Engaging Receiving Communities: Speaking with America Track
The “Engaging Receiving Communities: Speaking with America” track focuses on the need for a paradigm shift in building real understanding, partnership and support for newcomers with receiving communities, specifically between native-born and long term residents. Although immigrant integration ideally entails a reciprocal two-way relationship between receiving communities and immigrant residents, the reality is that most efforts within the field of immigrant integration have focused almost exclusively on immigrants. While it is important for immigrants to access services to facilitate their incorporation into the local civic, economic, cultural and political life of their communities, it is vital to build broader support among mainstream America by including members of the host communities who may or may not be initially receptive to immigrants. Communities must develop innovative approaches that foster greater understanding and solidarity between immigrants and native-born Americans.
The “Engaging Receiving Communities” track presents an interactive and diverse set of sessions to showcase examples of innovative work to engage receiving communities on immigration. It will help participants think through implications for their own work and explore opportunities for replication. The track will highlight cutting edge resources from academia and practice that present effective strategies for breaking down stereotypes about immigrants and building bridges between natives and immigrants, released as part of the Receiving Communities Initiative by the Center for American Progress, Welcoming America, and the Spring Institute.
The track sessions highlight programs that have built meaningful connections between newcomers and longer-term receiving communities, through contact work by refugee and immigrant-serving agencies, campaigns that seek to create a welcoming atmosphere, and exchange and bridge building through volunteerism, inquisitive inquiry, racial reconciliation, or dialogue. The track also explores how to foster and support local leadership, including local elected officials, faith leaders and business representatives who seek to emphasize the benefits of immigrants in their communities. In addition to addressing apprehension about immigrants among white native born residents, the track intentionally addresses reaching out to African-Americans, LGBTs, Second Generation immigrants, and new immigrants who are now part of the growing “middle” that is anxious about the rapid and sometimes unsettling demographic changes taking place in their communities. As the track sessions unfold, participants will examine ways to bring such efforts to their communities and to scale up this work nationally.
Building Connection: Approaches and Resources for Bringing Together Immigrant and Receiving Community Members
Immigrants and longer-term members of the receiving community often do not interact with one another in meaningful ways. Language and cultural barriers make this gulf particularly difficult for many to overcome, and the result is that many longer-term community members may feel ambivalent at best about their new neighbors. This session focuses on innovative programs that develop meaningful connections between receiving and incoming communities. Learn from both new and well-established programs with successful initiatives that involve alliance building, dialogue, and volunteerism. This discussion will also address the very real challenges of engaging those beyond the “choir” and sustaining such work over time to maximize its impact.
Moderator: Susan Downs-Karkos, Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning
- Luz Zambrano and Trina Jackson, Network for Immigrant and African-American Solidarity
- Sarah Davis, Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigration Services
- Lee Shainis, Intercambio Uniting Communities
- Maggie Herzig, Public Conversations Project
A Buzz for Welcoming: Using New And Traditional Media to Change the Conversation
In communities across the country, particularly in new immigrant destinations, the “buzz” about immigrants is often negative and inaccurate, increasing hostility between immigrants and natives and making it harder for immigrants to step out of their comfort zones and into the broader community. But there are messages that speak to the receiving community’s concerns, educate the hosts about their new neighbors. and promote unity rather than division. This workshop will focus on low-cost approaches to successfully change the messages about immigrants, replacing negative themes with themes that emphasize shared values and the important local contributions of immigrants. We’ll explore how to improve the climate in your community by sharing stories using youtube to more traditional methods like billboards, bus ads, and community radio. We will also explore how film projects are being used as stepping stones—tools that have a reach far beyond the screen to shift perspectives through story telling, facilitating dialogue, urging action, and building community.
Moderator: David Lubell, Welcoming America
- Kristin Collins, Uniting North Carolina
- Patrice O'Neill, The Working Group
- Shaady Salehi, Active Voice
- Walter Gallacher, Immigrant Stories Project
Engaging Mainstream Leaders to Support Immigrant Integration
Immigrants often need a champion in their new homes, especially when the rhetoric heats up and the cultural divides are great. This session explores how receiving community leaders can promote welcoming communities and immigrant integration and where to look for leaders. Panelists from organizations that work with elected officials as well as outspoken and courageous leaders themselves from other sectors such as faith, business, and media will discuss what motivates them to become involved in this work, what works, what doesn’t and why. They will also share recommendations for involving their peers and building strategic alliances.
Moderator: Suzette Brooks Masters, J.M. Kaplan Fund
- Ricardo Gambettta, National League of Cities
- Matthew Soerens, World Relief
- Joe Fugere, Tutta Bella
- Matt Soerens, World Relief
- Jose Antonio Vargas, Define American
Shared Liberation: Alliance Building & Advocacy Across Immigrant and LGBT Communities
Common experience, shared values and relationships are at the heart of building resilient alliances. This session explores the opportunities and challenges involved in building alliances among LGBT and immigrant communities and organizations, and the approaches taken by leaders from both communities to bridge these movements for liberation and recognition. This session will draw on experiences in Oregon and Colorado, and invite participants to engage in dialogue about how to build resilient alliances in their own communities.
Moderator: Dave Montez, Gill Foundation
Creating and Implementing Your Own Detailed Plan to Engage Receiving Communities
This hands-on workshop helps individuals and organizations learn how to create a practical "real world" plan to further engage long-term residents in their communities—particularly those who may have misgivings about immigrants and/or the growth of the local immigrant population. It also provides an opportunity to learn more about some of the tools successfully used by groups across the country to do this work. The session facilitators will draw on their extensive experience in this area, the insights gleaned from all previous sessions in this track, the Receiving Communities Toolkit developed by the Spring Institute and Welcoming America, and the collective wisdom of session participants. This session is highly interactive, and ideas will flow freely between participants. Several of the strategies in participants’ plans, such as inter-group dialogue, will also be modeled using role play or other techniques. All participants will leave the session with the beginnings of a receiving communities engagement plan.
Moderator: David Lubell, Welcoming America
- Heath Wickline, Heath Wickline Communications
- Ellen Gallagher, Welcoming America
- Jessy Molina, Welcoming America