Estrada Fellowship for Immigrant Youth ages 18-24
Evan Major
Deadline to Apply: Application deadline is February 8th. Term of fellowship will last from mid-February – June.
Organization Overview:
The Alliance for Immigrants Rights and the Michigan Organizing Project are a statewide coalition of faith, labor, civil rights, business, and social service organizations working together for racial and economic justice through community organizing. We are currently focused on campaigns to:
· Defend the civil rights of immigrant workers, families and students
· Promote just, fair, comprehensive immigration reform
· Hold banks accountable and stop unjust foreclosures
· Create affordable, dignified housing opportunities for all
Position Description:
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program took effect in August of 2012. This action was the result of immigrant rights groups across the country fighting for administrative relief for years. As the first significant reform in over 20 years, nearly 1 million youth across the country now have the chance to step out of the shadows. As of December, approximately 35% of eligible applicants had applied for the chance to stay in their community and go to college or get a job. Now, it is up to us to make sure all other eligible youth have the information and the chance to apply.
The Estrada Fellowship is a 5-month service, organizing, and leadership development program for immigrant youth ages 18-24 in Metro-Detroit and Metro-Kalamazoo. Fellows will be tasked with working as a team to conduct extensive outreach into the community for potential DACA applicants. Fellows will liaise with selected partners in the community (Latino, Arab, Asian/South Asian, West African) to engage, educate, and recruit interested families and applicants. Specific target areas include SW Detroit, Lincoln Park, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck, Troy, Macomb, and greater Kalamazoo.
In order to help Fellows perform their duties, they will participate in an ongoing training program to learn how to craft a public narrative to motivate others toward action, to learn the history of and challenges facing the social justice movement, and to develop a systems-based analysis of the power structures at the local, state, and federal level.
The Estrada Fellowship is a recruitment and training program for emerging organizers and leaders of the immigrant rights and social justice movements. Fellowship graduates will be connected with other professional development opportunities, job opportunities, academic support, and join a growing alumni network started with the 2012 Democracy Fellows.
This program is supported by the Cynthia Estrada Foundation and the Skillman Foundation.
Requirements and Expectations:
Fellows must:
- have a strong knowledge of the immigrant community in metro-Detroit or Kalamazoo, some experience in community work, and be passionate about making change
- be effective working with a culturally, religiously, and economically diverse group of partners, members, and staff
- be responsible, timely, and committed to professionalism
- be an effective communicator, with desire to improve at public speaking
- be a proficient speaker and writer of Spanish or Arabic, in addition to English
Fellows will be responsible for:
- Working as a team to create outreach material for community presentations
- Setting up and facilitating DACA info sessions in schools, churches, and community centers
- Creating and facilitating popular education sessions in the community
- Recruiting volunteers from the community to participate in DACA workshops
- Participating in group meetings and professional development opportunities
- Helping build organizational capacity and support for ongoing campaigns for immigration reform and defense of civil rights
- Completing regular reports and documenting activities in the community
Hours, Compensation, and Directions to Apply:
Fellows will work 15 hours/week (some evenings and weekends), receive a total award of $2,500 to support their learning, and monthly cell phone and gas allowances. It is possible to award monthly rate directly to a school as a scholarship for current college students.
Please send resume and cover letter to: ev...@michiganimmigrationreform.org with ‘Estrada Fellowship’ in the Subject line.
For more information, please call Evan Major at 313.377.5795
"I Shall Create! If not a note, a hole. If not an overture, a desecration" --Gwendolyn Brooks
"Tell no lies, and claim no easy victories" --Cabral
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