Kenia was born in Mexico and brought to the United States by her mom when she was 11 years old. Fast forward ten years and Kenia, now a senior year at Cal State Northridge, had just been accepted to University of Southern California’s School of Business. Yet as an undocumented student, she didn’t qualify for federal aid. Faced with the steep tuition, book fees and other expenses, Kenia wasn’t sure she could afford to attend graduate school. Then she learned about Immigranted, thanks to the DREAM Center at Cal State Northridge, which provides resources and services to undocumented students.
“I had to start the program in the summer and I had no aid whatsoever, so the loan I received from Immigranted helped tremendously,” recalls Kenia, who is the first person in her family to attend college.
In 2020, Kenia graduated from USC’s Social Entrepreneurship Program and today is a program coordinator for SoLa Impact, a social impact real estate fund with a nonprofit affiliate, the SoLa I CAN Foundation. The foundation works to improve the lives of residents in South Los Angeles through increased access to career development, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and economic mobility.
Kenia’s latest project is building a new technology center to address the digital divide in the community. The job allows Kenia to tap into her passion for giving back to the community, like she did as an undergrad student when she started legal clinics for fellow immigrants at her school, or when she created an emergency fund to help students dealing with food insecurity and other significant life emergencies.
“Immigranted played a significant role in me completing my graduate studies, and being able to get a job that directly aligns with my academic background and personal values,” she said.
One of those values is giving young people from underserved communities opportunities to fulfill their full potential. At work, she’s doing this through organizing a technology summer camp, a scholarship program and other similar activities to give youth in South Los Angeles a leg up.
Kenia can identify with their struggle. Her mom, a single parent, often worked two or even three jobs to make ends meet.
“When I woke up, she was already at work, when I went to bed, she was still not back,” Kenia recalls. “So when I was in high school, I knew I had to take advantage of all of the opportunities because my mom made so many sacrifices for me.”
Today, Kenia is happy to be giving back and also proud to be a role model, both for younger members of her extended family and youth she works with.
“Increasingly, the conversation is not about “Will I go to college, but where will I go to college?” she says.