Starting with Why
Why are we here?
We’re a group of like-minded people who have identified a problem that is within our power to solve.
In the not too distant future, we plan to make people’s lives just a little bit easier. It’s a very specific group of people for whom we’d like to solve a very specific problem, but it’s a place to start. The people we want to help are already disenfranchised and in some cases living within the margins of society; if we can help eliminate just one source of stress and potential hardship, the world, and certainly the communities of which these folks are already a part, will be at least a little bit better for it.
An estimated 1.9 million immigrants nationwide are eligible to participate in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and yet under 400,000 apply or renew each year. Applicants can face many barriers to completing this process, such as high legal costs, a substantial application fee, and a complicated application to fill out, and these barriers are often exacerbated by eligible individuals working to support their families and communities.
At DACA Time, our mission is to significantly lower these barriers so that DACA eligible individuals can take advantage of the protections offered by the DACA program to both continue and advance their contributions to society without the threat of deportation.
And we’re just getting started…
Why are we writing this?
We recognize that we’re embarking upon a journey. Our fellow travelers on this journey include not just the applicants we’d like to help but also fellow members of a vibrant and engaging social enterprise movement in Columbus, Ohio.
You see, we’re going to succeed. And we’re going to fail. And whenever we fail, we’ll dust ourselves off, reflect on the lessons we’ve learned, and go on to succeed some more. That’s how this whole entrepreneurship thing works — social or otherwise.
If you’re one of the 1.9 million folks we want to help, we want to be transparent with you. We want you to be our partner on this journey and not just someone whom we ask that you trust wholesale with something so valuable as your livelihood. You’re going to hold us accountable for serving your best interests, and we’ll be better for it.
If, on the other hand, you’re an aspiring social entrepreneur who wants to learn from us as we succeed and fail, grow with us as we learn and evolve, well, that sounds great, too. The more folks we have to wear down this path ahead of us, to help through the obstacles that will inevitably impede our way, the more successful all of us—the visionaries and those we seek to help — will be for it.
So, please…follow, lead, or walk beside us. If nothing else, we guarantee you won’t be bored.
Sincerely,
The DACA Time Team
