Working with Latino Immigrant Women: Challenges and Opportunities

1. Creciendo Juntos Workshop Working with Latino Immigrant Women: Challenges and Opportunities Cynthia Hess, Ph.D. Institute for Women’s Policy Research www.iwpr.org March 14, 2012

2. Institute for Women’s Policy Research IWPR conducts research to address the needs of women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies. Key Areas of Research: • Employment, Education, and Economic Change • Democracy and Society • Poverty, Welfare, and Income Security • Work and Family • Health and Safety

3. Why Study Services for Latina Immigrants? • Women have made up a growing share of legal immigrants to the United States in recent years • Largest group of female immigrants is from Latin America • Latina immigrants make enormous contributions to U.S. economy and society through their work, leadership, civic participation, and traditional roles as caregivers • Latina immigrants are disproportionately vulnerable to certain hardships Fry, Richard. 2006. “Gender and Migration.” Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center; Hess, Cynthia, Jane Henrici, and Claudia Williams. 2011. Organizations Working with Latina Immigrants: Resources and Strategies for Change. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

5. Organizations Working with Latina Immigrants: Resources and Strategies for ChangeKey Issues Examined • Challenges nonprofit organizations see Latina immigrants facing and resources they offer to respond • How public policies help or hinder development of strategies, programs, and other forms of support for Latina immigrants • Nature and scope of collaborative action among organizations that assist Latina immigrants and families • Changes in service provision, public policies, and advocacy that would benefit Latina immigrants and families

6. Methods for the Study • Demographic analysis using data from the 2000 U.S. Census and 2008 American Community Survey • Interviews with nearly 300 organizations in three research sites: Atlanta, GA; Phoenix, AZ; and Northern Virginia • 460 interviews carried out during a one-year period between 2009-2010 (398 by phone and 62 in person) • 102 organizations interviewed in Northern Virginia • Program visits to learn about available resources

7. Female Immigrants by Place of Birth and Research Site, 2008 Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research Analysis of 2008 IPUMS American Community Survey (ACS).

8. Countries of Origin of Latino/a Immigrants in Phoenix, 2008

9. Countries of Origin of Latino/a Immigrants in Atlanta, 2008

10. Countries of Origin of Latino/a Immigrants in Northern Virginia, 2008 In Virginia as a whole, the largest share of Latina immigrants comes from El Salvador (25%), followed by Mexico (20 %) and Bolivia and Peru (9% each).

11. Key Findings • Latina immigrants face critical challenges: violence, poverty, limited English proficiency, poor working conditions, and inadequate access to transportation, health care, child care • Nonprofit organizations and religious congregations offer wide array of services to address these challenges • Yet these groups are small and struggle to meet current needs • Many Latina immigrants have a difficult time accessing services, particularly health services and domestic violence services

12. Three Key Questions About Access 1. What Are the Barriers That Immigrant Women Face in Accessing Services? 2. How Do Organizations Strive to Help Immigrant Women Overcome These Barriers? 3. What Additional Steps Could Improve Immigrant Women’s Access to Services? Food for Thought: To what extent might the study’s findings regarding immigrant women’s access to services address the situation of Latina immigrants in Charlottesville?

13. Barriers to Accessing Services Violence Against Women Lack of Child Care Inadequate Access to Transportation Fear Created by Restrictive Public Policies and Negative Public Discourse About Immigration

14. Violence Against Immigrant Women Factors That Increase Immigrant Women’s Vulnerability to Violence: • Economic Insecurity • Limited English Proficiency • Immigration Status

15. Economic Insecurity Makes It Difficult to Escape AbuseMedian Earnings for Year-Round, Full Time Workers, 16 Years and Older by Sex and Place of Birth, United States, 2008 Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research Analysis of 2008 IPUMS American Community Survey (ACS).

16. Poverty Status Among the Latina/o and Native-Born Populations in the United States, 2010

17. Limited English Proficiency Restricts Immigrant Women’s Access to Domestic Violence Services • In the United States, 46% of Latino immigrants and 50% of Latina immigrants speak English “not at all” or “not well” • Shortage of available services in Spanish for women who experience domestic violence • Latina immigrants who do not speak English well often reluctant to contact the police for help In Virginia as a whole, only 40% of Latina immigrants and 38% of Latino immigrants report speaking English not at all or not well.

18. Inadequate Access to Child Care • Latina immigrants are more likely than their male counterparts and native-born women to have children in their households • Respondents report that Latina immigrants typically bear the lion’s share of child care responsibilities, even when a male spouse or partner is present

19. Presence of Own Children in the Household Among the Latina/o Immigrant and Native-Born Populations, 18 Years and Older, United States, 2010

20. Inadequate Access to Transportation: The Challenges of Getting Around Without a Car

21. Factors That Diminish Access to Transportation Disproportionately Affect Women • Immigrant women are more likely to be home without a car while their husbands or partners go to work • Immigrant women’s isolation may have worsened with the recession, as many men had to travel to find work “Many folks don’t drive. Women tend to drive less than men.” –Thedirector of a nonprofit organization in Northern Virginia

22. Negative Public Discourse About Immigration Restricts Immigrant Women’s Access to Services

23. Current Immigration Enforcement Practices Intensify Climate of Fear Traditionally “Safe” Spaces No Longer Safe “A pastor, a close friend of mine…had two police cars parked in front of his church on a Sunday morning to intimidate people. This has been worse, as I tell you, worse than you could imagine. Vans have been stopped—vans with the logo of the church have been stopped and people made to come out and they have been taken to prison. Those are the things that do not appear in the front pages of the newspapers, but they are realities.” –A pastor in Northern Virginia

24. Gaps in Services for Latina Immigrants 1.Job training and education programs 2. Affordable, quality child care 3. Free or affordable legal services for victims of violence 4.Health services, including health insurance and basic care ---Forty-five percent of Latina immigrants and 54 percent of Latino immigrants in the U.S. do not have health insurance coverage, compared with 12% of native-born women and 14% of native-born men ---Respondents identified a need for culturally and linguistically appropriate health services, as well as for a comprehensive framework that offers preventative care as well as services to address the specific health needs of immigrant women, including reproductive health Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research Analysis of 2008 IPUMS American Community Survey (ACS); Hess, Cynthia, Jane Henrici, and Claudia Williams. 2011. Organizations Working With Latina Immigrants: Resources and Strategies for Change. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

25. Strategies GroupsUse to Increase Immigrant Women’s Access to Services Strategy #1: Work to Build Trust With Immigrants “Our staff still see that it takes a few days, sometimes a couple of weeks, to get the trust needed to get the information we need. We’ve had clients two weeks after admission say, ‘Well, here’s my real phone number.’” –A service provider in Atlanta

26. Strategy #2: Structure Programs and Services in Ways That Meet Immigrant Women “Where They Are” • Provide child care during programs and services • Hold programs in places that are convenient for Latina immigrants to attend • Offer food for services held during mealtimes • Make Spanish translation available where possible

27. Strategy #3: Develop Networks and Partnerships • Partnerships among groups can take multiple forms • They can be difficult to create and sustain, but are necessary to enhance services

28. Strategy #4: Educate Immigrant Women (and Men) About Their Rights Under the Law Some organizations strive to make immigrants aware of protections available to them under the law and how to respond if questioned, stopped, or detained by police.

29. Additional Steps to Improve Immigrant Women’s Access to Services • Continue to Strengthen and Develop Organizational Partnerships • Increase Supports for Immigrant Women Who Experience Violence • Develop and enhance training and education programs specifically for immigrant women • Increase support for collective action to promote immigrant women’s rights

30. For more information: Institute for Women’s Policy Research http://www.iwpr.org