ALAS Giving Tuesday 2023

What is ALAS?

Asheville Latin Americans Achieving Success (ALAS) is a Latinx-led nonprofit organization that develops Latinx leadership in Buncombe County and improves access to education through mentoring, training, and scholarship.

What is Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage philanthropy and celebrate generosity worldwide.

What are we raising money for?

Currently, we are raising funds for scholarships for the 2023–24 school year. Scholarships range from $600–$1200 and are awarded to undocumented students or students with DACA who either graduated from a high school in Western North Carolina or are attending a college or university in Western North Carolina.

Our goal for this Giving Tuesday is to raise $4800 (enough for eight $600 scholarships or four $1200 scholarships).

Why is it important to provide these scholarships?

In the state of North Carolina, undocumented students are charged out-of-state tuition and do not have access to the same state and federal aid that many students do.

In-state students are charged $1216 for 16 credit hours at A-B Tech. Their undocumented peers pay $4288—more than 3 times the in-state amount—even if they have lived and paid taxes in NC for most of their life.

This not only adds to the challenge of paying for tuition and books, but also restricts the amount of classes these students can take at a time. Many are forced to discontinue their education altogether.

Through our scholarships, we hope to help undocumented students pursue higher education by offsetting some of the costs and making up for the funding these students are denied access to.