Meeting the Social Service Needs of Immigrants: Challenge and Opportunity

1. Meeting the Social Service Needs of Immigrants: Challenge and Opportunity International Bank of Commerce Keynote Speaker Series,The Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade.Texas A&M International University,Wednesday, November 2, 2011

2. Our Personal Journeys • “Once you have travelled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers, that the mind can never break off from the journey” Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides

3. A World in Motion • World migrant population reached 214 million in 2010 (3.1% of the world’s population). International Organization for Migration • IDP’s (27.5 million), Refugees (15.4 million), internal migrants (???), seasonal migrants, international students and visitors • Cultural and linguistic diversity extends into the 2nd and later generations • The traditional paradigm of one-way migration doesn’t always hold. • Disproportionate flows to specific countries, regions within countries

4. The Ten Countries with the Highest Numbers of International Migrants (2005)

5. Foreign-born Population as Percent of Total Population (Selected OECD Countries)

6. The Challenges Facing Migrating People • The rigors of migration • The aftereffects of trauma • Language and cultural barriers • Marginality • Family stress • Racism, xenophobia, and discrimination • Intergroup tensions

7. Mobility and the American Experiment • There is an emerging historical scholarship on the long roots of multiculturalism in U.S. and Canadian history

8. Our Multicultural Past as Prelude to the Future • The settlement house movement and the rise of social work as a profession • The many meanings of “Americanization” and the development of “patriotic pluralism.” • The Chicago School addresses the “Second Generation Problem” • The intercultural education movement, 1924-1941

9. Four Pioneers Edith Terry Bremer 1885-1964 Frances Kellor1873-1952 Louis Adamic 1899-1951 Rachel Davis Dubois 1892-1993

10. The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement • Produced a “scaffolding” of laws and public policies designed to eradicate segregation and discrimination in American life • These reforms helped blacks but were also beneficial to the entire population, including immigrants.

11. Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Banned discrimination in employment and public accommodations on the basis of race, religion, sex, and national origin • Title VI prohibited discrimination by recipients of federal funds • Led to the development of the cultural competency movement • Established the principle of inclusion in human services

12. The Re-emergence of Immigrant Integration as a Policy Objective

13. Post-1965 Surge of Immigration

14. Communal Tensions and the Terrorist Threat Examples: • Korean grocer boycott, Brooklyn (1990) • Mt. Pleasant Riots, Washington, DC (1991) • Los Angeles Riots (1992) • World Trade Center Bombings (1993, 2001)

15. The Jordan Commission “Americanization is the process of integration by which immigrants become part of our communities and by which our communities and the nation learn from and adapt to their presence.” The Jordan Commission (1995)

16. Foundations Promote Immigrant Integration: Some Milestones • Ford Foundation (1986) • Formation of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR)(1990) • Establishment of Four Freedoms Fund (2003) • Release of Toolkit on Immigrant Integration (2006) • National Immigrant Integration Conference (begins in 2008)

17. States initiate projects to promote immigrant integration

18. Executive Order Project Reports

19. The Perils of an Immigrant Integration Agenda • Often conflated with the issue of undocumented migration • Often perceived as an attempt by politicians to curry favor within specific ethnic communities • Lacks appeal to other disadvantaged populations • Lacks appeal to native-born people • Methodological shortcomings • The immigrant integration dilemma

20. Future Directions • Subsume immigrant integration into a larger diversity agenda • Build cross-sector alliances and social justice movements inclusive of an integration agenda • Reform immigration policy to make it more responsive to U.S. workforce needs and more welcoming to global talent

21. Example: Infusing integration objectives into cultural competency • Greater precision in defining cultural competency • Building an evidence base for culturally competent interventions • Pursuing a systems approach to cultural competency

22. A Systems Approach to Cultural Competency

23. Link http://www.paddc.org/images/stories/pdfs/systems_change_for_greater_cultural_competence_in_the_pennsylvania_disability_service_and_support_sector.pdf

24. Towards a New Synthesis • Mobility and diversity will be “the new normal.” • We will find new and creative ways to reflect diversity in the design and delivery of human services. • We will have a clearer understanding of immigration and diversity as keys to economic development. • We will build alliances and social justice movements that span ethnic and racial divides. • We will celebrate diversity and harness its energy.

25. Selected Resources National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy (Migration Policy Institute) http://www.migrationinformation.org/integration/ Welcoming America http://www.welcomingamerica.org/ Cities of Migration http://citiesofmigration.ca/ The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) http://www.mipex.eu/ The American Immigrant Policy Portal http://www.usdiversitydynamics.com/nj/

26. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Nicholas V. Montalto President Diversity Dynamics, LLC 16 South Avenue, Suite 252 Cranford, NJ 07016 201-320-1669 www.usdiversitydynamics.com