The year has come and gone, but not without leaving DreamActivists all over the country with profound memories of an incredible year. Some of these memories were happy, some were sad, many left the participants feeling that a youth-led movement for a better immigration policy is within our grasp. Before we launch into what 2010 will bring for our coalition, let’s spend the day by taking a look back at all the moments that made 2009 the best year for the Dreamers. Because we know DreamActivist did not cover it all, please help us by adding your own memories of what a year of powerful activism left for you. Here we go:

JANUARY 7: United We Dream Facebook Cause launched

Almost a year later, we have 49,440 people in the Cause. If you want to be number 50,000, you can join here.

JANUARY 15: DREAM Act makes the Top 10 “IDEAS for Change” in Change.org

Without a big listserv to push our idea, we relied on our own tricks. If you are even remotely close to a Dreamer, there is no way you could escape the onslaught of requests to sign the petition. In California, a last-second effort to gain votes even took us to the evening news to tell our stories. Prerna announced it on this post. In the comments, Gaby Pacheco from Florida described the overall feeling quite well:

I want to congratulate and thank everyone that made this possible. I feel honored to be called a DREAM Act student and to be part of this struggle.

FEBRUARY 8: Wisconsin picks up the fight

On this day, we posted one of the Voces de la Frontera DREAM Act Public Service Announcements. The Wisconsin youth were getting ready to move their state legislature to grant them in-state tuition and by the looks of it, they had their speech ready:

FEBRUARY 19: Dreamers testify in the Washington State Legislature

“They’re asking for documents that prove I’m going through a hardship. How do I explain to them that my hardship is the fact that I don’t have documents?” – Luis Ortega

In their testimony, Luis and fellow dreamer Manuel Garcia had the right passion. Unfortunately, the Washington State House Higher Education Committee did not have the right answer.

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