Immigration activists conduct training in Salem

Conference teaches how to galvanize the reform movement
THELMA GUERRERO
Statesman Journal
Photo by ANDREA J. WRIGHT | STATESMAN JOURNAL
May 14, 2006

They came to learn how to be leaders and advocates.

More than 100 college students from throughout Oregon and Idaho are in Salem this weekend to also learn how to organize marches, launch voter-registration drives and build alliances to push for legalizing immigrants who are living illegally in the United States.

The three-day conference, being held at Chemeketa Community College, is the last in a series of five training sessions held nationwide.

It's sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Community Change, a nonprofit advocacy group, and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a coalition of nationwide community groups.

Galdina Larios, 19, a Salem resident and first-year student at CCC, said she was at the conference because she wanted to make a difference in immigrants' lives.