What's New?

The latest news, resources, and stories to help cities and counties with immigrant engagement and integration.

Language Access Laws and Legal Issues: A Local Official's Guide

This guide explains the laws that require language access in order to insure that limited English-proficient residents have access to public benefits and services, and an opportunity to participate in public life.

Collaborative Strategies for Day Labor Centers

This guide will assist local officials, immigrant serving organizations, day labor center planners and leaders, and others to understand how collaborative relationships, partnerships and processes can assist in the successful development and operations of a day labor center.

California Communities Launch Initiatives to Strengthen Relationships Between Immigrants and Longer-Term Residents

The Institute for Local Government (www.ca-ilg.org), working closely with Welcoming America staff, is supporting the planning efforts of the first two immigrant “welcoming” initiatives in California. Learn about these immigrant-integration efforts that are taking place in the City of Redwood City and the City of Oakley. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) launches Citizenship Public Education and Awareness Initiative

There are an estimated 2.3 million legal permanent residents (LPRs) in California who are eligible for citizenship. Recent estimates indicate that naturalization could increase California’s adult citizen population by up to 10 percent. Learn about a new federal initiative to raise awareness about the rights, responsibilities, and importance of U.S. citizenship.

Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Immigration: 20 Cities, 20 Good Practices

The Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration program (MAII) of the National League of Cities has recently released Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Immigration: 20 Cities, 20 Good Practices. This report, the second in their American Cities Series, features descriptions of innovative immigrant initiatives in diverse cites and counties around the county (including three in California). In addition to the stories of individual local efforts, the report offers lessons learned and a number of recommendations for local officials and other policy makers. For questions about the report contact Ricardo Gambetta at Gambetta@nlc.org.

2011 E Pluribus Unum Prizes is Now Open

The Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy's E Pluribus Unum Prizes national awards program provides four $50,000 prizes annually to exceptionally successful immigrant integration initiatives. The program highlights and rewards outstanding efforts that help immigrants and their children join the mainstream of US society or that bring immigrants and the native born together to build stronger, more cohesive communities. Application deadline has passed. Winners are recognized in May at an event in Washington, DC.

To learn more about the award program or the 2011 award recipients, visit  www.integrationawards.org.

The J.M. Kaplan Fund is generously providing support for these awards in order to focus attention on successful integration initiatives, and to inspire and provide program models to others around the United States who might also undertake such efforts.

Communications Training – Opening Doors to Meaningful Dialogue

During the second annual meeting of immigrant local officials at the League of California Cities Annual Conference in September 2010 the Institute of Local Government partnered with the Asian Pacific Islander and Latino Caucuses of the League to offer a workshop on framing and effective re-framing techniques to encourage a constructive dialogue among and about immigrant residents.

Isabel Alegria, communications director, California Immigrant Policy Center, facilitated the workshop that helped participants explore ways to open the door to a more informed, rational and meaningful dialogue in local communities. In addition to skill development, local officials were able to network, share stories and access immigrant integration resources.

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Uniting Our Communities: A Multi-Sector Approach to Immigrant Integration

With support from the Four Freedoms Fund and Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Institute for Local Government, in partnership with the Welcoming America organization, is supporting planning for immigrant "welcoming" efforts in California. The intent is to promote greater mutual respect and cooperation between foreign-born and US-born residents in California, and also to enhance immigrant involvement in the civic and political life of their communities. Two sites are under development presently. One effort will be coordinated through Redwood City 2020, a collaborative of city, county, school, and other local and regional groups.

Welcoming America - the winner of the 2009 E Pluribus Unum Prize - is a national, grassroots organization working to create a welcoming atmosphere - community by community - in which immigrants are more likely to integrate into the social fabric of their adopted hometowns.

Civic Engagement and Recent Immigrant Communities: A Planning Guide for Local Officials and Community Leaders

The Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration program (MAII) of the National League of Cities has recently released Municipal Innovations in Immigrant Immigration: 20 Cities, 20 Good Practices. This report, the second in their American Cities Series, features descriptions of innovative immigrant initiatives in diverse cites and counties around the county (including three in California). In addition to the stories of individual local efforts, the report offers lessons learned and a number of recommendations for local officials and other policy makers.

A new discussion guide developed by NLC’s Center for Research and Innovation, presents local officials with the first steps and directions for developing or re-establishing efforts toward integrating immigrants into the civic life of the city. This new publication was developed through a collaboration of NLC’s Democratic Governance project and the Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration Program(MAII).

Financial Literacy Programs for Immigrants

New immigrants face several obstacles to using the U.S. banking system, including a distrust of banks, a language barrier, lack of knowledge about banking and lack of documentation. Local efforts to help immigrants save and become financially literate promote stable neighborhoods and contribute to the economic vitality of the community. Click here to read the full article that appeared in the National League of Cities Municipal Action Guide Winter 2010.

National League of Cities Launches New Initiative To Help Immigrant Communities in Child and Youth Safety

A 2006 study by the University of Miami found that children of immigrant families are more likely to be victims of mistreatment, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation due to the stress and pressures experienced by the family because of the immigration and acculturation process. Through its Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration (MAII) project, the National League of Cities (NLC) announces a new initiative to help community leaders raise awareness about the problems of missing children and sexual exploitation of children of immigrant families.

Through the initiative, local leaders from three cities participating in the MAII program will establish strategies to eliminate community behaviors which may put the safety of children at risk, often creating a gap between cities and their immigrant communities. MAII is also partnering with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which will provide information and prevention advice to local officials and community leaders in those cities. NLC and NCMEC will work with officials, through prevention and outreach technical assistance and training programs, to establish relationships with immigrant communities and community-based organizations around children and youth safety issues for immigrants. For more information on MAII please contact Ricardo Gambetta, NLC’s Program Manager, Immigrant Integration at 202-626-3153 or Gambetta@nlc.org.

Ten Ideas to Encourage Immigrant Engagement

A one-pager that provides ideas drawn from cities and counties throughout California on ways to more successfully engage immigrant residents.

ILG's Immigrant Engagement Listserv

The Immigrant Engagement Listserv facilitates the sharing of information and resources among local officials interested in the successful participation of immigrant residents in the civic, economic and political life of their communities throughout California. To subscribe click on: http://lists.cacities.org/mailman/listinfo/immigrantengagement.

Bureau of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Partners with Cities to host Naturalization Awareness Events

USCIS is holding public naturalization information sessions to raise awareness about the process. In some cities, USCIS has co-hosted these events with local governments or community-based organizations, allowing USCIS to widen the scope of is outreach efforts. The naturalization awareness sessions focus on: demystifying the naturalization process; informing immigrants and educators to learn about publicly available educational resources for the new test; and building organizational capacity through partnerships between USCIS field offices and local partners, especially at the city level. If you have suggestions about how USCIS might partner with your city to host a naturalization awareness session, please contact Rachel Ellis with USCIS Community Relations at Rachel.ellis@dhs.gov.