Our Work

Since our founding in 2018, UndocuCarolina has created public educational spaces on and off campus on a range of immigration-related topics with the goal of building a more inclusive and just community for all. With support from Humanities for the Public Good, UNC Global, and over a dozen other units across campus, UndocuCarolina invites the public to better appreciate the contours of present day immigration policy, generating a well-informed public interest in the causes and consequences of living undocumented.

Community Outreach and Education

UndocuCarolina has hosted a series of community roundtable conversations to bring scholars, activists, students, and those with lived experience into dialogue. We have organized a Distinguished Lecture series, featuring renowned scholars such as Roberto Gonzalez, Lisa Marie Cacho, and Shannon Speed to campus. We have hosted film screenings followed by audience talk-backs and teach-ins. We have co-sponsored student-organized events, including one in spring 2022 about the importance of storytelling for cultivating immigrant hope. 

Ally Trainings

UndocuCarolina created and regularly offers half-day Ally Trainings at UNC, educating participants on the policy landscape shaping access to educational opportunities for undocumented students and best practices for navigating relationships with undocumented and DACAmented students. In our first four years we trained over 550 Allies, representing staff members from across 85 different campus offices.

Storyteller Network

UndocuCarolina is working on a new initiative to build a student network for those directly touched by undocumentation. This initiative is started by and for (un)documented student storytellers, many of whom are first-time orators, for the purpose of forging bonds through shared experiences, empowering each other, and sharing and providing resources. Our goals further include: 1) identifying with and supporting one another; 2) holding UndocuCarolina and UNC accountable to our needs; and 3) building a more robust and diverse pool of storytellers to speak up about our own lived experiences (at UndocuCarolina Ally Trainings and beyond).

Our Community

Today UndocuCarolina is sustaining our core programming and cultivating a network of volunteer trainers to better respond to the enthusiastic demand for our Ally Trainings. With our new Student Engagement Coordinator, we are supporting student efforts to use mutual support to create a more welcoming environment. And, in partnership with LatinxEd, we are expanding our work beyond campus with a focus on K-12 educators and community college advisors. As we grow, our focus is on identifying collaborators and allies eager to support our students, their families, and the broader undocumented and immigrant communities in our state. Join us!