The Dream Project Approach
Creating a Pathway to Higher Ed for Undocumented Youth
Join us as we kick off the Metropolitan Washington Workshop on Immigration and Race series with Karen Vallejos Corrales, Executive Director of The Dream Project. Karen will discuss how grassroots efforts can support undocumented students in accessing higher education.
Karen Vallejos Corrales is an experienced advocate for the immigrant community. Her commitment to immigrant rights includes advocacy and leadership that challenges systemic inequities in education. After witnessing the 2010 collapse of the federal DREAM Act, she was one of the founding members of the Dream Project. The mission of the Dream Project is to empower students whose immigration status creates barriers to education by working with them to access and succeed in college through scholarships, mentoring, and scholar, alumni, and family support. Karen earned her Juris Doctorate from the Washington and Lee School of Law and possesses a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Southwestern Adventist University. Her expertise spans nonprofit leadership, governance, and legal and policy research. Karen and her family came to the United States from her native Bolivia when she was five years old, and she grew up in Arlington, VA.