Bio

Laura Garcia, Overnight Summer Camp and Youth Arts Group alumni is the Newburgh Enlarged City School District Family and Community Engagement Coordinator. She is the Founder of Dreamers with No Borders, a group of young adults whose Mission is to educate and empower the Latino, undocumented and migrant community in the Hudson Valley through the attainment of higher education and civic engagement. Laura also coordinates Mujeres Latinas of The Hudson Valley, a group of undocumented, migrant women from the Middletown and Newburgh areas that meet twice a month. Understanding firsthand the need for woman to feel safe prompted Laura to find an alternative way to help woman in the community. Laura understands the difficulties of being an immigrant in this country; she arrived to the United States when she was only 8 years old and saw the struggles that her mother faced with language, and information assistance. By encouraging woman to run their meetings, by leading a discussion or a workshop, she has prompted them to take a stronger leadership role in a world that views immigrant women as second class citizens. Laura is also the coordinator of the Newburgh Girl Power Program whose Mission is to provide adolescent girls, ages 9 to 12, with a dynamic youth experience through self-exploration, positive mentoring and support, personal empowerment, and leadership building skills in a culturally competent approach. The program aspires to produce confident young active community members by growing the leader within. Laura recently took a lead part in a hunger strike to support the New York Dream Act, was highlighted in a short video done by Women of the World for the New York Times and was a special guest on Univision al Despertar, one of the largest Spanish networks in the country. Laura was also the Racial Justice Program Coordinator for YWCA Orange County, New York.Laura has served on the Board of Directors of Rural & Migrant Ministry for the past 20 years.