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Orientation to a New Society
Transnational migrants possess a vast range of motivations for embarking on a migratory journey, and they face highly divergent conditions throughout the course of their journeys and upon arrival in a new society. Migration can be a thoroughly exciting experience, a traumatic one, or a combination of both. Regardless of where a person comes from or the skills and experiences he/she brings, all immigrants must face the challenges of adjusting to a new society, learning its norms, values, and customs, and, in many cases, learning a new language. There are many ways in which sending and receiving countries can help facilitate immigrants’ adaptation both prior to migration and upon arrival. National, state, and local-level policies and programs, combined with community-based initiatives to inform immigrants of their rights and responsibilities prior to migrating; support for immigrants in getting jobs, finding suitable housing, and enrolling children in school; introducing them to new practices, rules, and ways of life; and engaging in efforts to ensure opportunities for positive interaction and exchange between immigrant and native-born citizens are some of the key ways in which the burdens of migration may be attenuated. We have identified seven specific areas in which innovative work is being done to support immigrants’ orientation to new societies: pre-migration information; parenting support in the new land; adult mentoring; educational pathway knowledge; citizenship information; employment information; and health services information. Federal and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and businesses in countries all over the world are developing promising practices in each of these areas. Some of the most exciting work is reviewed below. The migration process begins long before people depart from their native countries. Individuals and families must take significant steps to prepare for the journey and new life ahead—including emotional and psychological preparation and well as dealing with practical and financial tasks. Sending and receiving countries can facilitate the complex process of leaving one’s native country and starting anew in a different society by helping migrants learn about their new country in advance of their arrival. In some cases, governments work collaboratively to coordinate pre-migration informational programs. In others, community organizations or local governments take responsibility for working with migrants, often relying on the stories and experiences of previous migrants. There are a variety of strategies that can be used to effectively work with future migrants to prepare them for the challenges of adjusting to a new society. The programs Canadian Orientation Abroad and From Sri Lanka to Tuscany represent two interesting initiatives designed to meet the needs of migrants by furnishing valuable information prior to departure. Canada Orientation Abroad is a cornerstone of Canada’s comprehensive immigrant orientation strategy that was developed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the federal agency responsible for immigrant and citizenship affairs. Administered by the International Organization for Migration under Canada’s larger Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program, Canada Orientation Abroad consists of orientation sessions conducted in different sending countries to introduce future immigrants and refugees who have been selected for permanent resident status to what life is like in Canada. Topics include rights and responsibilities, employment, housing, education, living in a multicultural society, and adaptation to Canada. Most sessions are conducted in the participants’ native languages, and women and families are given priority for participation. For more information, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/evaluation/orientation.asp From Sri Lanka to Tuscany was a pilot program developed in 2005 by the Italian Labor and Social Affairs Ministry with assistance from the International Organization for Migration to provide pre-arrival training to Sri Lankan citizens interested in migrating to Italy to work as child care providers or home health aides to the elderly. Created as part of an agreement between the Italian and Sri Lankan governments for a special entry quota of 1,500 Sri Lankans into the Italian labor market, candidates for family care positions were selected through a database set up by the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. They received 60 hours of Italian language training in Colombo, Sri Lanka and attended a 25-hour course on home health care and childcare. Training was continued once selected migrants arrived in Italy, leading to an Italian "Personal Care Assistant" qualification. This program helped facilitate the new immigrants’ integration by coordinating employment, language training, and legal entry paperwork through a cross-national collaboration. For more information about this innovative pilot program, go to http://www.iom.int/jahia/page706.html Support for Parenting in the New Land While many migrants embark on the initial journey alone, migration is frequently a family project. In many cases, adults send for children left behind in their countries of origin after establishing themselves, often after an extended period of separation (Suárez-Orozco, Todorova, & Louie, 2002); in others they form new families in their host countries. Yet in other cases, children accompany parents from the start. Regardless of the circumstances, immigrant parents often need assistance in learning the legal rights and responsibilities of parenting in new societies. In addition, the educational system presents a range of possible challenges for parents unfamiliar with policies, procedures, and expectations of parents and students, and particular support may be required in the area of schooling. Parenting in a country and culture different from the one in which immigrants were raised, socialized, and educated means adjusting to a range of new norms, rules, and values. Proactively working to inform immigrant parents of social and legal expectations, rules, and policies, specifically relating to schooling and appropriate forms of discipline, is imperative in order both to avoid significant misunderstandings and potential cultural conflicts and to facilitate faster integration of children and adults into society. Providing support to immigrant parents can be achieved through a variety of means; school-based efforts and programs created by non-governmental organizations and foundations offer valuable examples of how to approach this important aspect of integration. The Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE ) is a program developed by a non-governmental organization in conjunction with university researchers. It was designed to help low-income and ethnically diverse parents create positive home learning environments, effectively negotiate school systems, successfully collaborate with school personnel, support their children’s development, and promote college attendance. Implemented in schools across the United States, PIQE consists of a series of parenting classes and workshops that cover topics such as adolescence, positive communication, how to motivate students, and the road to college. Parent programs generally last nine weeks, and courses are offered in the morning and evening for greater flexibility. PIQE classes are taught by credentialed teachers and have been conducted in fourteen different languages. For further information, see http://www.piqe.org/ The Mother Support Program, developed by the Turkish Mother Child Education Foundation, was created to educate mothers about how to support their children’s growth and promote cognitive development. Over the course of approximately eight weeks, teachers, guidance counselors, and social workers lead discussions of topics ranging from positive child rearing, sexual reproductive health for mothers, creating positive learning environments, and the importance of play. Variations of the Mother Support Program have been implemented in a number of countries with large Turkish immigrant populations, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. The program works to inform mothers about the educational systems in their host countries as well as to provide support for their parenting roles more generally. For further information, see http://www.acev.org/education.php?id=13&lang=en The Spectrum Migrant Resource Center, a non-governmental organization based in Victoria, Australia offers immigrants a host of services to assist in their settlement and adaptation to life in Australia. The “Parenting in a New Culture” project targeted Chinese, Arab, and Samoan immigrant communities in Australia in order to introduce some of the mainstream Australian parenting norms and practices. Funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the program aimed to support parents of pre-school age children in these communities through parenting orientation programs and skill development. One major outcome of the project was the development of parenting guidebooks in Chinese, Arabic, and Samoan, as well as in English. For further information, see http://www.spectrumvic.org.au/settlement_family_services/family_relationship_support_services/parenting_in_a_new_culture_program AVANCE-El Paso is a branch of a national program that was started in 1973 to equip low-income parents with skills and resources to support their children’s development in the early years. The El Paso, Texas site, which was recently recognized with an E Pluribus Unum Award as an outstanding immigrant integration initiative, works with predominantly immigrant families and currently operates in 14 schools in the El Paso school district and two in southern New Mexico. Families participate in adult literacy classes and receive parenting education, and the impact on student outcomes has been remarkable. While the majority of AVANCE-El Paso participants are considered “economically disadvantaged,” the children have shown higher standardized test scores, higher high school graduation rates, and higher college enrollment rates than their peers in the district. For further information about AVANCE-El Paso, see www.avance-elpaso.org Moving to a new land can be deeply disorienting. Migrants face multiple challenges as they attempt to build lives in new societies. Cultural, social, legal, and bureaucratic expectations and procedures can change dramatically from one country to the next. It may take many months and even years for new arrivals to learn about the explicit and implicit rules of engagement in the new land. Apparently simple tasks such as obtaining a social security number, paying a bill, enrolling a child in school, or applying for a job can be very complicated, particularly when language differences are factored into the equation. Thus, mentoring programs that match residents and citizens with new immigrants can be invaluable in easing the frequently frustrating, bewildering, and often frightening experience of learning about and adjusting to new rules, policies, and expectations. Mentoring relationships may take a variety of forms and may be established through workplaces, religious institutions, or government or community programs. Beyond their instrumental contributions to immigrant integration, mentoring programs can also be a powerful way to counteract the loneliness and isolation that can accompany the migratory process and may serve to connect local citizens and immigrants who would otherwise have few opportunities to interact. Time Together is a mentorship program set up in 2002 by a bank in the United Kingdom to complement existing supports and social services in place to assist refugees in adjusting to life there. Mentors spend approximately five hours each month with their protégés over the course of a year, and they work together to help new refugees feel more comfortable in the U.K. Mentors receive training and support from Time Together, and they are encouraged to engage in a range of activities with their protégés, from resume writing and practicing English to visiting museums and tourist attractions. Time Together has recruited and matched over 2,500 refugees with volunteer mentors since it started. For further information, see: http://www.timetogether.org.uk/about_us.php Canada Host Program is another element of the larger integration program developed and supported by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The objective of the Host Program is to help new permanent residents, refugees, and protected persons (those who are granted this status by the Canadian government because of a fear of persecution in their country of origin) overcome the challenges of moving to a new country and adapting to life in Canada. It does so by matching them with volunteers who are familiar with Canadian society and who will help them learn about available services and how to use them, enable them to practice English and French, and show them how to develop employment contacts and participate in community life. Participation in the Host Program is conceptualized as a mutually beneficial experience, and the program literature acknowledges the value to Canadian volunteers of learning about the cultures, languages, and ways of life of people joining their communities. Ultimately, this program aims to facilitate faster political, social, and economic integration of immigrants and refugees, and the federal government works with provinces to implement Host Programs across the country. For further information, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/English/resources/publications/guide/section-04.asp Information on Educational Pathways Navigating the educational system in a new land can be daunting for native-born residents and is only more so for newcomers who have not gone through the system themselves, have limited education, or do not speak the new language. Expecting young people to make important educational decisions about high school entry or college application without their parents’ guidance has significant implications for their life-long trajectories. Yet students from immigrant families the world over must make these decisions without their parents’ help because their parents lack the necessary information to appropriately guide their children through these complicated mazes. Hence, providing immigrant parents with information on educational pathways — for adult learners interested in pursuing educational credentials or new careers, and for parents to help their children navigate complex new educational systems and think about the future — is an important area of intervention. This, however, was an area of our search where there was a particularly glaring gap in programming though we uncovered two interesting examples. With its publication of informational materials about the Irish education system in six languages for parents of refugee children, Ireland’s Reception and Integration Agency represents one of the leaders in the field of providing information on educational pathways in primary and post-primary education to new immigrant families, recognizing the importance of this as part of the integration project. For further information, see http://www.ria.gov.ie/publications/ The ¡Si se Puede! (Yes We Can!) initiative http://www.cuny.edu/sisepuede is a website that was developed by Professor Robert Smith in conjunction with the Mexican consulate in New York and the City University of New York. It specifically targets Mexican immigrant college applicants and their families, providing explicit information about the application process and information relevant to non-citizens, as well as scholarships available to Mexican nationals. What it means to be a citizen may vary greatly across different national contexts. The idea of citizenship can refer to questions of legal status or to more symbolic understandings of membership in a society or community, regardless of legal status. Providing immigrants with explicit information about the steps required to access legal citizenship is a critical part of the integration process; however, broader conceptualizations of citizenship that recognize other types of information helpful in facilitating immigrants’ transitions to new ways of social life are also valuable. Governments and community organizations have taken a variety of approaches to responding to the question of citizenship information, and the range of strategies designed to support immigrants’ integration into civic life reflects the diversity in the understanding of what it means to be a citizen. Femmes du Relais du 20ème is a non-governmental organization that works in neighborhoods across Paris to support various aspects of immigrant women’s integration. One project designed around medical and health practices exemplifies the range of topics that may fall under certain societies’ conceptions of key citizenship information. Each year, the Femmes du Relais du 20ème works with local governments to put on day-long workshops in which French medical professionals learn about traditional infant care practices found in various immigrant cultures while immigrant women receive information about Western medicine and how it can help improve childcare practices. Identifying some of the normative health practices and beliefs in a host society and viewing this information as relevant to successful integration satisfies one of the informational needs that many immigrants bring with them to new societies. For further information, see www.mairie20.paris.fr/mairie20/jsp/site/Portal.jsp?page_id=610 Educating immigrants about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in Canada constitutes a key aspect of the Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program . Community organizations, such as local branches of the YMCA, receive support from the Canadian government to conduct workshops and training sessions on a variety of settlement issues. Among the “Newcomer Information Sessions” conducted by YMCA branches across Ontario during the 2008-2009 school year, two separate workshops were dedicated to Canadian citizenship and Canadian law. Including explicit information about the legal procedures associated with applying for citizenship as part of initial settlement and integration supports is a powerful way to introduce the idea of citizenship to new immigrants early on in their experience and to help them plan for their future in their new country. For further information, see www.cic.gc.ca/English/resources/publications/guide/section-04.asp The city of Littleton, Colorado has created an innovative mentorship program that matches community volunteers with immigrants preparing to take the United States citizenship examination. The program has been successful on many fronts, boasting a nearly perfect pass rate and achieving considerable advances in improving cultural understanding. Through its design, the program works simultaneously toward the goals of supporting immigrants’ efforts to integrate and attain citizenship and of providing opportunities for native residents and immigrants to interact in informal and social settings. The product of extensive coordination among civic and government leaders, this initiative is a testament to the importance of collaboration across a range of government agencies and community programs to fostering integration. For further information about the Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative, see www.connectingimmigrants.org Searching for suitable employment can be one of the most stressful and difficult tasks that immigrants encounter when arriving in a new country. This is true for low-skilled immigrants with limited formal education as well as for highly educated immigrants whose credentials might not easily translate in alternate professional settings. Providing assistance to immigrants who are eager to enter the marketplace can be a mutually beneficial endeavor by simultaneously supporting immigrant integration and increasing their economic contributions to society. Activities that help immigrants tap into employment networks and professional associations can provide the critical linkages necessary to finding a suitable job. In addition, services that work with professionals on questions of degree transfer and accreditation are essential in order to counteract the widespread underemployment that many immigrants experience. Seeking employment is often the driving force behind migration decisions, and successful integration may hinge on new residents’ ability to access job opportunities that allow them to support their families and establish a life in their new land. The Jesuit Refugee Service and The Gulbenkian Foundation developed a project in Portugal to respond to the issue of underemployment among immigrants who had been trained as medical professionals in their countries of origin. Immigrant doctors took courses at Portuguese medical schools, participated in internships at hospitals, and received additional training. The program included a monthly stipend and paid for each participant’s application and credential translation fees and worked with immigration services to develop special protocols to overcome visa problems. For more information, see http://www.jrseurope.org/countries/portugal.htm The Maytree-Alterna Savings Immigrant Employment Loan Program provides credit for newcomers for up to one year to facilitate their finding professional employment. The maximum loan considered is $5,000, and funds can be used to cover assessment of credentials, examination costs, books and materials, and professional association membership fees. Funded by Maytree, a Canadian foundation that supports a range of integration and poverty-reduction initiatives, the loan program constitutes one element in the foundation’s broader strategy to reduce the underutilization of immigrants’ talents and skills. Maytree also works in multiple cities across Canada to help train business leaders and potential employers to increase their capacity for working with and hiring immigrants. For more information, see http://www.maytree.com/grants/immigrant-employment-loan-program Upwardly Global is a non-governmental organization with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. It works with highly qualified immigrant professionals from a variety of fields, including business, financial services, engineering, and healthcare, to find placements in the labor market. Upwardly Global provides myriad services, including employment workshops, job placement services, mentoring, and connections to a wide employer network. For more information, see http://www.upwardlyglobal.org/ Like other bureaucratic systems, health care policies and practices in a new country may be completely foreign to immigrants. Health-related questions can quickly become matters of life and death, and as such, receiving societies must take it upon themselves to work with immigrant communities to introduce and explain new processes and regulations so that they are able to access the services they need when they need them most. The range of health care options and providers in some countries may be dizzying, but furnishing immigrants with concise information on their rights and how to access health care is of critical importance and should be understood as an essential part of an overall integration strategy. SPIRASI (Spiritan Asylum Services Initiative) is a humanitarian non-governmental organization that works with asylum seekers, refugees, and other disadvantaged migrant groups in Ireland to foster self-reliance and integration into Irish society. The Health Information and Promotion program is dedicated to providing health information to asylum seekers through a peer-led approach, using group sessions and individualized discussions. The aim of the program is to equip asylum seekers with the skills and information to be able to seek appropriate health and welfare services. SPIRASI works to achieve this through a life-skills course and a series of workshops that cover such topics as “Accessing health services in the Irish setting,” “Explaining the benefits of screening/health assessment,” “Defining the roles and responsibilities of health care providers,” “Understanding welfare entitlements,” “Explaining the importance of ante- and post-natal care for pregnant women,” and “Creating awareness about Irish norms when using the health services in Ireland.” For more information, see http://www.spirasi.ie/health-information-promotion.shtml The Calgary Chinese Community Services Association has created a women’s health educational program to respond to some of the specific health issues in the lives of immigrant women. CCCSA partners with other local agencies and organizations, including the Calgary Public Library, the Calgary Board of Education, and the Adult Learning Program at the YWCA, to offer women’s health workshops on issues such as breast cancer awareness and cervical cancer screening, and to refer women to available health and support services. For more information, see http://www.cccsa.ca/ In addition to finding employment, access to housing is one of the most urgent and immediate issues that immigrants face upon arrival in a new country. Accounts of housing discrimination against immigrants are widespread (Dion, 2002; Huttman, Blauw & Saltman, 1991; Ross & Turner, 2005), and the high cost of rent in many gateway cities often results in immigrants resorting to unsafe living conditions in order to reduce the expense. Remarkably few initiatives exist to respond to the severe challenges that many new arrivals face in finding affordable housing options. In fact, we were unable to find any examples of programs or policies explicitly designed around questions of housing for immigrants. Housing opportunities and integration are inextricably linked, and assisting immigrants in locating affordable and adequate places to live stands to reduce some of the geographical isolation and segregation that hinders successful integration from occurring. While not directly linked to accessing affordable housing, the work of the Latino Community Credit Union merits mention for its success in providing affordable, full-service financial products and services to immigrants and other individuals outside the banking system. Created in 2000 in Durham, North Carolina, the Credit Union dedicates itself to reaching low-income immigrant families who have been excluded from financial institutions due to language barriers, limited education, or cultural mistrust. Since its founding, the Latino Community Credit Union has brought 51,000 people into the financial mainstream and has grown to become the fourth largest community development credit union in the United States. Through its comprehensive bilingual financial education program, the Credit Union has reached more than 9,755 low-income immigrants hampered by language barriers, limited education, or cultural distrust of financial institutions. By identifying a gap in the marketplace and developing supports and services that meet immigrants’ needs, the Latino Community Credit Union has made an invaluable contribution to integration efforts. Additional focus on financial institutions and their potential to support immigration integration is needed. For more information about the Latino Community Credit Union,see www.latinoccu.org. |