Emerson Collective, a group chaired by Laurene Powell Jobs, and filmmaker Davis Guggenheim launched a new platform for undocumented youth to tell their stories Tuesday.
The Dream is Now provides these youth the opportunity to upload videos and tell their stories as undocumented Americans, view, listen to the stories of other undocumented Americans. It also provides an avenue to advocate for immigration reform like the DREAM Act, and to share links to these stories online through social media.
The submitted stories help dispel a very common myth held about undocumented immigrants: that they are all Hispanics. The stories show a variety of backgrounds and races represented, putting human faces to a group that is largely faceless to many people. The viewer is able to hear and see the faces behind words like “undocumented” and “illegal.”
Social media is integrated into the site’s mission and design. The site also has a very simple link to signing an online petition which the site describes as a way to:
Tell Congress to create a pathway for undocumented young people who pursue a college degree or military service to earn their citizenship.
It allows the user to sign either by sharing Facebook credentials, filling in a form on the website, or by signing anonymously. However, the petition lacks a page explaining it’s contents, goals, or destination, something which might turn off potential signatories. More information about the DREAM Act itself is available on the About page.
The site is also trying to raise attention to itself and the stories it tells through the hashtag #thedreamisnow on Instagram and Twitter to get the stories out, and keep them coming in.
Emerson Collective has previously supported “social entrepreneurs and organizations working in the areas of education and immigration reform,” with Powell Jobs and many others in the tech industry advocating for immigration. The tech field‘s reasons for supporting the DREAM act or immigration reform might vary a bit from the average person advocating for it, the wallet and manpower of the tech lobby makes them far more effective.
[Image used with permission via Lalo Alcaraz]
Elaine Rita Mendus is a undergraduate student working on graduating college (someday soon). Her career interests include geopolitics, the Hispanic community, and urban planning. She really wouldn't mind ending up a scriptwriter though...
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