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National Immigrant Integration Conference 2010 Strategy
SessionsReceiving Communities
September 30, 2010
Summary of Issue
The country is in the midst of a massive demographic shift. This
shift is happening both in terms of sheer numbers ofmigrants but
also in terms of geographic dispersal. Across the country, there
are new immigrant gateways; these areareas that are experiencing
dramatic growth in their immigrant population for the first time.
This is in contrast totraditional gateways that are accustomed to
receiving immigrants and have the social structures that generally
value,or at least accept, these new immigrants into their
communities as they have for generations. Examples of newgateway
population include Kurds in Nashville, TN and Latinos in
Nebraska.
The receiving communities movement is a new initiative that is
part of the immigrant integration field and recognizesthat there is
a need to address the receiving community if we want immigrants and
refugees to succeed and integrate.If communities are hostile toward
the newcomers in their community, it is far less likely that the
newcomers willintegrate. Arizona and Hazelton, PA are just two
examples of places where this has happened. While many groupsreach
out to receiving communities as part of their projects, this
movement is the first whose main goal and focus isto engage
receiving communities in the process of immigrant integration. This
movement is working to gatherresources, reach individuals not
traditionally engaged with integration and create systems to
measure results.
Best PracticesIn Colorado, the Spring Institute for
Intercultural Learning administers one of the most innovative
immigrantintegration initiatives in the nation. It does this by
managing the Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families
Initiative(SIRFI) on behalf of The Colorado Trust. Spring Institute
provides technical assistance to participating communitieson
creating and implementing comprehensive immigrant integration
plans. The initiative was created becauseColorado was a top-10 new
gateway state from 1990-2000. In Colorado, most immigrants are from
Mexico, butthere are many other groups, including individuals from
Russia, Vietnam and Korea. There was somecommunity ambivalence and
even backlash growing around the level of immigration to the state.
To promote a morepositive environment, the Spring Institute didnt
focus on policy, but rather on helping communities identify
local
level strategies to promote community cohesion and positive
interaction between immigrant and U.S.-borncommunities. Examples of
these strategies include: potlucks, dialogues, mentoring or buddy
programs, learningexchanges, leadership councils, group activities
(health fair), cultural celebrations, photography exhibits, radio
storiesand community education around culture. A key to success was
that strong champions emerged who brought strongcredibility to
these efforts, and each community felt local ownership and adapted
the program to their localconditions. In addition, they found that
engaging opinion leaders and stakeholders, such as local media,
early onis helpful. Engaging those who typically don't participate
in such efforts was a challenge, in part due to timelimitations.
Such individuals may be reticent to engage on an integration
project, but may be more willing to whenan effort is focused on an
issue that is important to them, such as health care. Another
challenge was engagingimmigrants in this work and having them
effectively connect with the receiving community, sometimes for the
firsttime, with even rudimentary issues such as the time to hold
meetings posing barriers.
Welcoming Berkshires is hosted at the Berkshire Immigrant Center
and has made significant strides to make theBerkshires more
welcoming to immigrants and refugees. Berkshire County is the
Western most county inMassachusetts. It is mostly a rural area of
only 131,000 residents, with about 8-10% of the population being
foreignborn. Immigrants, however, are the only growing segment of
the workforce. The Cross Cultural Action Network(CCAN) helps to
meet the needs of immigrants and other minority groups through
promoting cultural awareness.CCAN decided to take on the Welcoming
Berkshires project because there was a local and national attitude
shiftagainst immigrants that was becoming increasingly negative.
They were also mobilized by an increase in the numberof incidences
of racial profiling and other forms of discrimination against
people looking for an apartment, applying
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for a drivers license or buying food in the grocery store. To
address this negative sentiment, CCAN worked tochange the tone of
the debate by passing three resolutions that declared key cities to
be Welcoming cities. Inaddition, they collected over 500 pledges
county-wide, gained positive media attention for immigrants and
theircontributions, and had officials and community members talking
about their Welcoming Community. Throughthese outreach efforts,
Welcoming Berkshires was able to disseminate the message that
immigrants contributeenormously to the economy and are
hard-working, tax-paying resident who enrich our environment with
theirdiverse cultures and backgrounds. They also were able to get
key groups to ensure that they have equal access to localservices
and are able to quickly integrate into the community.
The Welcoming Tennessee Initiative was developed in 2005, also
in response to increased divisions andmisunderstandings between
U.S.-born community members and their immigrant neighbors.
Long-termTennesseans saw that their state was changing and were
uncomfortable with it and no group was addressing thesefears
proactively. Welcoming Tennessee engaged the receiving community,
including those who were fearful, bydeveloping immigrant and
non-immigrant leaders who could work together. These leaders
engaged the broadercommunity through dialogues, presentations and
the media. The outreach focused on issues that the audience
caredabout but also helped them to understand their immigrant
neighbors. Welcoming Tennessee saw that givingpresentations wasnt
enough and that to really change the tone in how immigrants and
refugees were discussed intheir communities, they needed to reach a
broader audience. To do this, the committees launched paid
mediacampaigns in which billboards were put up with welcoming
messages like I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. Matthew 25:35,
Welcoming the immigrant you once were and I pay over $3,000 each
year in local taxes. Im gladto do my part. I love America, and Im
proud to call Shelbyville home. These billboards, along with
positive mediastories about the contributions and realities of
immigrants in Tennessee helped to dispel many myths and
makeNashville and Shelbyville more welcoming cities. Nashville was
named the most Welcoming city by Travel & Leisuremagazine in
2009 and elected leaders now frequently describe a having a
welcoming community as a top priority fortheir community.
Welcoming America is the national movement that grew out of
Welcoming Tennessee. Welcoming America workswith its 15 affiliates
in 14 states to make communities in those states or regions more
welcoming by facilitating localleadership development, public
engagement and strategic communications. Welcoming America also
supports its
affiliates in evaluation and fundraising. Like the Spring
Institute, the Welcoming model seeks to meet individualswhere they
are and engage entire communities in the integration process.
Disagreement/discussion
Question: How relates to immigrant rights movement? Doesnt this
just take away resources from immigrant rights?Answer/Discussion:
Working with receiving communities is an integral part of immigrant
integration. Withouttending to the soil (the receiving
communities), how can the flowers (the immigrants) be expected to
grow? Workingfor immigrant rights is another part of immigrant
integration, in that if immigrants have access to more services
andstatus, they will be able to better integrate. These initiatives
are not seen as competing, but as two essential parts ofcreating a
more fully integrated country.
Question: How do you know if the Welcoming model works?
Answer/Discussion: Proving that peoples opinions have been
changed is a challenge that many groups face.Welcoming groups are
doing this through polling and evaluations at their events.
Next steps
To learn more about the initiatives discussed in this panel, you
can access the websites of the organizations
at:http://www.berkshireic.com/, http://www.spring-institute.org/,
http://welcomingtn.org/ andhttp://www.welcomingamerica.org/
