‘Uplift Central American voices’: Campus club launches undocumented student scholarship – dailycal.org
As part of its community-building efforts, Central Americans for Empowerment began a GoFundMe fundraiser campaign for $3,000 to fund undocumented student scholarships.
As part of its community-building efforts, Central Americans for Empowerment began a GoFundMe fundraiser campaign for $3,000 to fund undocumented student scholarships.
Central Americans for Empowerment, or CAFE, a student community organization on campus, is fundraising $3,000 for undocumented student scholarships on GoFundMe.
The club’s efforts began April 4 and will continue into the fall semester. CAFE’s goal is to provide the financial help of $1,000 to three undocumented student recipients amid the uncertainty brought on by new immigration policies, according to the GoFundMe website.
“We’re just here to support Central Americans and our community in solidarity, to uplift Central American voices … be there emotionally and physically,” said Zharick Garcia, the club’s budget and finance director.
According to Alexia Guerra Cardona, former co-executive director of CAFE, the first scholarship was launched spring 2024 with the help of Beatriz Manz, a campus ethnic studies and geography professor. The 2024 scholarship was aimed at first-generation students, while the current one will focus on undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, students.
Started in April 2025, the current GoFundMe has raised more than $300 to date. The club hopes to use social media and alumni connections to raise awareness for the project and reach their donation goal by the end of the fall semester, according to Samuel Avilucea, CAFE co-director of academic and professional opportunities.
“The scholarship was named after (Beatriz Manz) to honor the fact that they did give a significant contribution financially to our scholarship fund and to discuss how that professor’s work was integral to creating CAFE,” Guerra Cardona said.
CAFE also has goals of expanding its community beyond the borders of campus. In 2023, the club hosted a campus tour and panel for students from San Francisco’s Mission High School, according to the GoFundMe site. Central American alumni and campus students shared their experiences and offered advice on their experiences as first-generation students.
Guerra Cardona noted that other community-focused initiatives include a toy drive for children in El Salvador, which was in partnership with Academica de Futbol Juvenil Amatense, a nonprofit youth soccer organization.
CAFE also developed a DeCal, titled “Introduction to Central American Studies: Migration and Identity.” Launched this fall, the course will focus on Central America’s social, political and cultural dynamics. The DeCal is part of CAFE’s larger goals of establishing a Central American Studies Department at UC Berkeley.
“We are organizing for ourselves,” Guerra Cardona said. “We’re organizing for our people, for our community, and the institution needs to work to make sure that they are addressing our needs, because I think that at the end of the day, addressing Central American needs doesn’t mean that you need to put up a flag from our countries. It doesn’t mean that you need to play music from our countries. It means that you need to make sure that you’re meeting the material needs of Central American students.”
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