New Immigrants, Changing Communities : Best Practices for a Better America

This handbook provides a review of promising practices and strategies facilitating immigrant integration, especially in new settlement areas. The purpose of this handbook is to foster a constructive approach to newcomers and community change.

This book is a product of research stemming from a multiyear project conducted by Elzbieta M. Gozdziak and Micah N. Bump for the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University. The project studied immigration integration in areas that had no recent experience with foreign-born newcomers and the information presented within this book builds upon this by identifying and reviewing promising practices and strategies that facilitated immigrant integration. Gozdziak and Bump include descriptions of the most effective approaches as well as an analysis of challenges within resettlement programs. By highlighting successful initiatives in newcomer communities it seeks to assist stakeholders in their decision-making processes. As newcomer-related issues are complex and solutions are rarely "one-size fits all," the programs described here are unique responses to particular issues in individual communities, and they may not be an exact fit for other communities with similar problems. The book is not a cookbook or a blueprint that can be applied anywhere and everywhere. Rather, it is meant as inspiration and motivation for trying out new strategies. Successful practices discussed in this book include: programs facilitating English language acquisition, access to culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate health care services, access to vocational training and higher education opportunities, community development, microenterprise, creation of homeownership opportunities for immigrants, and efforts to ensure safety of newcomers. It is the hope of the authors that many practitioners—including service providers, community leaders, representatives of local governments, and donors both public and private—will find this book useful.