Hello friends!

I have recently been accepted to CMSC (California-Mexico Studies Center) Summer 2021 California-Mexico Dreamers’ Study Abroad Program!

As many of you may know, I am a proud DACA recipient. In 1995 my parents brought me to the United States in search of a better life.  I was only 1 year old at the time.

In 2012, I obtained DACA for the first time. DACA allows me to do many things, but legal re-entry into the USA is not one of them. Fortunetly, DACA recipients can apply for Advance Parole for three types of travel: employment, educational, or urgent humanitarian reasons. Advance Parole is also available for educational purposes like a study abroad program or an academic research trip.

Now that I have secured my spot in the program, I will start the immigration side of things with USCIS.

Advanced Parole fee: $575

Lawyer fee: $500

Program fee: $2,500

Flights/Other travel expenses: TBD

Covid-19 tests: TBD

Mexican Consulate fees: TBD

I want to thank everone in adnvaced for taking the time to donate! I know this expierence will be a huge blessing!

I've Included the program objectives and description below.

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PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
The CMSC’s Summer 2021 California-Mexico Dreamers’ Study Abroad Program will offer three 4-week sessions from July 15 to August 22, 2021, with each cohort composed of 40 DACA recipients, who have secured USCIS Advance Parole travel authorization for educational purposes through our program.

During each 4-week travel-study experience, the participating Dreamers will be immersed into a comprehensive language and cultural educational program organized by the CMSC in collaboration with Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) and hosted by the Centro Internacional de Lenguas, Arte y Cultura Paulo Freire (CILAC Freire), our 20-year partner institution in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. This month-long educational program will consist of historical, cultural, linguistic, and academic lectures (cátedras) on social movements, the Mexican educational, economic and political systems, various museum and archeological visits, with a leadership development focus.  

Moreover, selected participants will have the opportunity to participate in seminars on Chicano Studies and the Mexican Diaspora, Public Policy Planning and Collaboration between California and Mexico and Los Angeles and Mexico City; and the evolving U.S.-Mexico relationship under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) under the new Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration.  

Program participants will also have a unique opportunity to conduct independent travel and ethnographic research on their family origins, which will allow Dreamers to visit their birthplace for 2-3 weeks, and will be required to produce a 10-page ethnographic-research paper based on their findings. A selection of these research papers will be published by the CMSC and provide human stories to script narratives for documentaries and academic presentations.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES:
-To research, develop, promote, and establish policies and programs between higher educational institutions and cultural organizations that will enhance the teaching, mobility and exchange of faculty, students, and professionals between California and the U.S. with Mexico and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.
-Establish the administrative framework for a replicable educational program model for Dreamers’ Study Abroad Programs at other colleges and universities through the DACA-Advance Parole process that can be reproduced by any U.S. institution of Higher Education;
-Prepare participating Dreamers as ambassadors of the model, for them to replicate similar programs at their own colleges and universities, based on their personal experience;
-Continue and expand video and photo documentation of Dreamers’ human stories;
-Allow Dreamers to conduct independent travel-study family ethnographic research in their communities of origin with their family and relatives, and to discover their roots in Mexico on their own.