40

Immigrant Integration in Rural CommunitiesThe Case of Morgan CountyThe meatpacking and agricultural industries haveattracted many newcomers to Morgan County,Colorado. As a result, the area has grown morediverse over the years. Between 1990 and 2000, theimmigrant population in Morgan County increased218 percent. Two years ago, African refugees—mostly Somali—started to settle in the county.Attracted to the relatively high-paying entry-leveljobs for unskilled labor (about $11 per hour plusbenefits) at Cargill Meat Solutions, the meatpackingplant in Fort Morgan, and the small size of the town,refugees began to establish residence in the town andencourage friends and family members to followthem. About 250 refugees now live in Fort Morgan.Most of the refugees are single Somali men or mar-ried men who initially came without their families.

Located eighty miles northeast of Denver on U.S.Interstate 76, Fort Morgan is the largest town in thecounty. According to the 2000 census, the countypopulation is 27,171, with 11,034 in Fort Morgan.About ten miles east of the town is the communityof Brush, the second largest in the county, with apopulation of 5,000. It is ranked third amongColorado counties for value of crops and livestockproduced.

The median family income in Morgan County is$42,300, and the average annual wage is $25,116.Currently, about 40 percent of the county’s popula-tion is Latino. The figure is higher among theyounger generation; for example, Latinos accountfor 51 percent of the Fort Morgan High School pop-ulation (current enrollment in the high school isabout 838 students).

Many residents, who are sympathetic to the strug-gles and hardships endured by the refugees, havewelcomed their arrival and expressed openness to

learning more about their culture and traditions.Others, however, have expressed fear and apprehen-sion about the newcomers they know so little about.

In 2005, The Colorado Trust, through its SupportingImmigrant and Refugee Families Initiative (SIRFI),started funding a four-year immigrant and refugeeintegration project in Morgan County. The project,which later became known as OneMorgan County(OMC), was one of several throughout the state toreceive funding from the foundation. OMC helpsimmigrants and refugees become productive andengaged members of the community through presen-tations, workshops, trainings, and resource referral.Simul-taneously, it helps members of the receivingcommunity better understand their new neighborsby offering community presentations, meetings, cul-tural festivals, and other resources.

Since its inception, OMC has been a partnership oflong-term residents, immigrants, community lead-ers, and representatives from education, business,faith-based organizations, health care, law enforce-ment, local government, and nonprofit agenciesworking together to promote and offer a positiveintegration experience, both for immigrants andrefugees as well as for the community as a whole.

Challenges

As one can imagine, working toward integration ofimmigrants and refugees in any community can beextremely demanding. In Morgan County, severalinterrelated factors presented a challenge to theprocess of integration.

Language often forms a frustrating barrier to inte-gration of immigrants and refugees. It takes time,patience, and lots of practice to achieve fluency in

B Y FA I R O U Z A B U - G H A Z A L E H

© 2009 Wi ley Per iodicals , Inc .Publ ished onl ine in Wi ley InterScience (www.interscience.wi ley.com)Nat ional Civ ic Review • DOI : 10.1002/ncr.241 • Spr ing 2009

41

any language. Many of the immigrants and refugeesserved by OMC know enough English to get bydaily but not enough to fully participate in certainimportant aspects of life in their new community.Many programs that are offered at colleges or insti-tutions do not take into account the specific needs ofimmigrants and refugees.

For example, several immigrants and refugees inFort Morgan indicated an interest in learning com-puter and Internet basics. The classes available inthe area, however, were too costly, were offered atinconvenient times, or used an advance level ofEnglish that many could not follow. Attentive tothis need, OMC partnered with the public libraryand the Adult Basic Education program to offerbasic computer classes at low cost and at two times(which took into account the hours of the shifts atthe meatpacking plant) and ensured that inter-preters and child care were available for those whoneeded them. There was an overwhelming responseto these classes, which filled up a day after theywere announced. Those who took the class saidthey had wanted to learn more about the use ofcomputers and the Internet for a long time. Theywanted to help their children with schoolwork, beable to communicate with family and friends via e-mail, and learn a skill that would help them findbetter jobs.

Understanding how the American system as a whole(legal, health care, education, and so on) operates isanother challenge for immigrants and refugees.Many find it overwhelming and complicated to nav-igate these systems. In rural areas, this problem isoften compounded by the lack of interpreters andtranslated materials at hospitals, schools, courts,and other agencies. For many refugees, for example,the concepts of copay, deductible, and life insuranceare completely foreign. Many refugees would visitthe OMC office with bills from their insurance com-pany, wondering why they received these billsalthough they have health insurance through theiremployer.

I believe the toughest challenge, however, for thoseworking toward integration is nurturing toleranceby creating positive opportunities for interactionamong immigrants, refugees, and members of thereceiving community. As Robert Putnam describedin an article titled “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity andCommunity in the Twenty-First Century,” this isessential in breaking down stereotypes and human-izing the other.

“Tolerance for difference is but a first step. Tostrengthen shared identities, we need more opportu-nities for meaningful interaction across ethnic lineswhere Americans (new and old) work, learn, recre-ate, and live,” he wrote in the article. “Communitycenters, athletic fields, and schools were among themost efficacious instruments for incorporating newimmigrants a century ago, and we need to reinvestin such places and activities once again, enabling usall to become comfortable with diversity” (p. 164).

A group of women in Fort Morgan invited me toattend one of their meetings to talk about the Somaliculture. I was excited about the opportunity andinvited two Somali women who work at Cargill tocome and share their culture and experiences withthe group. One of the women in the group asked theSomali women if they have felt welcomed in the com-munity. Everyone was surprised when the responsewas that they have not had the chance to meet or talkto anyone from the receiving community, but thatsometimes people waved at them on their way towork or to Wal-Mart, and those that did “seemedreally nice.”

It is hard to believe that many immigrants andrefugees can live in a community for a long timewithout ever having the opportunity to get to knowmembers of the receiving community or even otherimmigrants and refugees.

Lessons Learned

Integration is a two-way bridge. In my view, pro-grams that overlook this truism and focus only on

National Civ ic Review DOI : 10.1002/ncr Spr ing 2009

42

integration of immigrants and refugees withoutinvolving the receiving community are not as likelyto be as successful as those that work with both. Itwas certainly true in the case of Morgan Countythat the receiving community was involved with cre-ation of OMC and continued to be an importantpart of it in the years that followed.

When it became evident that more and more mem-bers of the community had questions about Somalirefugees and their culture and why they came toMorgan County, OMC planned an informationalcommunity presentation about refugees and Somalia.About eighty people attended the event. Theyincluded representatives from the school district,social services, health care, banks, nonprofits, andlaw enforcement, as well as interested communitymembers. The event helped clarify many misconcep-tions and also answered some of the many questionsattendees had about the history, religion, and cultureof Somalia.

In addition, meetings were held with representativesfrom such sectors as health care, law enforcement,and housing in advance of planning workshops forimmigrants and refugees about those specific areas.It was very constructive to involve those representa-tives in our work, hear feedback from them, and tryto find solutions and resources together.

It was also evident that most of the goals the projecthoped to accomplish could not have been achievedwithout the support of other organizations andagencies, both locally and throughout the state.Valuable partnerships allowed OMC to reach morepeople and be much more effective.

Another lesson learned, from my experience, wasthat it is often easier to draw in members of thereceiving community and immigrants and refugees ifcultural and social events are offered.

Last summer, OMC and the City of Brush sponsoredan international festival highlighting and celebratingthe diversity of the cultures represented in thecounty. The festival included performances bydancers and musicians, food from several countries,a cultural fashion show, and educational exhibits.Because this was a first-time event, it was difficult topredict how many people would attend it. To ourpleasant surprise, the five-hour event attractedabout five hundred people.

Another such successful event was a documentaryseries about immigrants and refugees that OMCsponsored with the Fort Morgan Public Library.Through the screening of five documentaries, theseries explored the cultures of newcomers inAmerica and the causes behind their immigration.The showings attracted many members of thereceiving community as well as immigrants. The dis-cussions that followed the documentaries wereinsightful. Clearly, both sides needed such venues fordiscussion.

In summary, successful integration of immigrantsand refugees in the United States is a long-termprocess that requires the full participation of thenewcomers as well as the receiving community. AsPutnam described it, our best bet in succeeding as anation of immigrants is “not by making ‘them’ like‘us,’ but rather by creating a new, more capacioussense of ‘we.’”

ReferencePutnam, R. D. “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Communityin the Twenty-First Century.” Scandinavian Political Studies,2007, 30(2), 137–174.

Fairouz Abu-Ghazaleh is a former coordinator ofOneMorgan County.

National Civ ic Review DOI : 10.1002/ncr Spr ing 2009