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Asian Immigrant is First Asian-American Mayor of Cupertino and Serves Community to Make it Welcoming for All
In 1977, Michael Chang left Hong Kong to attend San Francisco State University—and later earn a doctorate in education at Stanford University. Though he appreciated the racial and ethnic diversity of Santa Clara County, he wondered why people of color weren’t better represented in civic life. “Even in Santa Clara County where Asian Americans make […]
Read MoreMexican Immigrant Advocates for Immigrant Rights Through Poetry and Storytelling
In 1988 when Yosimar Reyes was three, his family brought him from Mexico to San Jose. Though undocumented, he felt at home in the city’s Kollmar neighborhood and especially in his apartment complex, where the majority of residents were immigrants. “I loved the communal feeling of the apartments and my friends at school,” he said. […]
Read MoreImmigrant from the Dominican Republic Constructed Vibrant Architecture Firm in Greater Salem, and Lays the Foundation for Other Young People to Pursue a Career in Architecture
Darguin Fortuna grew up on his grandparents’ rice farm in the Dominican Republic, but threw himself into schoolwork to pursue a degree in architecture. At 20, he was two years into that program when he and his mother received green cards. “My mom had first applied years before, and I hadn’t known if I’d get […]
Read MoreCameroonian Immigrant and Family Plant Resilient Roots in Massachusetts
Cameroonian-born and French-educated computer scientist, Laurier Hamidou Tabayi, received a diversity visa in 2011, and arrived in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. But it wasn’t the transition she expected. The visa program provided no guidance about how to get established with housing or work. Soon after arriving, for instance, the family had the misfortune to […]
Read MoreMexican Immigrant Founds Food Business
When Gretel Barrita was ten, her parents divorced. Her mother, a restaurant cook in Oaxaca, México, moved to the United States for more opportunities, leaving her three children, including Barrita, in the care of family. “It was heartbreaking,” she said. “I missed my mother terribly.” So, at 15, Barrita crossed the border alone to join […]
Read MoreEl Salvadorian Immigrant Invests in Community to Make Santa Fe Welcoming for All
When Ana Magaña was 12, her family fled civil war in their native El Salvador. “My mother was worried that we would be killed if we stayed,” she said. However, Magaña faced significant challenges coming to the United States. She didn’t speak English and couldn’t read or write in Spanish. It took many months of […]
Read MoreMexican Immigrant Helps Secure Sick Days for Everyone in Santa Fe, Regardless of Immigration Status
In 2005, Verónica Velázquez and her husband moved to the United States from the rural state of Michoacán, México, for better opportunities. They landed in California but had trouble finding work. “I wanted to be able to send money back to my family in Mexico,” she said. But “no one wanted to hire someone who […]
Read MoreGuatemalan Immigrant Works to Secure a Safe and Humane Environment for All Workers in Santa Fe
Iris Madely Alay was born to a single mother in rural Escuintla, Guatemala, and dropped out of school at age ten to help raise her siblings. “I liked school, but I had to leave,” she said. “I had a sad childhood because I didn’t have my father around, and my mother had to dedicate herself […]
Read MoreDominican Immigrant Gives Back to Her Massachusetts’ Community
In 2014, Carmen Tejeda was a single mom and second-year business major in Santo Domingo — but on what she now calls a youthful whim she decided to drop out of college and move to the United States to give her infant son a better life. Tejeda traveled to Boston, where a friend worked in a […]
Read MoreIrish Immigrant Leads Non-Profit in Indiana
In 1994, amid economic turmoil in Ireland, Aileac Deegan took a long shot and entered the diversity visa lottery, gambling on about a 1 in 45 chance of winning a U.S. green card. When she won, her family bought a house in Goshen, sight unseen, and her husband secured a construction job. “We were married, […]
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