Opening Minds, Opening Doors, Opening Communities: Cities Leading for Immigrant Integration

In the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and Welcoming America report Opening Minds, Opening Doors, Opening Communities: Cities Leading for Immigrant Integration, authors Manuel Pastor and Rhonda Ortiz from University of Southern California's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration and Els de Graauw from Baruch College examine municipal efforts aimed at promoting immigrant integration by looking at 63 city-level institutions across the United States.

In the face of a heated national discourse that has often generated anti-immigrant sentiments, these cities are undertaking a “quiet revolution” motivated by their belief in the potential of immigrants to revitalize local communities. Using data from the American Community Survey and information from over 50 interviews and a literature review, the authors group the city initiatives into three broad categories: defusing tensions, attracting newcomers,  and integrating immigrants in more established immigrant gateways. The authors include case studies of offices in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and San Francisco to illustrate the three approaches. The report also looks at offices in other cities including Houston, Nashville, St. Louis and New York. Besides having strong mayoral commitment, these offices tend to emphasize the economic contributions of immigrants, cooperation with local law enforcement, and relationship-building between newcomers and receiving communities. Recommendations for new and existing integration efforts include securing mayoral support, building institutional sustainability, collaborating with diverse allies such as the business sector and law enforcement, all while bringing together services for immigrants and developing opportunities for civic engagement. (Jasmina Popaja for The ILC Public Education Institute)

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