What You Need To Know About The DREAM Project Fellowship
At UC Irvine, there is a campus resource for everyone and your individual needs to help you successfully navigate higher education and thrive as an undergraduate and graduate student.
If you are an undocumented student or come from a mixed-status household, the DREAM Center is a safe space for you to meet other undocumented students, allies, UCI faculty, immigration attorneys, and local community organizers who advocate for your visibility, protection, and overall well-being. Navigating a four-year university is difficult enough, but you’re not alone! There are hundreds of students who are undocumented at UCI, and there is a supportive community that is here to support you. The DREAM Center staff can help out with needs such as applying for DACA, completing your DREAM Act application, meeting your basic needs via the Food Assistance Program at UCI Basic Needs, and so much more.
One of the biggest challenges facing non-DACA undocumented students today is the inability to participate in paid internships and fellowships as an employee. While many undocumented students can participate in opportunities that offer stipends, it is still not accessible to everyone because many require a Social Security Number (SSN) or a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). Many undocumented college alumni go on to pursue entrepreneurship and develop their own businesses after graduation, but it’s difficult to get into contract and freelancing work if you don’t have much experience in the field that you want to go into.
As a low-income and first-gen student, I am a firm believer in the necessity for paid internships as they help to combat social, racial and gender inequality. To combat inaccessibility of opportunities for undocumented (both undergraduate and graduate) students who don’t have DACA, a work permit authorization, and/or a Social Security Number, the DREAM Project Fellowship is made available for undocumented students to gain professional skills, build a resume and portfolio, and receive mentorship from professors, faculty members, and administrators at UCI!
Organized by the UCI DREAM Center, the DREAM Project Fellowship has created professional opportunities for many undocumented students at UCI in the past three years. The program is new, but the faculty and staff are experts in community building and organizing self development programs specifically tailored to undocumented students. The center prioritizes social justice and political activism, and implements programs for radical self healing, financial literacy, and personal and professional growth so students can thrive, not just survive.
After you successfully pass an application and interviewing process, you will be paired with an on-campus fellowship site for the entire academic year. You will be expected to attend professional development workshops, seminars, and events each quarter, where you can get the chance to meet the team behind the DREAM Center and other fellows. Aside from the amazing opportunities that this program offers, you also get paid! All participating students receive a $1,300 stipend per quarter through the UCI Financial Aid office.
If you feel like you don’t know what professional career or academic field you want to get into, that’s totally okay! The fellowship provides a flexible learning environment where you are encouraged to ask questions and to be curious. I know it can be difficult to decide on an academic major or program at a young age, so please allow yourself to take it one step at a time and learn as you go. Program site advisors are advocating for you and your success as a student, so don’t hesitate to express your needs and concerns too.
In the past couple of years, fellows went on to complete research projects and program initiatives for the UCI community. Many students have been matched with on-campus sites such as the FRESH Hub, School of Engineering, UCI Humanities Center, Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, Sustainability Resource Center (SRC), UC Immigrant Legal Services Center, Department of Informatics and Office of Information Technology, and many more. The DREAM Center and the Students Advocating for Immigrant Rights & Equity (SAFIRE) organization is also working towards helping students land fellowship sites outside of UCI in local organizations in Orange County.
You can read more about the experiences of DREAM Project Fellowship participants by reading a profile feature of Victoria Sanchez, a third-year undergraduate student from Santa Ana, CA, double majoring in Business Economics and Urban Studies at UCI. Victoria was matched with the Cross Cultural Center, and worked on community building initiatives and facilitated workshops for professional and personal development for students.
Fellows are expected to present their research findings and/or project developments at the end-of-the-year symposium and conference! It can be intimidating at first, but it is so exciting and rewarding to present your project to your peers, faculty, friends and family. In addition, you get to support other DPF students on completing their fellowship. You can learn more about the virtual 2021 Rising Together, Thriving Together conference and the projects that students worked on here.
If you are interested in attending the upcoming 2022 Rising Together, Thriving Together conference, make sure to register here. This year’s conference will be in-person and will focus on artivism, healing through art, entrepreneurship, community building, and much more. The event is free and open to UCI students (and their family and friends), faculty, staff, high school students, and community college students. To learn more about the UCI DREAM Center and its resources, please visit https://dream.uci.edu/.
RECAP: Step-by-Step Process of the DREAM Project Fellowship
Submit fellowship application in May
Look through spreadsheet of project sites shared by project coordinators, and sign up for up to five interviews (it’s required!)
Participate in interviews with sites (make sure to send a thank you letter afterwards!)
Fellowship offer sent (usually two weeks after the interviews are completed)
Students will accept and/or respectfully reject offer
Attend seminars and meetings throughout the academic year beginning in early October
Prepare and present at symposium at the end of the year in April
