Students do not apply for the assistance because they run into trouble, completing a free federal application, an application that, by the way, is necessary in order to receive that muchneeded money for school. Heres the good news, though theres an organization in our area, Latino U College access, that stands ready to help hispanic students fill out this form and prepare, get ready. Recently, latino u partnered with Westchester County, and joining us today to talk about this collaboration is the Westchester County executive, rob astorino, and our good friend Shirley Acevedo buontempo, founder and executive director of Latino U College access. Thank you both. Happy holidays. I hope everything went well. They came to you . You came to them . How did this meeting of the minds come together . Este programa es muy importante a la econom a y las familias de westchester. They came to us through our youth bureau. And it was something that caught my attention, and i thought, you know, this is really important because, if you think im a couple years away from dealing with college and forms. But i remember dealing with that, and its a nightmare. Going for a car loan, anything where its complicated. And if you dont speak english, should that be the only barrier for you not getting Tuition Assistance or getting into a college and maybe changing the trajectory of your family forever, getting a good job . Right. So, this is something that we want kids of all races we want kids its not just for latinos, for sure. No, but take an opportunity here to get some help, to fill out, with spanishspeaking adults who can help you through this process for the family itself to get through this process and to get into college and get the Tuition Assistance that you need or qualify for. Before i get to shirley, in what ways is the county lending a helping hand . Well, financially, were helping the organization, which i think latino u is a good one and its something that is providing a service. But think about this. Its not just for today. Its for collegebound kids that but im looking at it in a different perspective, too. Economic development you know, 5, 10 years, when these kids go through college. Oh, yeah. All of a sudden, theyre gonna look to live somewhere and to work somewhere and maybe start a business on their own. Yep. I would love for them to be able to do that in westchester or new york. Well, youre getting ahead of me because i think, ultimately, thats the benefit for the county. Sure. We have you here welcome back, shirley because january 1st what happens january 1st . Fafsa application opens up, correct . The fafsa application opens up on january 1st. And getting in early the application is critical. Talk to me about the importance of that. Yes, completing the application early is really one of the most important things that students and their parents can do because federal grants and state tuitionassistance programs are often delivered on a rolling basis by universities. So, the earlier you get your application is the more likely you are to get increased Grant Funding from the federal government. I want to do a very quick review. Free application for federal student aid. Its a free application, and students need to be sure that theyre on the correct website in order to complete it cause theres a couple of tricky websites there that charge a fee. Yeah, were gonna put some names of the websites up so people make no mistake. But i want to be sure much of the information thats filled out in the application is held in your incometax return. Correct. So, the question, therefore do you wait to fill out the application until you get your returns back . Or do you go and start the application before you get that information . Well, you know, thats were the cultural relevance comes in with our organization because we know that latinos we live in a maana mentality ill go maana, maana. Yes. And sometimes they think that, because the application is asking for their currentyear incometax returns, that they need to wait to complete it. Oy, oy, oy. To do it today. Yes. But the reality is that you should fill out your application using last years federal return and then update it. Year, finally, the federal government has issued that the application will accept prioryear income tax. And that will make it so much easier for so many families and updating. Before we get to the websites are coming up. Yes. The county is also lending a helping hand in terms of facilities, you know, places where they can have these boot camps. Were trying to work with the school districts, too, to get classrooms available and Space Available so that they can come in and theres enough people. The goal is almost 1,000 people, right, that wed like to get to take advantage of this. And if we could change 1,000 families and their generations to come by sending the first child in their family to go to school, how amazing is that . And education is the key. Absolutely. Thats why we talk about it so often here on tiempo. Sit tight. A couple more questions for you. When we come back, more on the Westchester County Financial Aid workshops and where to find them. So, well point that out in the next segment. Still ahead on tiempo, its a president ial election year. Many immigrantadvocacy groups to become citizens as soon as possible. Theyll explain why cuando regresamos. Meet the moores were the moore family, and as you can see, we need an internet that can do more. We do more games, and more streaming. So we need more speed. Thats why we switched to Time Warner Cable. You can too. Call now. Now we can connect more devices, at the same time. The wifi in this house is amazing. Hi grandma and grandpa ha, look at that [laughs] Time Warner Cable even has an internet plan for us. Get the Internet Speed thats right for you. From 3 megs to ultra fast 300 megs they even made it easy to switch with a onehour arrival window. Why settle for less, when you can get more get 50 meg internet for 39. 99 per month. Call now. You could get free installation, no data cap, and access to over 400,000 twc wifi hotspots with select plans. Welcome back to tiempo. We have been discussing the campaign in Westchester County to help collegebound latino students apply for muchneeded Financial Aid, and weve been talking this morning to the westchester country executive, rob astorino. Shirley Acevedo Buontempo is the founder and executive director of Latino U College access. And i know you guys have already lined up to start off your fafsa First Campaign and the boot camps. Walk me through the campaign and the boot camps. Absolutely. Fafsa first is a Community Coalition of partners, including Westchester County government, the white plains public library, college goal new york, and 11 Community Organizations that have joined together to ensure that we increase fafsa completion among latino youth in Westchester County. And your first boot camp is that what youre calling it . Is scheduled for were looking at january 17th at 100 martine avenue thats the White Plains Library 1 00 to 5 00 p. M. Information, you can go to collegegoalny. Org. More on that in just a second. But if we show up at the boot camp, what happens there . So, we will provide bilingual volunteers that will assist a student and their parent to complete the application from start to finish. Yes. And whats great about that is that its often the complexity of the form and also filling out the form incorrectly that prevents families from succeeding and prevents families from receiving the Financial Aid. Millions of students that qualify do not apply for fafsa and leave millions of dollars on the table of unutilized grants. Very quickly, shirley, collegegoalny. Org is the website that you can go to because were not talking just about Westchester County. What will you find there . Other boot camps throughout other boot camps or other fafsa completion programs that are being offered not just in new york city and long island, but in all of new york state. So, if you dont live near westchester and youre one of our fafsa boot camps, feel free and attend many of the other sessions that are being hosted. I think a lot of people still have the misguided outlook of Westchester County as being how shall we say . Largely white, largely affluent, very few latinos. Correct me on the demographics, if you will. And you dont have to correct me because i know what they are, but to the viewers who think that westchester is that sort of picture in their mind, when in reality its not. No, its now cambiando, and rapidly, and thats a good thing. I mean, we are the fourth most diverse county in all of new york. Were tied with new york county, which is manhattan, which is pretty amazing. We have a million people. 23 and growing of our population is hispanic. A quarter. Yeah. Now, i get it, and you get it. Hispanic is a very big umbrella, and within that, theres mexican, puerto rican, el salvador, et cetera. But its a very diverse community. And, you know, i do hope people take advantage of this. The White Plains Library is right across from the galleria mall, and a lot of public transportation, too, if so, take advantage of this, please. This is an opportunity to get a kid into college. Shirley, i want to point out that the only place where you can find the application is at fafsa. Gov. Fafsa. Gov. Okay. Use the. Gov because oftentimes there are websites that charge a fee that are misleading. And very important if youre gonna go to one of the boot camps or one of the what should you bring with you to make the applicants job and the helper easier . In order to complete the application with the assistance of a volunteer, you should bring with you your 2014 incometax return or 2015 if you happen to be an early bird and get it done, your w2 form, if youve received it for that year, a bank statement, as well. And you need to bring that information for both the student and the parent who is attending. And you dont need a no. 2 pencil. No, you dont. Exactly. Its all done online. And, shirley, i dont want to get so new yorkcentric because im sure there are parents in new jersey and connecticut who are watching, saying, what is it a Google Search away, where they can find out where a similar boot camp would be in their community . Absolutely. There are a number of fafsa completion programs being hosted in all of the neighboring states and even nationally. So, anyone that is interested or needs help should not give up. They should certainly google it, look it up through their local fafsa completion workshops. Universities often host them. Take advantage. Please feel free to attend. Ill let you have the final word, and i want you to finish the thought that you were talking about before. The benefit for Westchester County, as a whole, in this regard, would be. . We have a very educated workforce in westchester, literally, the highesteducated county in all of america. Mmhmm. And i want to add to that. I want people who come back from college to know that there are jobs waiting for them. There are opportunities for them to start jobs. And unfortunately, in todays society, unless you have that education, its harder to move up that ladder. So, do what immigrants in the past have done. Get that education, move up the better for it. And how great it would be to return to the place where you grew up . That would be great. Thank you both. Continued success. Thank you very much. Coming up next on tiempo, it is a president ial election year. Many immigrantadvocacy groups are in our area, working hard to get legal residents to become citizens as soon as possible. Well talk about that. Still ahead, an Important Initiative spearheaded by new york citys Controllers Office. He is looking for hundreds of workers who have money waiting for them mucho dinero. Tiempo returns. Okay. So right now, everyone is saying, hurry you gotta get fios. But why . Well, because theres never been a better time to get a greatdeal from fios, the Fastest Internet and wifi available. Only fios has speeds from 50 to 500 megs. Because your devices run better on a better internet. And for just 79. 99 a month online, you can get 50 meg fios internet, tv and phone for yourfirst year. Plus with a 2year agreement, fios gives you 400 back, and all of the premium movie channels for a year. Morning gary. We are get schooled. Dot com. You want a college education, dont you . You know you do. Thats why were here. Were free, and here to guide you through every step of the way. Starting with. Attendance. [air horn] gary, Financial Aid forms. Picking a college, man you and us. We go together like tacos and tuesday. And i loooove tacos. Narrator go to getschooled. Com it is officially a president ial election year, and with the apparent antiimmigrant sentiment amongst some president ial candidates and Immigration Reform stalled in congress, many new york city immigrantadvocacy groups are redoubling their efforts to convert legal residents to citizens. And here to talk about how and why theyre doing this, were now joined by Angela Fernandez from the northern manhattan coalition for immigrant rights, Jessica Orozco of the good to see you. Very nice to see you. I hope your holidays went well. It went well. Thank you. This your effort did you see it work somewhere else . I mean, whos the brainchild behind this that said, you know what . Citizenship and then voting. Well, its something i mean, its historical in the united states. And changes happen when people go and vote. And we can see this already with the people that weve elected into office and the policies that they support. So, when we saw the rising antiimmigrant sentiment, which is actually led by a few leaders we dont believe that the majority of americans feel this way we decided we want to really focus. And our organization has identified thursdays as citizenship thursdays. And with resources that we have, from taxes paid by immigrants, we can provide these services for free. So, we provide Free Immigration Services on thursdays. People come into our office. They get highquality service by trained representatives. And what were seeing is a very quick turnaround now. When someone submits an become a citizen anywhere between three, four, to about six months. So, the motivation for this, jessica is it solely political . Or is there much more behind it . I think theres any number of reasons why you want to become a citizen. Walk me through some of them. There are tons of reasons to become a citizen. I mean, right now, 2016 of course, you know, you can go out and vote with your naturalization, with your citizenship. And weve been seeing that, with this antiimmigrant rhetoric coming about, our agencies you know, not just new york, but new jersey, connecticut we see people coming in and they want to vote and theyre saying, i need somebody to represent me. And also, when you are a citizen, thats the only way that you are 100 protected from deportation. So, youre safe, right . And then you can also petition for your family members abroad to come here and join you in the u. S. Mmhmm. Is it just a matter of good timing that allows you to push this and the sentiment youre seeing . Or shouldnt have been this the push for so many people all along, that the incentive has always been there . You know, you want your democratic rights. One of them is the ability to vote. So, one of the issues is that about 10 years ago, it cost 100 or less to apply for citizenship. Im talking about the government fee. Yes. The government fee to apply for citizenship is 680. Mmhmm. That is a tremendous amount of money for lowincome immigrants whose average income can be up to 20,000 a year. So, fortunately, we have leadership here in the city and at the state level that has decided to Fund Programs at a higher rate to help organizations like ours provide a free service to help them apply for citizenship. And cut that cost. And cut down that cost. Or, actually, some lawyers charge, for example, a couple thousand dollars. Yes. To help people through that process. Well, there are plenty of nonprofits throughout the city and throughout new jersey and connecticut that can provide this service for free. So, without having that dollar figure staring you in the face, suddenly the interest goes up, right, because now suddenly its something that i can and when youre screened by these notforprofit organizations that have board of immigration appeals representatives or attorneys on staff, youre properly screened, you may even qualify for a free waiver. So, these organizations can help you, like, you know, apply for that fee waiver, and you get exempt from the 680. So, are you guys fully prepared, what should be and what may be an onslaught of people who say, yes, i want to move forward and i want to go on the path to citizenship and you guys can help me do that . With the call, the clarion call now being that much greater, i would think the doors will be flooded with people coming in. How prepared are you to handle that . Well, weve already been doing it. They have been coming in. We have seen an increase over the last six months of individuals coming and seeking to be screened for us to see if theyre eligible and then to apply. So, its something that were thankful and grateful for the funding that weve been receiving to be able to hire people and to provide these services. Do you find that what works with so many people is, you want a say in the election . Vote. Exactly. You really dont have a say. Exactly, and they want people who represent their communities. And they see, like angela said previously, that this antiimmigrant rhetoric thats not what a normal american feels. Thats not what the average american feels. Weve got 20 seconds left. Next time theres an opportunity to go to one of these workshops or a place is every thursday, you said . Every thursday at northern manhattan coalition for immigrant rights. Were located at 5030 broadway. And your website is. . Nmcir. Org. All the information there. Un placer. Thank you guys very much. Still ahead on tiempo, new york city controller Scott Stringer looking for hundreds of workers who have mucho dinero waiting for them in unclaimed wages. Himself when we come right back. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet not yet. Pull the peach new york city officials are looking for more than 1,000 workers who were underpaid by contracts and are entitled to unclaimed wages totaling ready for this . 3. 7 million, money these workers earned rightfully, according to the city Controllers Office, and hes here to talk more about get this money thats waiting for them. New york city controller Scott Stringer, welcome. And youve had some people walk into the office already, right . And you must feel so good when you hand them a check and say, here, this is yours. Well, since we began this campaign, weve returned 350,000 to 53 people. Most recently, right before christmas, a man came into the office, didnt really know why he was coming. And i handed him a check for 26,000. This is money he earned. Yes. But the contractor didnt pay him. And how did you get the money to be able to give it to him . Because we go after the contractors, and when we get money, we put it in a reserve fund 3. 7 million so that we can now track down 1,000 workers and get them the money that they earned. This is so important for people who are struggling. Contractors, immigrants, people who do the right thing, play by the rules they get ripped off, they have no recourse, but were now showing them that were gonna go after these contractors. And this time of year, when the bills are pouring in from 26,000 . Who gets greater reward you do from giving it to them or them from getting it . I think the person who got the 26,000 probably. Happier. But we take this very seriously, and since ive been controller, we have debarred 30 companies, meaning they cant do business with the city for five years. Heres a picture of that worker ruben reyes. He was a plumber, installed water meters, and you handing him a check for 26,000. You made his day, for sure. It was very exciting. At the same time, 53 people, their money. Youve got a list of 1,000. Are you a little disheartened that more havent come in . I mean, how hard is it to track these guys down and come get them to get their money . Look, when we started, we didnt know what was gonna happen, but we now have 53 people we found. Weve distributed 350,000. This is the beginning of the campaign, not the end of the campaign. The more we get the word out, the more i think well find people. But were also sending a message to these contractors you rip people off, youre not gonna do business with the city of new york for five years. That are ripping of workers. And we also are making sure that people who earned this money get this money. Get this money. Whats the process to get the money . Is it as simple as showing up at your office and knocking on your door . Is there paperwork that needs to be filled out . What needs to be done so that they can get their money . If you think youre owed money, contact our office. Its as simple as that. If youre worried about immigration status, we dont ask any questions. You just come in. We match you with the work youve done, and you leave with a check. Showed me. You got a couple of workers who are owed a substantial sum. One worker from queens has 77,000 waiting for him, another from brooklyn 59,000. I mean, typically, most checks are what, if you had to average it out . 5,000 . 6,000 . You know, it ranges, but, look, wage theft is a very serious issue in this country and in this city, and this is our way of cracking down. So, people who are watching, if you think youre owed money, well find out. Well track it down for you. And if youre owed money, youre getting paid. Its worth reiterating. You have the money in hand, but at the same time, the process of going after unscrupulous contractors who dont pay their workers continues, does it not . We have debarred a Record Number of contractors since ive become controller, and thats the work we do every day. We investigate prevailing wage violations, we investigate worker violations, and then we make sure that we return the hardearned money that people have earned to their families, to themselves, so they can help their kids, they can pay their rent, you know, feed their families. This time of year, you feel like santa claus a little bit . Its the nice part of the job, but its an uphill battle tracking people down. Thats why we need the public to become aware of this. Youre heard it here. You got money wait for you. Get ahold of the Controllers Office and find out if youre on the list. Good seeing you. Thank you so much. Before we go, lets take a look at the tiempo Community Calendar for this week. Two musical events to tell you about. Tomorrow evening in manhattan, a tribute to the queen of latin music, selena, will take place at b. B. Kings blues club. Thats located at 237 west 42nd the concert gets under way at 8 00. Next saturday in queens how about this . Freestyle music from the 1980s continues to live on. Dozens of freestyle artists will converge at resorts world casino to perform their classic freestyle hits. The casino located on rockaway boulevard. That Party Gets Going at 7 00. Much simas gracias. Thank you at home for watching and spending part of your sunday with us. If you missed any part of our show, how about this . You can catch it at abc7ny, our website. Go to the webpage. Even on your tablet you can find it. It works on your smartphone, as well. That wraps up another edition of tiempo. Im joe torres. Thanks for watching. We hope you learned something
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