Helping DREAMers with TAFSA

A message for those who want to help DREAMers with TAFSA, from David Johnston:

1. Instead of asking minority parents to ‘come to us’, we set up four financial aid help sites in areas they frequent, such as cafes, bakeries and libraries on the first two Saturdays of March, April, and May with one Wednesday evening session.
2. Instead of having ‘experts from outside the community man the sites’ we enlist bilingual professionals and college students to volunteer. These volunteers then offer their own experiences of being the first in their families to attend college as they help parents complete their TASFA/FAFSA’s.

Paul Landa is soliciting volunteers for three sites he’s set up on the East side of Houston. I’m setting up volunteers for our Southwest Houston site (Public Library in Southwest Multi Service Center/ 6400 High Star 77074).

If you are interested in volunteering for the Southwest Houston site, I give the logistics below:

Ø Volunteers agree to ‘man’ a site for two hours. For Saturdays we’d like volunteers to commit to two consecutive Saturdays. Each Saturday a volunteer will ‘man’ the site for two hours. I will work to have two volunteers per two hour block.

Ø I will supply volunteers with a detailed ‘how to complete the TASFA/FAFSA’ workbooks, which take any guess work out of helping a family complete the FAFSA/TASFA.

Ø Volunteers will have a table in the library, a file box with supplies, computer access, and a notebook to keep a log of parents they assist.

Ø Paul and I are responsible for advertising the event and making sure each sites is stocked with FAFSA/TASFA’s and help books. Paul and I will also be on call to answer questions volunteers might have while helping parents.

If you can volunteer (or can pass onto young people you work with), please fill in the below table for the times and dates you can help. If you have questions please call (713-857-8041) or email (djohnsto@houstonisd.org). Also, if you know of others who can help, please pass this email along or forward me their contact information. Please feel free to post this on Facebook or other social networks you use. If you wish, I will be available to conduct orientation sessions (30 minutes) at your convenience.

Thank you,
David Johnston 713-787-1715 (o)
College Access Coordinator 713-787-1723 (f)
Lee High School djohnsto@houstonisd.org
6529 Beverly Hill Lane Houston TX 77057