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U.S.A is known to be one of the greatest country in the world, which is why most people would rather emigrate from their home country to America. Some people leave their home country do to political threats, education, jobs and religion persecution etc... America is known to be a free country; freedom of speech, religion, etc... where everyone is expected to be treated equally. Now, let's get to the point. Why is it that some immigrants who get here ilegally get to stay and some don't? They're all to be treated equally and they're all looking for a better life. For example, let's take Cubans and Haitians. Cubans can be just as dangerous as Haitians or as any other unknowns in this country and they're both also hard working people. They're both also the kinds of people who do the dirty jobs that American citizens would not even dream of doing. If Haitians can't stay here ilegally until made legal, then Cubans shouldn't be able to stay here. It's not a matter of who we have business with, it's a matter of equality.

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SUFRIR stands for Students United for Immigrant Rights (SUFRIR) and it is the student component of Voces de la Frontera. SUFRIR is an opportunity for students to civically engage in the issues that matter most to them and their families. The first chapter of SUFRIR was formed in Racine at Horlick High School in 2004. SUFRIR students in Racine participated in campaigns for drivers licenses, in state tuition for undocumented students, and comprehensive immigration reform. SUFRIR students have participated in lobbying trips to Madison and Washington D.C. More recently, student leaders in Milwaukee played a key role in organizing a rally on Sept. 12th in Milwaukee in response to the new Social Security no match rule as part of a national day of action. Nearly 10,000 community members participated in the rally, making it the largest rally among participating cities.

SUFRIR builds leadership among immigrant and Latino students. Through the process at Horlick student achievement has risen, discipline problems have fallen and divisions that once existed between Latino and immigrant kids have decreased. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of immigrant issues has developed among staff and students at the school. Many of the students who have risen to leadership positions in the club have been recognized by the community and received scholarships. For example student leaders, Xavier Marquez,Cecilia Leal, Louisa Morales and Viviana Pastrana have all received the Hispanic unsung hero award in Racine. Student advisors Al Levie and Ryan Knudson have also received the award.

Students throughout Wisconsin should have the opportunity to take this kind of leadership role in engaging in immigration issues like in state tuition, the DREAM act, Social Security no match letters and others. As such, Voces is expanding SUFRIR to high schools and Universities throughout the state of Wisconsin.

Voces website-
www.vocesdelafrontera.net

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The Casa Guadalupe Senior Center story circle meets weekly with two trained facilitators to share stories about their lives with each other. Facilitators encourage participants to share stories across their timeline of their lives that represent a large spectrum of experience. In addition, the group will be encouraged to choose and create some sort of self-identified representation or product based on their stories that can be presented to Casa Guadalupe, the participants’ family and friends, and/or the broader community.

Potential benefits of the story project:

To the participants:
- sharing life stories with each other will allow the participants to gain some insight into each other’s lives as well as their own
- story telling helps with listening and communication skills
- sharing their story allows participants to “give back” to their community, an act that can be difficult for some members of the elderly population
- interests, needs, and wants may be identified through the told stories. Eventually, community agencies can use this information to create more responsive services.

To the broader community:
- The stories developed in the circle may help the broader community better understand the immigrant communities of Allentown. In addition, the story circle may lead to discussions of similarities between and among cultures and immigrant populations that can then be branched out into the broader community and create better inter-cultural understanding.
- The circle will most likely touch on universal themes of what growing older means and what the younger populations can learn from the elderly. This could help develop intergenerational ties and facilitate intergenerational learning, especially if youth are brought in to help facilitate the sessions.
- Identify key community members who may be able to participate in a Community Advisory Board or Community-Based Participatory Research.

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Our community in Calloway County, Kentucky currently has many temporary Spanish-speaking residents who have come to our community from Mexico through the H2A program: a program that provides reliable guestworker labor to the agricultural industry. These workers labor every single day on farms in our community. Agriculture has long been known to provide one of the most dangerous job atmospheres available. Safety programs and materials have been available to American farmers for years, exposing the dangers of this way of life.

However, with this influx of labor, many American farmers are taking on new positions within their operation. Many are becoming farm managers in their business, making necessary contacts and business decisions. However, that leaves these Spanish-speaking migrant workers to do the jobs that are considered so dangerous and relatively little Spanish material to educate them of the risks. It is simply an overlooked need in our community. These workers deserve to know the risks of farm labor, how to prevent them, and how to respond if such an emergency does occur.

I am working to change this lack of knowledge. I want these workers to be informed, knowledgeable, and capable of handling these dangers, despite the language barrier. I am working to develop literature that will alert them to the risks of farm labor and distribute it among the 400-500 workers in my community. With appropriate funding, I also hope to be able to provide them with water bottles, first aid kits, or other types of care products to help them stay safe and healthy despite the dangerous atmosphere. I have named this project, ¡La Seguridad Primero! (Safety First) - Promoting Farm Safety Across Languag Barriers. I appreciate your time in exploring my project and my mission.

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Alex Poeter founded the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council in Chicago, IL. An East German immigrant who was raised under an oppressive dictatorship, Alex leads a grassroots organization that mobilized local residents to close down 27 drug houses, secure $40 million in local school improvements, and improve the local economy through $65 million in Community Reinvestment Act funds. Alex won a BRICK Award in 2000.

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In 2000, Angelica Salas won a BRICK Award for her work as the Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, CA. A Mexican immigrant who came to the United States at age four with her teenage aunt and uncle to reunite with her parents, Angelica leads a multi-ethnic coalition that advocates for the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees in Los Angeles, helping increase naturalization rates by 400%.

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K.S. Park served as a general counsel for the Los Angeles-based Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, which provides legal services, educational workshops, and advocacy for low-wage workers in Koreatown.

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1996 BRICK Award winner Trinh Duong organized and fund-raised for the New York City-based Chinese Staff and Workers Association. Originally comprised of mainly male Chinese restaurant workers, the CSWA expanded to include female garment workers and Chinese workers in other industries. Today CSWA has over 1300 members and 2 locations in greater New York, protecting the rights and interests of Chinese immigrant workers.