For Immediate Release: May 11, 2021
Contact: Michael Earls: [email protected]
TheDream.US Reacts to Announcement that Undocumented Students Now Eligible for Emergency Pandemic Aid
TheDream.US Scholar Survey Detailed COVID-Related Hardships – and Resilience – of More than 2,500 Scholars
Candy Marshall: “Our ongoing national recovery and revitalization effort took a major step forward today”
Washington, DC – TheDream.US today praised the Biden administration’s new announcement to allow all students, regardless of immigration status, expanded access to COVID-19 relief aid. As U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona told the New York Times following the announcement, “The pandemic didn’t discriminate on students … we want to make sure that all students have an opportunity to have access to funds to help get them back on track.”
In September 2020, TheDream.US released the “In Their Own Words” survey report, detailing how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting the lives of 2,681 TheDream.US Scholars attending Partner Colleges in 17 states and Washington, DC. The survey found that DREAMers and their families’ economic and health security had been greatly diminished by the pandemic: 83% of Scholars in the survey reported that an immediate family member’s job had been affected by COVID and 76% reported feeling “much more” (36%) or “more” (40%) anxious about their ability to support family members financially. Yet despite these challenges, the survey found that TheDream.US Scholars remained focused on completing college, giving back to their communities, and ambitiously pursuing their post-college goals: 71% of the Scholars in the survey reported a goal of attending graduate school. And 96% of the 2,500 TheDream.US National Scholars eligible to return for the Fall 2020 semester re-enrolled.
The following is a statement from Candy Marshall, President of TheDream.US, “At TheDream.US, our Scholars and graduates’ stories and successes remind us why expanding access to higher education and stabilizing DREAMers’ futures is a good thing for immigrant students, their communities, and our country. Despite the many economic and health hardships that have disproportionately affected their families and their lives over the past year-plus, DREAMers remain focused on completing college, ambitiously pursuing their post-college goals, and giving back to their communities and our country through meaningful careers. Our ongoing national recovery and revitalization effort took a major step forward today.”
About TheDream.US
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for immigrant youth, having provided more than 6,500 college scholarships to DREAMers attending over 75 partner colleges in 19 states and Washington, DC. We believe that all young Americans, regardless of where they were born, should have the opportunity to get a college education and pursue a meaningful career that contributes to our country’s future.
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