Ongoing Collective Work on Immigration

Addressing the barriers faced by immigrant communities poses major challenges. Difficulties navigating local systems of education, employment, and healthcare are exacerbated by additional barriers related to language, cultural differences, legal status, and a lack of familiarity with existing institutions. These problems are not insurmountable, but they must not be taken lightly, and should be tackled in full partnership with representatives from immigrant communities.

Many of the issues addressed in this guide are simply too large for a single organization to undertake. However, by working in partnership as part of a structured effort, immigrant leaders, local organizations, government agencies, community activists, and other key stakeholders can address larger, systemic challenges. This approach, known as collective impact, is currently used in the region to address issues ranging from workforce development to early childhood reading. Forming this type of strategic collaboration faces two major challenges:

1. “Immigration” has such a large scope and covers so many areas that it will be difficult for any collaborative effort to make actual progress or move strategically. This guide covers issues ranging from education to healthcare, from translation to workforce development. Such a broad mandate would make it extremely difficult to see real achievement on important issues.
2. Collaborations must include the participation of immigrant community members. However, barriers include language differences, scheduling and childcare challenges, and power imbalances among participants. “Power imbalances” refers the very natural differences in experience and comfort felt by, for example, a Latino community volunteer and the local chief of police when both sit down for the same meeting. While not intentional, these power imbalances are very real and need to be taken into consideration if the collaborative effort is to be effective.

This section attempts to outline a collective impact model that will allow for strategic engagement around immigrant community needs while also addressing these two challenges. Communities in the region should consider all of the recommendations in this section, keeping in mind that certain pieces should be changed or discarded based on the location and the participants. No single vehicle is perfectly designed for all communities, but we hope that this guide will offer a valuable starting point.

The model described below was designed to achieve five key goals:

1. Be able not just to convene stakeholders, but also carry out projects and initiatives. Members of immigrant communities participating in large, collaborative efforts can often feel discouraged by a lack of tangible results. Collective work should not only be concerned with sharing information but should also attempt to achieve visible and worthwhile accomplishments.
2. Be able to pursue both long-term goals and smaller projects. If this collaborative effort is to achieve tangible results while also strategically addressing systemic issues, it should be designed to be able to carry out projects of different scope and ambition.
3. Include the participation of immigrant community members. Addressing systemic issues cannot succeed without the direct participation and leadership of the communities being impacted. Collaborative efforts should include members of immigrant populations in a thoughtful way that can maximize their participation.
4. Keep the larger community of stakeholders informed about important issues. The region has a large number of people who are committed to creating a more welcoming place for immigrant families. The collaboration should strive to keep these individuals informed about and engaged with the work that is being done.
5. Maintain an ability to respond to new challenges and opportunities. The challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of being flexible enough to respond to the changing realities that face local immigrant populations.

Local collaborative work around the needs of immigrants has rarely been solely monopolized by one committee. Groups of community leaders, advocates, and service providers have met around issues ranging from specific concerns about migrant rights or Marshallese health, all the way to the large-scale Immigration Forum meetings that led to the community assessment. The diversity of these collaborations is beneficial for the region and should be encouraged. But they can also be more effective when connected together, helping to ensure that all of those working to address the systemic issues facing immigrant communities are aware of what others are doing, and are not working at cross purposes.

With this in mind, this guide views the landscape of strategic work around immigrant needs in terms of three levels:

1. High level: Throughout the region there are many individuals who are eager supporters of immigrants but may not have the ability or inclination to meet monthly as part of a regular committee meeting. There is a need to create a space where all community members interested in supporting immigrant groups can engage and provide value at a high level.
   1. Recommendation: A large group meeting of those interested in immigration (such as the Immigration Forum in Dubuque) should continue to meet once or twice a year, creating an opportunity for a large group to come together, learn, and discuss.
   2. Recommendation: An online web forum should be established so that stakeholders can ask questions, have discussions, and share activities.
2. Mid level: This level recognizes the need for a collaborative effort that can drive the region’s strategy to meet the needs of immigrant communities. This level will consist of opportunities for committed stakeholders to meet more regularly and tackle larger issues.
   1. Recommendation: Convene a Better Together Committee to meet regularly to pursue large and small projects.
3. Specific level: There will still be a need for people to gather together to focus on specific issues, or the needs of particular immigrant groups. Meetings of these groups should be encouraged but should then be connected back to the mid- and high-level conversations, to help ensure better coordination.
   1. Recommendation: Other groups focusing on immigration (Pacific Islander Advisory Group, Café Latino, etc.) should be encouraged to keep meeting, but a framework should be established to connect them to the Immigration Strategy Committee and/or the online web forum.

The following pages will provide more detail on each of these four recommendations in the order listed above. While each recommendation could have a positive benefit for the region, the priority should be on the third recommendation Convene a Better Together Committee, described here. Committees like this will be most impactful for driving systemic change for immigrant populations in the region.

To see recommendations related to conducting ongoing collective work on immigration, click here.

To explore challenges and opportunities related to building connections with immigrant communities, click here.

To read about seven issue areas that are facing immigrant communities, click here.

To return to the Immigration Community Assessment welcome page, click here.