College Access Key to Hispanic Teens' Future
Sunflower Community Action had a leading role in the passage of a new Kansas law in 2004. That statute allows undocumented teens who have attended Kansas public schools for at least three years and graduated from high school to attend public colleges and universities at the Kansas in-state tuition rate. This significant legislation encourages Hispanic teens to finish high school, continue their education, and make a greater contribution to the Kansas economy. Kansas needs these human resources!
Predictably, anti-immigrant organizations have filed lawsuits against the State of Kansas to overturn the law. Sunflower is supporting the college access law, and continues to work at the national level for a clear path to citizenship for young adults, such as the one spelled out in the bipartisan DREAM Act under consideration in congress.
Students from four Wichita high schools have been involved in Sunflower’s Youth Action Group. Currently most group members attend North High, where nearly half of the students are Hispanic. In March 2006, 300 students from Wichita and southwest Kansas were part of a mass rally on the steps of the state capitol building and met with Senators Brownback and Roberts’ staff. Later that month 300 students from four high school marched downtown for a student-led rally and press event in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. Many more students were part of a rally in April that brought 5,000 (police estimate) immigrant supporters downtown to city hall.
In May six Sunflower youth were part of the National People’s Action Conference in Washington DC. This training event increased the students’ understanding of national movements and how the federal government works. The training conference also demonstrated the power of people working across racial lines, supporting one another on important issues.
Since September, the Youth Action Group has been defending the hard-won in-state tuition rate for immigrants who graduate from Kansas high schools and are on the path to citizenship. In February 2007, fifty students were part of a larger Sunflower rally in Topeka. One student gave powerful testimony before a state committee considering a bill to overturn in-state tuition for immigrants.
For information about Sunflower's work on college access for Hispanic immigrants, contact:
Roxana Guevara, Hispanos Unidos Chapter Organizer
Phone: 316-264-9972, ext 16
Email: roxana@sunfloweract.org
Emira Palacios, Democracy School Director
316-264-9972, ext. 17
emira@sunfloweract.org
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