1. Immigrant Integration
Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church
Becoming a Bridge Builder
Adult learning series
February 12th, 2017
Ilse Pollet

2. Where are you from? How long have you lived in Sunnyvale?
Are you an immigrant (foreign born)?
Where are you from?
Are you the child of an immigrant?
Where were your parents from?
Do you speak a language other than English?

3. About Me
Elder
Immigrant
ESL teacher
ALLIES

4. Overview A New America Immigrant Integration Receiving Communities
Conversation

5. Crossing the Bridge to a New America
majority of minorities
majority culture

6. Crossing the Bridge to a New America
“Why doesn’t Congress change the system? They say they’re afraid. What are they afraid of? They are afraid of you. They are afraid you are the future of America. They’re afraid their country will someday look like this class – that you represent what our nation is becoming.” Jim Wallis, America’s Original Sin, Chapter 10, p

7. A New America

8. California already is the ‘New America’

9. More demographics data
Manuel Pastor
Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity
Director, USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity
Director, USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California

10. Immigrant Integration
What does ‘integration’ mean to you?

11. Assimilation vs. Integration
the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs
adopting the ways of another culture and fully becoming part of a different society
MELTING POT
INTEGRATION
a dynamic and structured process in which all members participate in dialogue to achieve and maintain peaceful social relations
incorporating individuals from different groups into a society as equals
SALAD BOWL

12. A definition of Immigrant Integration
Immigrant Integration is defined as a dynamic, two-way process in which immigrants and the receiving community work together to build secure, vibrant and cohesive communities.
Immigrant Integration means people are able to succeed in American society through success in three overall areas:
Linguistic integration
Economic integration
Civic integration
Source: Adult Education and Immigrant Integration: Networks for Integrating New Americans (NINA) Theoretical Framework, 30 September, 2013

13. Expanded definition: ALLIES Immigrant Integration Framework

14. A 2-way process: receiving community
Historically, immigrant integration has focused on immigrants—on changing immigrant behavior to facilitate their incorporation into the host society by encouraging language learning or naturalization, for example.
But positive community relations require the concerted action of both immigrant and native-born residents. How can we expect immigrants to integrate successfully if they feel unwelcome or if their neighbors are not prepared to accept them? And how can we expect their neighbors to welcome them if no effort is made to manage the confusion, fear, and anxiety these neighbors feel about the changing nature of community life?
Receiving communities = the places, along with their residents, in which newcomers settle.
Source : Center for American Progress: Receiving Communities and their role in successful immigrant integration.

15. So what can I do?
An educated, enlightened and informed population is one of the surest ways of promoting the health of a democracy.
Nelson Mandela
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Again, the issue is proximity. Our separated racial geography prevents those new talks from ever happening, so the changing of our geography has to be deliberate.
Jim Wallis

16. Stay informed NATIONAL LOCAL Welcoming America
National Immigration Forum
Global Citizen
Migration Policy Institute
Sojourners / Sojo.net
ACLU
LOCAL
Santa Clara County Office of Immigrant Relations
San Jose Office of Immigrant Affairs
Immigration Legal Resource Center
PACT (interfaith)
SIREN (legal services)
ALLIES (ESL & adult education)
Silicon Valley Rising - Working Partnerships USA (labor)
Many, many more …

17. Be an advocate Find a cause you care about Know your elected officials
Write, call, sign petitions
Speak up in your workplace, among friends, neighbors
Don’t go it alone

18. Get personal
Volunteer with refugee and immigrant serving organizations
Get to know the parents at your children’s school
Talk to you co-workers, including service staff
Listen to someone’s story and share yours
Step out of your bubble

19. Why wait?
Small groups:
Turn to your neighbors and tell your immigration story
Listen to theirs
Think of a time when you moved from being an outsider to being an insider. What made it difficult to be included? What did you or others do to break through the barriers?
What has it meant to you to be able to live in this community?
What does ‘the American dream’ mean to you?
What are 2 things you want to do to welcome others?