Priority Recommendations
This assessment provides over fifty recommendations for the region to consider in regard to the key findings listed above. While each of these recommendations has the potential to benefit the region, local stakeholders will need to decide which to prioritize in order to best address their own communities’ needs. To assist with this process, the following list offers ten recommendations that can have large near-term impact for all communities.
One of the key needs that was identified during this research was the importance of having a coordinated and strategic effort between local stakeholders to address issues affecting immigrant communities on a systemic level. A recommended method of meeting this need is through a Better Together Committee, which is a dedicated group of immigrant leaders, community advocates, service providers, government officials, and other stakeholders, who meet regularly to generate concrete progress on systemic issues impacting local immigrant communities. Issues raised in these meetings are often far-reaching and too difficult for any single organization to tackle, whereas the collective efforts of a Better Together Committee hold the potential to effect real change.
During this research, community members frequently expressed the need for the development of immigrant-led nonprofit organizations focused on serving and advocating for their communities. Such organizations can help to overcome connection barriers while also providing leadership opportunities for immigrant community members. Potential benefits of immigrant-led nonprofit organizations include immigrant members being paid for serving and advocating for their community, additional resources and decision-making authority being centered within immigrant populations, the creation of visible points of contact for other local organizations looking to engage with immigrant communities, and a more formal and trusted structure through which community members can elevate concerns or needs.
Natural Helper programs connect key volunteers with local institutions, provide them with training and clear resources for answering questions, and then compensate them for their involvement. These programs have also been found to give many participants a greater sense of belonging within their communities and strengthen their connection to local organizations and service providers. It is also a good way to identify leaders for additional civic participation, such as taking roles on boards or advisory committees. A version of this model is currently being piloted by the Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC), who are compensating individuals to connect community members to job training programs.
Understanding and correctly accessing the support systems in the region can be extremely challenging, especially for immigrant families who also struggle with language barriers, unfamiliarity with local systems, and the fear of cultural or societal stigma. Navigators are individuals employed by service providers to help community members access services. The best navigators are trained in the requirements of service systems and come from the communities they serve, meaning they have the language and cultural knowledge to effectively connect with immigrant families. By leveraging trust and relationships within immigrant communities, navigators can help ensure that a greater number of people are able access important services.
Social service organizations, smaller nonprofits, and local volunteers often play a key role in providing the case management needed to help immigrant families navigate unfamiliar systems and access the services and resources they need. However, the current environment of case management in the region raises several serious issues, such as a lack of training, a risk of burnout, and the potential for predatory behavior. One solution is to invest in case management capacity within the region. This investment could involve hiring additional case managers at local service providers that can work with immigrant communities, as well as better resourcing the small nonprofits that often handle case management tasks. Another option is to link a series of organizations and volunteers into case management “networks.” Because these networks connect immigrant families to multiple organizations and individuals, they provide a more robust support system and wider access to knowledge and resources.
The Guatemalan mentor program, previously a partnership between the Dubuque Community School District, NICC, and the Community Foundation, with additional support from Catholic Charities and a private donor, was created in response to the challenges that unaccompanied Guatemalan minors were facing in local schools. A Guatemalan mentor who spoke Ixil (the most commonly spoken dialect in Dubuque) was placed in a local high school to support students. The mentor supported Guatemalan students during class, and served as an important point of connection between the school and the students and their families. Where too often there had been a lack of communication, this mentor elevated challenges, passed along information, and helped create mutual understanding.
One of the more successful initiatives in the region aimed at immigrant youth in the past several years is the Pacific Islander Club at Hempstead and Dubuque Senior high schools. Expanding this group, or creating a similar group open to all students but focused on the priorities of the Marshallese community, would empower immigrant youth to take an active civic role by undertaking projects of their own design and aimed at benefitting their community. This Marshallese group would partner with local organizations to raise awareness among students about issues that are important to their community, support student involvement in the development of programming around those issues, and supply venues for carrying out that programming. This club could also be leveraged to provide academic support, a way to engage Marshallese youth and other young people around Marshallese culture, and a means for connecting more young people to local organizations.
One significant gap in the region is the availability of licensed medical interpreters and translators, especially for languages like Marshallese that are not commonly spoken throughout much of the United States. Many health-care providers employ certified medical translators to make sure that they can correctly translate the technical terms used by staff. However, in many instances these interpreters are not available, and so providers rely on untrained community members for interpretation. By offering local immigrants access to medical translation and interpretation classes, and by helping them get certified in this area, the region can improve the quality of health care provided to non-English speakers as well as compensate local community members for providing a valuable service.
The region could do more to equip local employers with the skills and resources to successfully hire and retain immigrant employees. There have been several recent instances where local employers made efforts to hire immigrants, only to struggle with retention of those employees. Employer expectations may not align with the realities of life for immigrant workers. To assist employers with hiring and retaining immigrants—and to ensure that immigrant employees are able to thrive and succeed professionally—the Dubuque region should develop toolkits and/or a consulting capacity to help businesses improve their systems, institute new practices, and gain connections to local immigrant populations.
Dubuque’s higher education institutions are a major asset for the region, and their international students are an important and valuable part of the community. However, there are a number of barriers that limit the ability of international students to build long-term careers in Dubuque, including insufficient support for navigating legal requirements and a lack of connection to larger regional life and culture. The region should work to help retain international students by establishing a local resource to help students and businesses build connections and navigate the legal requirements for continued employment. Arts and culture organizations should also conduct targeted outreach to international students in order to help build a connection to the larger Dubuque community.
