Higher Dreams Inc
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Each year, about 65,000 undocumented students who have been in the United States for more than five or more years graduate from high school all around the country. Applying to college is a stressful and confusing time for all, let alone as an undocumented student. Being undocumented presents unique challenges that are compounded by the fact that no two institutions have the same policy on admissions and financial aid for undocumented students While there are disparate resources online for undocumented students, there is no comprehensive resource that gathers the relevant information for undocumented students in this important stage in their lives. Moreover, many resources are understandably written for undocumented students in specific states. Higher Dreams is a website devoted to serve the unmet needs of all undocumented students applying to college, written from the perspective of an undocumented student who has been through the process.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
School Counselor Trainings
Where we work
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
HigherDreams is a 501(c)3 organization based in Boston that is dedicated to making higher education more accessible to undocumented and DACAmented high school students. Since each state, and indeed each school had their own administrative policies regarding undocumented applicants, I began to collect and systematize the process. The following year I began HigherDreams to take the knowledge I gathered and make it available for other undocumented students. Since 2016, HigherDreams has provided direct advising and trainings to students and school counselors in Boston Public Schools. This work began through my experience applying to college as an undocumented student, I found the process overbearing and incredibly confusing due to the absence of any federal guidelines. Some of the trainings are done in collaboration with the Boston Teachers Union “Unafraid Educators” group, but we provide most of the trainings independently to school counselors.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Higher Dreams is committed to in-person trainings as well as developing online resources for school counselors nation-wide. We also work directly with several other collaborators around Boston as well as national organizations for immigrant rights.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Growing up as an undocumented immigrant in the immigrant enclave of Flushing, Queens taught Jin the importance of a public school system that supports immigrant students. Thus, Jin has been working throughout his college career at Harvard to advance a fair and robust advising program for undocumented students in Boston Public Schools. After presenting this past July at the American School Counselors Association, HigherDreams has been able to expand to even more schools. We have secured some funding from different foundations and the President’s Office at Harvard University to continue the work to serve undocumented and immigrant students in Boston Public Schools.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Higher Dreams currently provides in-person trainings in collaboration with the Boston Teachers Union “Unafraid Educators” group, but we provide most of the trainings independently to school counselors. In addition, we are connected with various immigrant rights groups in Boston such as Massachusetts Immigration RA and Greater Boston Legal Services to educate the public. We intend to increase the number of available training sessions as well as awareness of these trainings. In addition, we plan to finance a more robust set of resources including a book that brings together practice, theoretical, and experiential aspects of advising undocumented students. This work is already underway -- we are currently in conversation with an editor from Routledge to publish a comprehensive resource for advising undocumented students.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Higher Dreams Inc
Board of directorsas of 10/08/2018