Diversifying the American Dream - A Welcome to the 5th Annual National Immigrant Integration Conference

Date:    Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012
Time:    9am to 10am

Diversifying the American Dream, the opening plenary of the 5^th Annual National Immigrant Integration Conference, will feature host Gustavo Torres welcoming conferees, reflecting on a year of integration advances, and welcoming Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley to the stage.  Governor O’Malley, serving his 6^th year as Governor of Maryland, has made immigrant integration a priority hallmark of his administration building on work that he initiated as Mayor of Baltimore.  Governor O’Malley speaks frequently regarding the need to attract and retain immigrants to Maryland as a key component of the region’s economic recovery and growth.    

Featuring

• The Honorable Martin O’Malley, Governor of Maryland

Opening Remarks from

• Gustavo Torres, Executive Director, CASA de Maryland
• Joshua Hoyt and Eva Millona, National Partnership for New Americans
• Eva Millona, National Partnership for New Americans Co-Chair

 

Active Citizenship: National Models for Success

Date: Sunday, September 23

Time: 12:30pm – 1:30pm

In light of the lack of passage by Congress of fundamental immigration reform, naturalization and integration have come to the fore as the imperative long-term strategies to move our country forward and revitalize our democracy. This plenary session offers a panoramic look at the national integration landscape, highlighting initiatives that have yielded successful results through far-sighted innovation, technology, and multi-sector collaboration.

USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas will discuss directions and steps to be taken toward a national naturalization and integration strategy from the federal government’s perspective. Raquiba Labrie, of the Open Societies Foundation, will put forth ideas on the possibilities for private-public partnerships to advance naturalization and integration campaigns at the national level. Damien Knight will highlight innovative practices that the Knight Foundation has spearheaded to promote integration and achieve high numbers of naturalizations.

Featuring

• Alejandro Mayorkas, Director, Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Panelists

• Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director, Center for Community Change
• Raquiba LaBrie, Director of the Equality and Opportunity Fund, Open Society Foundations
• Damian Thorman, National Program Director, James L. Knight Foundation

Moderator

• Eva Millona, Executive Director, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

 

The Civil Rights Continuum  

Date:      Monday, September 24, 2012
Time:     8:30am – 10:00am

Women national leaders from diverse sectors will explore the history and current challenges to perfecting the “American Dream” for communities of color.  A Panel of dynamic speakers explore lessons learned from the historic civil rights movement and draw linkages to new opportunities in the expansion and protection of the rights for all Americans.   Nationwide, organizations have sought to connect the immigrant rights movement to the unfinished battle for civil rights for African-Americans. Via group based discussion and audience participation, this plenary will address the value of such linkages that connect all individuals seeking greater inclusion into American Society.

Featuring

• Benjamin Jealous, President, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Panelist

• Judith Browne Dianis, Co-Director, Advancement Project
• Ana Garcia-Ashley, Executive Director, Gamaliel
• Janaye Ingram, DC Bureau Chief, National Action Network
• Valarie Long, Vice President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Moderator

• Kica Matos, Director of Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice, Center for Community Change

Welcoming Remarks

• Morna Ha, Executive Director, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium

 

 

2012 E Pluribus Unum Prize Winner Showcase

 
Date:      Monday, September 24, 2012
Time:     12:30am – 1:45pm (Plenary Room)
 
The Migration Policy Institute’s E Pluribus Unum Prizes have helped to place immigrant integration issues on the national agenda by shining a spotlight on the very significant and innovative integration efforts that community organizations, businesses, government agencies and individuals are undertaking across the U.S., and by underscoring the challenges and opportunities facing this vast field of endeavor, which is of such critical importance to the success of our nation.

The 2012 Prize winners will be publicly introduced for the first time at this luncheon plenary session. The Prize winners will be presented with a $50,000 award check by a representative of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, the primary supporter of the Prizes.

The program will feature a moderated discussion among leaders of the winning initiatives that will cover key elements of their work, threats and opportunities in the fields in which they operate, and lessons for broader integration policy and practice.
 
Emcee

• Margie McHugh, Co-Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Migration Policy Institute

Moderator

• Michael Fix, Senior Vice President and Co-Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Migration Policy Institute

Prize Winners

• Sheldon Caplis, Regional Director of Community Relations / Citi
• Aida Cardenas, Executive Director, Building Skills Partnership
• Hassan Jaber, Executive Director, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services ACCESS
• Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, Executive Director, Californians Together

Closing Remarks

• Brad Davidson, J. M. Kaplan Fund

 

 

A Paramount Democracy: The Federal Role in Protecting Civil Rights

Date: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012
Time: 9am to 10am

 This plenary, featuring Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, explores the unfinished business of civil rights protection in the United States and the work of the federal government in perfecting that access.  The plenary will be introduced and facilitated by a national figure in Latino media and Mr. Perez’s speech will be followed by questions from NPNA Executive Directors from election battleground states in a year in which the presidency could be determined by immigrant voters.  

MODERATOR

• Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Q&A

• Julien Ross, Executive Director, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
• Cristina Neumann-Ortiz, Voces de la Frontera

Welcoming Remarks

• Maria Rodriguez, Florida Immigrant Coalition

 

Closing Plenary: Integrating Lessons from the LGBTQ Equality Movement

Date: Tuesday, September 25

Time: 10:30am-12pm

The Integrating Lessons from the LGBTQ Equality Movement forum will highlight the ways in which a cross-section of LGBTQ organizations have been able to change public perceptions, policies and attitudes towards the LGBTQ community. The goal of the session is to provide lessons learned, best practices and experiential knowledge to immigrant serving organizations that are dealing with the current wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in the country. This session is designed to highlight specific tactics that LGBTQ organizations have used to effect policy, cultural, and attitudinal change within society. The goal of this session is to spark ideas and discussions on how those tactics can be applied to immigrant integration.  The panel/question and answer forum focus on pro-active state-based strategies for securing LGBTQ equality, message discipline and strategies for connecting with non-LGBTQ communities about LGBTQ equality, public education and advocacy for marriage equality, and how to engage traditional and popular media.

Panelist

• Ian Palmquist, North Carolina Executive Director, Equality Federation
• Sean Lund, Messaging Strategist, Movement Advancement Project
• Michael Crawford, Director of Online Programs, Freedom to Marry
• Monica Trasandes, Director of Spanish Language Media, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

Moderator

• Gustavo Torres, Executive Director, CASA de Maryland

Welcoming Remarks

Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles 

 

National Immigrant Integration Conference 2012 Closing Remarks

Tuesday, September 25, 2012 12:00pm to 12:20

Michael Strautmanis, Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor for Strategic Engagement, The White House, will offer a closing speech reflecting on the state of immigrant integration in 2012 and offer recommendations for the next most critical steps for the movement for immigrant integration. Closing remarks will include an invitation to NIIC 2013 and partnership priorities in the upcoming year from Chung-Wha Hong of the New York Immigration Coalition.

Presenter

• Michael Strautmanis, Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor for Strategic Engagement, The White House

Welcoming and Closing remarks

• Chung-Wha Hong, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition