Recommendations for Ongoing Collective Work on Immigration
There is an important role to be played in offering the larger community of immigrant supporters an opportunity to discuss issues, learn about events, and build relationships. Facilitating this type of discussion can be very valuable for connecting with organizations that may not be focused on providing services to immigrants; developing relationships with passionate individuals who may want to volunteer; and building opportunities to elevate immigrant voices. Having a broad convening such as this can also allow more focused groups at the mid and specific levels to share information and successes with the larger population. In addition, this kind of community forum is important for shifting mindsets around immigration. It allows for a more visible and approachable point of engagement for the general community and can be very useful in creating a more positive narrative about local immigrant populations.
Such a meeting should occur consistently once or twice a year. Making sure that this meeting occurs annually, instead of just as a one-time event, provides some consistency in meetings and discussions. These meetings should follow formats that are generally open to the public and make use of videoconferencing technologies, allowing for more participation. Such an event may not require a paid coordinator and could be run by a collection of volunteers or service providers.
For smaller communities or towns interested in this kind of strategic work, it may not be necessary to have both a high-level convening and a mid-level convening (see 3. Convene a Better Together Committee below). In this case, community members can review both options and select which seems most appropriate for their area.
Models to Consider:
- In Dubuque, in January of 2018, the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary convened the first Immigration Forum event, a large meeting of different immigrant leaders, advocates, service providers, and other key stakeholders. The Sisters continued to host the meeting once every six months, providing updates on recent activities and address specific issues. Discussions from the Immigration Forum led to the development of the community assessment.
- In 2020, Los Angeles County began hosting an annual immigration summit. The summit is a collaboration between the California Community Foundation, the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, and the Council on Immigrant Integration.[1] A similar annual summit, though perhaps on a smaller scale, could be adopted by rural communities.
Multiple stakeholders expressed the need for greater communication and access to information on issues relevant to immigrant communities. However, many also felt that common forums for sharing information were not always accessible. Meetings used primarily used for reporting on current activities as opposed to reaching joint decisions can be an inefficient use of time given busy schedules. Communicating through email can also cause frustration. Mass emails are not conducive to extensive conversations, do not facilitate multi-lingual discussions, and clog up inboxes. A proposed solution is an online forum where individuals and organizations can share upcoming programming, ask questions, and provide a written explanation of the laws and policies that impact immigrants.
Such a site would be highly beneficial for a community, as it would facilitate ongoing discussion and records regarding a variety of topics important to immigrants, as well as a notice board for available programming and services. It could also allow for translation of discussions into different languages, facilitating participation from immigrant communities in a way that email might not.
However, such a system comes with challenges that need to be considered. The following outline presents the most challenging, as well as potential ways to address them.
- Moderation and Security: Hosting an online forum discussing issues surrounding immigrant communities poses a number of risks, both from well-meaning individuals and people with harmful intent. Advocates or service providers might accidentally provide sensitive information about vulnerable immigrants in the forums. In addition, having a public online forum could enable predatory or disruptive behavior. These security risks could damage the trust that is necessary for effective engagement with immigrant communities.
- To provide an additional level of security, the forum would need to be monitored and moderated by at least one trusted individual, but potentially more. This person would oversee reviewing content and blocking information that could be problematic. Ideally this position would be held within an organization to ensure consistent application and funding to maintain the oversight.
- Any community launching such a site should consider making it restricted, and only allowing individuals who are known or verified to join. While this may limit the number of people able to view and share content, it would also provide additional security.
- Community guidelines for discussion should be drawn up and clearly posted to prevent users from accidentally revealing sensitive information.
- Engagement: The impact of any online tool would be measured by the level of participation from local stakeholders. If such a forum is not robustly utilized, it would be a waste of resources and ineffective. Getting people to use a new tool, and return to the site frequently, can be very challenging.
- A community should not undertake such a forum without some commitment to key stakeholders to utilize the site.
- Part of the responsibility of the moderator(s) of the site should be to regularly post new content to make the site valuable. Without frequent and useful updates users will not have a reason to regularly visit the site.
- Reach: Some key individuals will not regularly access the site, and others may not know about it. If the site is the only place to find community information on events and services, it could exclude some people. In addition, for many immigrants, accessing and navigating an online forum can be challenging, especially if it is written in a language other than their own.
- A moderator for the site may want to regularly share key posts or pieces of information through other channels, such as a newsletter, Facebook, or other forms of social media.
- Funding should be set aside for translating important posts into languages frequently used by local immigrants.
Models to Consider:
- The Inclusive Dubuque Facebook page and newsletter regularly shares information about upcoming events related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. While not the same kind of forum, it does allow for sharing key pieces of information.
- Private Facebook groups, such as the “Iowa Science of Reading” group composed of educators focused on literacy, also create an opportunity for people to hold discussions about different topics while providing additional security.
- If the hosting organization is looking to leverage additional technology to facilitate community discussions, there are digital platforms designed to solicit community feedback on questions and initiatives. Examples include Zencity Engage, an online tool used by public entities to garner public input.
The primary recommendation for furthering strategic work on issues affecting immigrant communities is to launch a Better Together Committee. This would be a collective effort aimed at bringing together a wide range of immigrant leaders, community advocates, service providers, government officials, and other stakeholders to meet regularly to discuss systemic issues impacting local immigrant community members. With a dedicated group of participants meeting regularly, and connecting to the broader community of immigrant supporters, larger systemic needs can be effectively addressed.
But such a committee would again run into the two main challenges referenced above:
- “Immigration” has such a large scope and covers so many areas that it will be difficult for any collaborative effort to make actual progress.
- The collaboration must include the participation of immigrant community members, while avoiding participation barriers and power imbalances.
To help address these and other concerns, consider adopting some or all of the following recommendations in order to better facilitate the committee’s work.
Focus on A Set Number of Projects at a Time
On account of the large scope of issues a committee may cover, meetings can be dominated by reporting and questions, leaving little time to make progress on actual strategies. The committee should therefore be structured around activities, not reporting, and should identify specific projects for the collective to work on advancing. This will not only narrow the focus of the committee, thereby addressing the problem of scope, but will also help provide a real sense of progress for both committee participants and immigrant communities. Making real, tangible gains through specific activities will go a long way toward demonstrating the committee’s value to immigrant communities, who might otherwise dismiss it as a series of meetings lacking substance.
Under this model, the committee will decide on one large project to pursue. This project will serve as the central effort of the committee, and will not only provide focus, but will include specific measurements or deliverables on which to can base progress. Once the large project has been completed (likely after several years of effort), the committee will vote on a new project. Examples of large projects include:
- Immigrant power/leadership – Establishing an immigrant center, creating a series of sustainable nonprofits representing immigrant communities, etc.
- K-12 education – Reaching a certain level of proficiency for ELL students or for students from immigrant groups, creating a best-in-state support system for immigrant/migrant students in schools, developing a new structure for immigrant parents to have increased engagement with educators, etc.
- Case management – Establishing an effective, trusted, and sustainable case management system so that immigrants with questions/needs have their issues addressed safely and effectively.
The committee will also establish three to five subcommittees aimed at specific, smaller projects. This will enable progress to be made on smaller needs, while still keeping the committee informed. These should be projects that can be completed in a shorter amount of time and which have a dedicated group of members who are willing to drive the progress for the project. After a smaller project is finished, the committee will decide on a new project to pursue. Examples of smaller projects include:
- Building a translator management database
- Developing a guardianship website
- Creating a Marshallese student group
- Launching an immigrant leadership program
- Developing toolkits for employers looking to hire immigrants
Finally, the committee will also leave time to discuss important issues or address new problems and opportunities. One of the benefits of having stakeholders meet on a regular basis is the ability to deal with new challenges as they arise. Conversely, normal reporting of stakeholder events and activities should primarily be done outside of committee meetings, either through notes or through an online forum (such as the one discussed in 2. Develop an Online Immigrant Advocate Forum above). This is so that stakeholders can still share upcoming events and activities while leaving committee time for discussion of progress on projects and new concerns and opportunities.
Encourage and Enable Immigrant Participation
Language barriers, differing work schedules, power imbalances among committee members, and other issues all act as barriers to full immigrant community participation in the committee. This is a challenge for most committees, where it is easier to identify ways for service providers or government officials to meet than it is to get community representatives to sessions. Yet this will be such a critical need of the Better Together Committee that its structure should be designed specifically with this challenge in mind.
To help address this need, the committee should adopt some or all of the following tools for facilitating immigrant community participation:
1. Translation/Interpretation: Allocate funding to translate meeting notes into other languages and to provide interpretation for the meeting. Translating meeting notes will allow a wider group of immigrants to follow the committee’s progress. Providing interpretation makes the meeting more welcoming and will allow more community members to be able to effectively participate in the meeting.
2. Mentor Teams: Provide participants with the option of forming “mentor teams” to help with comprehension and participation. These teams will consist of two people, or a small group of individuals, and will help pair new participants with a trusted and more experienced committee member who can help facilitate engagement and participation. The teams should be composed of individuals with shared languages, and preferably the team members should have an existing trusted relationship. These teams will help participants to better engage with the committee in the following ways:
- During committee meetings:
- Translating difficult to understand concepts
- Explaining discussion points
- Identifying other committee members
- Following committee meetings:
- Holding debriefing sessions where team members can:
- Ask questions about the committee’s work,
- Share ideas they felt unable to express at the committee meeting,
- Report on issues that need to be elevated to the committee leadership,
- Gain additional insight about participation in collective impact committees.
- Holding debriefing sessions where team members can:
These teams can also provide members with additional support to help with leadership development and power building. Through the support of the partner team, less experienced members will hopefully become increasingly comfortable with the committee, allowing for more natural participation.
3. Immigrant Connection Subcommittee: Designate one of the subcommittees to be an ongoing group that evaluates whether the committee is effectively enabling immigrant participation. This subcommittee will review how well different immigrant communities are able to participate in the committee and propose changes or outreach if there are any gaps. Having an intentional and ongoing focus on immigrant participation can help sustain momentum on the issue.
4. Weekend/Evening Sessions: Hold some committee meetings during evenings or weekends so that more community members (and not just nonprofit staff) can participate. It can often be a challenge for community members to attend meetings that take place during normal work hours. Identifying different times can help alleviate these problems.
- It may be the case that holding sessions during the evenings or weekdays may prevent other committee members from participating as well. In one of its first meetings, the committee should consider whether to:
- Have all meetings take place on an evening or weekend;
- Have every other meeting be outside of normal work hours; or
- Designate some meetings as being outside of normal work hours, such as one every quarter.
- For meetings taking place on the weekend and evening, the committee should provide childcare to help facilitate community member participation.
5. Use Hybrid Meetings…: With the rise in teleconferencing technologies, often the best way to engage with immigrant populations is by taking a hybrid approach that allows for both online and in-person attendance. Some immigrants struggle with access to online resources and may most easily be able to attend in person. Due to transportation barriers, others may be much more likely to attend if there is an online option available.
6. …But Prioritize Meeting Face-to-Face: However, even though teleconferencing may allow for more participation, meeting face-to-face can be extremely valuable for building trust and helping humanize the meeting participants. While most meetings should have hybrid options, the committee should also try to have all members meet face-to-face occasionally in order to encourage relationship building.
7. Engagement Practices: The committee should consider utilizing meeting practices that better facilitate participation, especially by individuals who may speak English as a second language, such as:
- Having presenters include visualizations with their presentation to facilitate engagement with English language learners. This could involve the use of pictures or icons in presentations, graphic facilitation to help with notetaking, or other visual strategies.
- Having people sit at round tables where they can face each other instead of in straight rows, which can help to create better engagement between participants.
- Using online tools that allow attendees to participate without needing to speak, such as voting response tools, online white boards in multiple languages, etc.
- Having someone from an immigrant community facilitate the session.
- Conducting activities that help humanize the participants, making them individuals instead of just their job position or community affiliation.
Establish Leadership
The committee will need an individual or individuals who can schedule and facilitate the meetings, conduct follow-up, engage with subcommittees, and carry out other functions necessary for the committee to move forward. While the decision on who should lead the committee will depend on the specific region and participants involved, here are two potential options:
- If funding is available, a coordinator could be hired to help lead the work and ensure that all the activities of the committee advance as planned. This person could also participate in all subgroups and help facilitate other recommendations made in this section. The ideal would be for the coordinator to come from, or have trusted relationships with, at least one immigrant community in the region.
- The Immigration Community Assessment Steering Committee recommended that this position not come from a direct provider of services to immigrants, but instead from a “neutral” organization (such as local government, a funding organization, etc.). This is because the coordinator might prioritize or be seen to prioritize activities or discussions that best serve the needs of the service provider, instead of the interests of the committee as a whole.
- The committee could also elect a leadership group that would be responsible for coordinating the committee. This group should have multiple members to relieve the pressure on any individual member. The leadership team could also have limited terms to allow for shifting leadership and a greater distribution of responsibilities, as well as allowing for more leadership opportunities from members of different immigrant communities.
The strong preference should be given to the first option. Having an organization that serves as the “backbone” for the committee and that has the resources to provide facilitation and help drive the agenda will make the committee much more sustainable and effective. Having an organization involved will also create greater stability during leadership transitions. Furthermore, if the leadership or facilitator for the committee is a funded position with organizational support, the risk of the collective effort failing, or losing traction, will be greatly reduced.
Because of the number of issues facing immigrant communities, it is unlikely that the Immigration Strategy Committee will be able to effectively address them all. There will always be a need for interested individuals and organizations to work together to address a specific issue, or to help support a specific population. In addition, it is inappropriate to insist that the activities of groups focus on immigrant populations should all be subsumed and combined into one committee. Many people come together to pursue their interests and passions about certain topics, and that kind of engagement should be encouraged and supported. Collaborations like the Pacific Islander Health Project Advisory Group, Café Latino, and the Covid COFA Working Group are extremely important, and will continue to be so.
To make these groups most effective and to prevent two groups from unintentionally working on the same activities, an effort should be made to have at least one participant of each group also participate in or be connected to the Immigration Strategy Committee (see 3. Convene a Better Together Committee above). This would be a good task for the leaders of the committee, who could work to identify active groups and then find ways to ensure there is a consistent line of communication to the committee, which could then be shared with the larger immigrant support community. Having these groups connected to an online forum would also be a valuable way to maintain contact and frequent communication (see 2. Develop an Online Immigrant Advocate Forum above).
[1] “1st Annual Immigration Summit,” #LA Together, California Community Foundation, January 13, 2020, http://latogether.org/2020/01/13/1st-annual-immigration-summit-the-future-of-immigrants-in-los-angeles/.
To read a discussion regarding Ongoing Collective Work on Immigration, click here
For a discussion of Building Connections with Immigrant Communities, click here
For a review of seven different Issues Facing Immigrant Communities, click here
For a list of Priority Recommendations, click here
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