Asian American Resource Workshop

How will the money from this fundraiser be used?

This fundraiser is used to fund the UndocuAsian Scholarship that will provide financial support to students who are unable to receive financial aid due to their immigration status. The amount of the scholarship will depend on 1) the particular financial need of the student, 2) the number of qualified applicants, 3) and the funds raised.  

Why is this scholarship important? 

Nearly 1/3 of the undocumented population in Massachusetts is Asian. Among this population, undocumented students in the U.S. are unable to receive federally-funded financial aid, including loans, grants, work-study, and scholarship opportunities. Further, we are ineligible for in-state tuition in Massachusetts (as is the case in 31 other states), resulting in a huge burden for a community that already faces external obstacles in finding job or internship opportunities. Everyone should have the right to access education regardless of their status. Throughout our work to change access to higher education, we will support our community members so that they can take advantage of these opportunities.

What is RAISE-Boston? What is some of the work we are involved in?

RAISE (Revolutionizing Asian American Immigrant Stories on the East Coast) is a pan-Asian undocumented group based in the East Coast. Our work is grounded in our personal experiences of being undocumented and Asian Pacific Islander (API). We are part of the 1.5 million undocumented API’s in the United States and we want to use our personal experiences to visibilize and humanize our stories, stories that have been overlooked for far too long. 

Our Boston group is a chapter of RAISE, with our core group located in NYC. We are a small but committed  group of students and working young adults working with AARW and the Asian Outreach Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) to identify resources, services, and campaign opportunities in the Greater Boston area. We also continue to do outreach through community events, school webinars, and justice-centered workshops.

Some of our recent work has focused on highlighting the narratives of undocumented Asian folks in Boston and NYC, including the Unheard Voices of UndocuAsians interview series (Check out @aarwboston or @raisenyc on Instagram and Twitter to read the stories!) 

 

 

Excerpt of our mission:

Through political activism, leadership development, community education, and coalition building, RAISE works at the grassroots level to reclaim the dignity of pan-Asian undocumented people, to reimagine justice and to demand liberation for all immigrants in America. We believe that building a future where all undocumented immigrants can thrive requires an approach that takes into account our intersectional identities.

 

Our fight though, is not just about us, it is about the liberation of all oppressed peoples which can only happen by dismantling the systems of oppression tied to the political-economic systems of capitalism and imperialism. This is why we see our movement for immigrant justice in the U.S. rooted in working in solidarity with workers, youth, tenants, queer, trans, and gender non conforming people, womxn, formerly incarcerated people, and other marginalized groups. Only by politically educating, mobilizing, and building the people power of these communities can we achieve full emancipation.