Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca's plans to attend college evaporated when, as a high school senior, her mother revealed that, unbeknownst to her, she was not living in the U.S. legally. Using her personal story for inspiration, she went on to launch DREAMer's Roadmap, a nonprofit mobile app that works to help undocumented students find scholarships to go to college.
Espinoza Salamanca was the daughter of undocumented immigrants and was able to obtain DREAMER status — an acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. She arrived in this country when she was 4 years old and like most other Dreamers, she was able to attend both elementary and high school, not realizing her status in this country.
"For me, growing up in this country from such a young age and going through the whole experience, K-12, I didn't really think that I was any different from all of my classmates," said Salamanca.
It wasn't until graduating high school that she was faced with the inevitable truth. Like many of her peers, she began applying to colleges with aspirations to make something of herself. Soon after, she received a notice in the mail saying her financial aid application was incomplete because it was missing her social security number.
Salamanca then called up her parents who explained that she was not in the country legally and was not able to obtain a social security number. In desperation, she went to her counselor, hoping for some helpful advice, but she recalls the counselor, telling her that "people like [you] don't go to college." For Salamanca, it "was a very hard pill to swallow."
Subsequently, she made a contact who shared that it is possible for DREAMers to go to college, and even obtain in-state tuition in some states, including California, where she lived. She has since used that knowledge to develop the DREAMer's Roadmap app, which helps undocumented students find college scholarships. The app was launched in 2016 and has so far provided information to more than 30,000 students, said Espinoza Salamanca.
"The whole idea behind DREAMers roadmap was to create a database where all of these scholarships would be housed and students all over the country could just download this app and have access to scholarships that they were eligible for to continue their education if that's what they wanted after high school," she said.
She says many parents arrive in the U.S. for better lives not just for themselves, but also for their children, and education can play a big role in that. "For us, it's wonderful that we have that opportunity to be able to be a little part in that success story for immigrants across this country," she said.
While managing the app, Salamanca is also involved in other entrepreneurial projects. She most recently launched the fund, #Supplies4FarmWorkers, which collects food, PPE, and school supplies for farmworkers affected by wildfires.
"It just hit me, 'What can we do to help them?' and being that DREAMer's Roadmap's mission is a lot about education, and immigrant families and most of these farmworkers are immigrants and undocumented, it just aligned perfectly," she said. "It was like a lightbulb moment."
Salamanca said the effort, that began about a month ago, has already handed out more than $50,000 worth of supplies to farmworkers' families.
Florida lawmakers have introduced a controversial bill restricting some discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms with young students. Supporters say the move empowers parents to have more of a say in what their children learn. Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
Congress this week passed a bill that would end forced arbitration for workplace sexual assault and harassment, one of the most significant changes to employment law in years. Cheddar News speaks with Marjorie Mesidor, Sexual Harassment Attorney, who explains that arbitrators are often retired judges or attorneys who "tends to have a more conservative view both to law and rewards."
As the situation with Russia has grown more precarious, the White House urged Americans remaining in Ukraine to leave immediately. The Biden administration that it sees continuing signs of escalation but did not have specific information detailing a timetable for a potential invasion. Kristine Berzina, senior fellow and head of the geopolitics team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, joined Cheddar News to provide her analysis. "There's talk of an impending phone call between President Putin, President Biden," Berzina said. "That is certainly a good sign to indicate that there would be significant cost."
Terrell Starr, host of 'Black Diplomats' podcast and senior nonresident fellow at the Eurasia Center for Atlantic Council, joins Cheddar News from Kyiv, Ukraine to discuss the mounting tension there.
The White House laid out plans for a $5 billion investment into a national network of charging stations to ease EV driving anxiety. Bruce Brimacombe, CEO of EV infrastructure GOe3 joined Cheddar News to discuss how much needs to be done for drivers to get over the fear of running out of energy. "People need to be able to do what they're doing now," he said. "But that is the way that if you're going to buy an electric car, you got to feel like you're not changing your world." Brimacombe noted that building out the infrastructure between cities was GOe3's own focus.
U.S. automakers are saying that the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, a crucial border crossing between the U.S. and Canada, is affecting their production lines. Michelle Krebs of Cox Automotive warns that the disruption "couldn't come at a worst time," amid chip and labor shortages in Detroit.
AND DETROIT-BASED AUTO MAKERS SAY THEY ARE SHUTTING DOWN PLANTS OR SCALING BACK PRODUCTION BECAUSE OF PARTS SHORTAGES.
Plans to add affordable housing to a development in Yellow Springs, Ohio, were squashed after comedian Dave Chappelle and other community members spoke out against the project. Chappelle threatened to pull the plug on his local comedy club and restaurant projects if the development had been approved.
David Tafuri, Former Obama Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor & Former State Department Official, joined Cheddar News to break down the latest geopolitical stories from Beijing, amid China's human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims and yet another Russian doping scandal.
Dr. Jennifer Haythe of Columbia University's Irving Medical Center, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the latest with the pandemic, as the debate over child safety rages amid low vaccination rates and states easing school mask mandates.
