Written by Stephanie Canizales, the book explores the experiences of unaccompanied migrant youth in this country. Women’s Giving Fund Manager Rebecca Blanchette said the group’s annual author series highlights topics important to its members. Last year’s theme focused on friendship and featured the book “You Will Find Your People.” This year the focus is immigration.
“Wasatch Immigration Project, as many of you know, won the big Women's Giving Fund prize at $90,000,” Blanchette said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour" April 27. “We wanted to create any opportunity to highlight the work that Wasatch Immigration Project is doing in our community. So, we decided to pursue a book focused on immigration.”
Park City Librarian Becca Lael said Canizales spent six years researching the book.
“Her six years of research followed unaccompanied youth in California and studied their lives, their hardships, their successes, what they need, and is really an observer to their lives,” Lael said. “[Canizales] talks about what they saw when they migrated here, why they migrated here, what support that they might need, and some policy recommendations.
Lael acknowledged the book is academic but said the lecture and Q&A will be accessible to a general audience. She adds that the library aims to remain neutral on what can be a polarizing topic.
“I really enjoyed the book because it really opened my eyes,” she said. “Something that I learned that I wasn't expecting was the labor exploitation of youth migrant workers, because they were often in unsafe conditions, [they] are facing long hours, wage theft, way lower than minimum wage, and because of their status as being undocumented, they didn't have a way to communicate that to the government.”
The Women’s Giving Fund mission is to strengthen the lives of women and children in the community by awarding high-impact grants to local organizations.
The author’s lecture starts and 7 p.m. in the Jim Santy Auditorium.
Click here for a link to register.
