to apply for DACA under the new Biden administration; currently, because of a court ruling by a federal judge in Texas, new applications are no longer being processed.