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Immigrants and Civic EngagementThis article was adapted from “Pursuing Demo-cracy’s Promise: Newcomers’ Civic Participation inAmerica” a report published by GrantmakersConcerned with Immigrants and Refugees in col-laboration with the Funders’ Committee for CivicParticipation, © 2004.

The immigrant members of the Women’sLeadership Group of the Tenants’ and Workers’Support Committee (TWSC) in Alexandria,Virginia, came together regularly to discuss commu-nity concerns and the needs of women. Using a tech-nique of popular education to bring issues to thesurface, they drew pictures of community life as theyexperienced it.

Catalina’s drawing of her children playing in thestreet struck an immediate chord among the groupand sparked conversation about the lack of recre-ational space for young people in their neighbor-hood.

With TWSC’s encouragement, the women movedfrom problem identification to analysis and strate-gies that could lead to positive change. They decid-ed to document the conditions, creating a map of allof the playgrounds and outside barbecue grills avail-able to the nine thousand Arlandia residents. Theyfound two of the former (both small), one of the lat-ter. They made a similar map of adjacent, middle-class neighborhoods of single-family homes. Thecontrast was dramatic.

Next came research. The women studied the budgetof the Alexandria Parks and Recreation Depart-ment; in the study they received support fromTWSC staff, but the research was their responsibili-ty. They found $75,000 that had been set aside butnot yet used for tennis courts.

Armed with this information and their maps, thewomen sought a meeting with the director of parksand recreation. As a result of their ongoing advoca-cy, over the next few years Parks and Recreationmade more than $100,000 in improvements toArlandia: a new playground, two new public grills,and a multipurpose playing court.

TWSC is one of a growing number of nonprofitgroups, charities, and organizing efforts that arededicated to the goal of engaging recent immigrantsin American civic life. This democratic experience ofparticipating with others to solve community prob-lems strengthens immigrants, the communities inwhich they live, and the democracy itself.

Through civic participation organizations, new-comers

• Educate themselves, developing their human cap-ital through acquisition of skills, knowledge, atti-tudes, and behavior

• Build networks of trusting relationships withthose from like and unlike backgrounds, devel-oping the “bonding” (with the former) and“bridging” (with the latter) social capital thatsociologist Robert Putnam has argued to beessential to healthy communities

• Contribute to positive outcomes of social change• Integrate into American society, a process by

which they reinvigorate the democracy by par-ticipating in it (as did the ancestors of thenative born)

Based in community centers or churches, unions orworker centers, neighborhoods or broader commu-nities, civic participation efforts include nationallyaffiliated networks and locally created organiza-tions. Some are ethnicity-centered, some not. Some

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blend provision of services or advocacy with theircivic participation work. All share a commitment toengaging and empowering immigrants and othersthrough collective problem solving in the democrat-ic process.

The Demographic Imperative

There is scarcely a state, city, town, or person in theUnited States unaffected by the demographic changesour country has experienced owing to immigrationin recent decades. The foreign-born populationincreased by almost 1.6 million, or approximately 5percent, in 2001 alone, continuing the record-break-ing volume of the 1990s, when more than 13 millionimmigrants entered the country.

Approximately 34 million of us, about one in nine,were born outside the United States. Although thetraditional receiving states of California, Texas,Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, and New York contin-ue to attract large numbers, newcomers are noweverywhere. In the thirty-seven states never beforeconsidered as immigrant destinations, the foreign-born population during the 1990s grew at twice therate of these six historic gateways.

As has been true throughout the history of immigra-tion to the United States, some of these new neigh-bors have come here to escape persecution in theirhomeland. Some have sought to reunify with familymembers. All have come to make a better life fortheir families through hard work.

Like those who preceded them, newcomers havebecome integral to the economy, where they aremaking important contributions. Immigrantsaccounted for half of all new entries into the U.S.labor force in the 1990s, fueling growth in manyindustries and, according to a 1997 NationalAcademy of Sciences study, adding approximately$10 billion annually to the U.S. economy.

Immigrants are reinvigorating communities. Intheir book Comeback Cities, Paul Grogan, presi-

dent of the Boston Foundation and former execu-tive director of Local Initiatives SupportCorporation, and foundation consultant TonyProscio specifically cite newcomer consumers andinvestors for their contribution to the renewal ofthe American inner city. “Immigration is the singlemost important factor for dividing winning citiesfrom losing cities,” says Grogan.

Rural communities have been similarly transformed.For example, the increase in the Latino worker pop-ulation from 4 percent in the early 1990s to almost25 percent in 2000 reversed economic decline in thedairy town of Yuma, Colorado, creating new busi-nesses and increasing car sales, consumer loans, andproperty values.

Elections and Beyond

Immigrants are also reinvigorating the politicallandscape. Between the elections of 1996 and 2000,as the number of naturalized citizens grew, theforeign-born voting group increased by 20 percent.These immigrants and refugees are establishingthemselves as important swing voters, representinggreat diversity of political outlook across class andgeneration and within generic ethnic categories.

Beyond casting ballots, newcomers are increasing-ly active broadly in electoral politics, fromregistering voters to running as candidates.Approximately one hundred immigrants andrefugees now hold state-level elected office acrossthe country.

But the contributions of newcomers in civic partic-ipation do not necessarily start or end with elec-tions. Through collective problem solving,immigrants are making a difference at the commu-nity and policy levels.

“Immigration is the single most important factorfor dividing winning cities from losing cities,”says Paul Grogan.

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To take an example, newcomers—one in four ofCalifornia’s population—have joined actively withthe native-born in the PICO California Project of thePacific Institute for Community Organization,which draws together seventeen PICO affiliatesfrom throughout the state to add the voices and con-cerns of regular Californians to statewide policyimprovement. Organizing in more than seventycities and more than half of the state senate andassembly districts, the California Project representsapproximately 350 congregations and four hundredthousand families.

Each of the seventeen PICO affiliates is a collabora-tion of congregations promoting civic participationamong residents. While continuing to work togeth-er locally on issues, through the California Projectmembers collectively identify statewide concernsand develop skills and strategies to move policy inthe state capital of Sacramento.

In 1999, health care was the issue that bubbled upfrom members and coalesced for the project. Anincreasing number of participating families lackedaccess to basic care and were among the seven millionuninsured Californians. The health care campaignwas launched when more than three thousand PICOmembers visited the State Capitol on May 2, 2000.

Since that time the statewide policy improvements inwhich PICO members played a role have includedsimplification of Medi-Cal reporting, bringing healthcoverage to five hundred thousand additional fami-lies and children, an increase of $50 million to buildand expand community clinics, a commitment to usethe $400 million annual state share of the tobaccosettlement for programs in health care, a $10 millionincrease in annual funding for primary care clinics,and approval by the federal government of the state’swaiver request to add three hundred thousand unin-sured parents to the Healthy Families program.

In their separate education campaign, members ofthe PICO California Project helped to add $50 mil-

lion to after-school programs in low-incomeCalifornia neighborhoods and won $30 million forthe country’s first teacher home-visit program. Theyworked with the state treasurer to increaseCalifornia’s low-income housing tax credit by $20million and, targeting one hundred thousand infre-quent voters in a get-out-the-vote campaign, helpedpass a statewide proposition for $2.1 billion to fundaffordable housing.

To accomplish these goals, PICO California Projectmembers have learned, among many other skills,how to develop and maintain strong working rela-tionships with elected representatives on both sidesof the aisle and at all levels of government.

An Age-Old American Story

The story of such immigrant civic participation isthe story of America. It was immigrants and theirdescendants whom Alexis de Tocqueville wasobserving in the early nineteenth century when hewrote, in Democracy in America, that “Americansof all ages, all stations of life, and all types of dispo-sitions are forever forming associations . . . of athousand different types. . . . Nothing, in my view,deserves more attention.”

The Progressive Era, during which so many of thetwentieth century’s voluntary civic associations werecreated, coincided with the last great wave of immi-gration to the United States (almost twenty-sevenmillion newcomers arrived between 1870 and1920). Some of these associations (for example, thesettlement houses) were intended to assist immigrantintegration. Others were created by immigrantsthemselves. Not all were related to or favorabletoward newcomers. But clearly the explosion of cre-ativity in civic life was associated with the dramaticdemographic and accompanying economic changestaking place in America at the time.

We may well be in the midst of another such explo-sion in civic creativity. There is no denying that rap-idly increasing diversity has stretched our social

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fabric. Discrimination, injustice, and miscommuni-cation across cultures create cynicism and isolationthat can be passed to future generations.Immigrants face formidable structural barriers toparticipation, in particular long working hours, lowpay, and lack of formal education slowing theiracquisition of English. The post–September 11,2001, political climate has severely set back new-comer integration.

But stressful times can stimulate social inventiveness.From local community activism to electoral cam-paigns, immigrants at the beginning of the new cen-tury are participating in civic life in ways that are asdynamic and diverse as the newcomers themselves.

Foundations and Civic Participation

Strong community organizations with well-designedprograms serve as the crucial portal of engagementfor these newcomers, organizations built upon thedemocratic belief that sustainable social improve-ment can be achieved only when those experiencingproblems are involved in learning how to solvethem. In the country’s changing demographic land-scape, such institutions have drawn increasing inter-est from foundations with many priorities.

• Foundations with categorical interests inimprovement of health, education, youth,employment, and other key issues are successful-ly using strategies of active engagement (parentsin their children’s schools, health promotoras inthe community) to achieve positive outcomes.

• Foundations seeking systemic policy reform inthese areas are finding immigrant civic partici-pants to be important allies who care greatlyabout the issues and play an important role inwinning policy change.

• Foundations with interest in improving inter-group relations, building community, and reviv-ing civic life are actively involving ourforeign-born population (11 percent and grow-ing), drawing on their strengths and assets toaddress these persistent community challenges.

• Foundations devoted to the preservation of work-er, civil, and human rights are augmenting theirefforts by engaging immigrants in the struggle,promoting both the responsibilities and the rightsof newcomer participation in community life.

• A growing number of foundations interested inimproving social conditions of any kind are rec-ognizing that communities at large as well asnewcomers have a stake in immigrant civic par-ticipation; they are realizing that, in the absenceof engagement and integration, the isolation ofnewcomers can only lead to greater problems.

• Irrespective of funding priorities, many founda-tions are increasingly recognizing immigrantsand refugees as a key population to which theymust respond. Many are asking important ques-tions about how grantee organizations are engag-ing newcomers in their work and integrating thisgrowing population into the broader community.

Foundations with historic interest in newcomershave led the way in supporting civic participation.For example, the Hyams Foundation’s commitmentto immigrants and refugees goes back to its originsin the 1930s, when one of the Hyams sisters starteda settlement house in East Boston modeled onChicago’s Hull House.

Hyams developed the Immigrant and RefugeeLeadership Development Initiative (IRLDI), with aspecial focus on immigrant communities within itscivic participation and community organizing port-folio. The initiative’s ultimate aim is “to build poweramong immigrants and refugees in order to improvethe lives of immigrants in Boston through greateraccess to services, sustainable employment, afford-able housing, and other areas critical to create athriving community.”

To reach this goal, IRLDI sought to build the capac-ity of immigrant-led organizations to strengthenleadership in immigrant communities. Civic partici-pation is both an intended outcome and a strategicapproach of the initiative.

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The initiative’s guiding principles for participatingorganizations include development of leaders com-mitted to civic participation, broad demonstrationof the benefits of civic participation, inclusion intraining of experiential opportunities to exerciseleadership, involvement of emerging leaders inplanning and implementing projects, equal inclu-sion of participants from varying educational andeconomic backgrounds, and exploration of cultur-al barriers to (and opportunities in) leadershipdevelopment.

Similar principles guided the initiative’s work withparticipating organizations. Building capacitythrough engagement, IRLDI asked each of the sixoriginal grantees (representing Chinese, Latino,Somali, and Vietnamese constituents) to developits own capacity-building work plan involvingboard and staff members. Consultants, acting asorganizers, facilitated this collective internalwork, helping to build relationships, participation,and ownership, modeling leadership developmentas staff and board leaders developed. The consul-tant-organizers played the same role in drawingthe six organizations together for collaborativelearning sessions.

IRLDI’s first phase, from 2000 through 2002,focused on the internal leadership development andorganizational change necessary to engage and buildgrassroots community leaders. In 2003, phase twoturned attention to constituent leadership develop-ment. Hyams, which has committed $450,000 tothe initiative, is building from this experience totackle a next challenge: recruitment and retention oforganizers of color.

Learning Together

Backed by grant-making organizations such asHyams, civic participation organizations are builtupon the democratic belief that sustainable socialimprovement can be achieved only when those expe-riencing problems are involved in learning how tosolve them.

Through the experience of making and implementingplans together, immigrants educate themselves,developing skills and knowledge, and building self-esteem, individual voice, and personal identity. Asthey learn, participants deepen their analyses ofproblems, while sharpening and strengthening theirstrategies of solution. The group working this year tostop the closing of the local health clinic will be nego-tiating the budget with city council next year, andregistering voters and campaigning for statewidereform of health care delivery the year after that.

Civic participation organizations also work intention-ally to help newcomers build trusting relationshipswith those from different backgrounds. When theCommunity Coalition for Substance Abuse Preventionand Treatment was started in South Los Angeles in1990 by Karen Bass, an African American who hadgrown up in the neighborhood, two things were clear.The coalition wanted to build a base of membershipthrough neighborhood organizing, knocking ondoors. Coalition members knew that the people open-ing those doors represented a dynamically changingdemographic: longtime African American residents,joined by an increasing number of newcomers, amongthem Latinos from Mexico and Central America andblacks from Central America and the Caribbean.

The issue that first drew these diverse residentstogether—reduction in the number of “nuisance”motels and liquor stores in their neighborhoods—was further complicated by ethnic relations. At thetime, many of the motels were owned by Pakistanis,many of the liquor stores by Koreans. Some blackresidents viewed Korean merchants as ruthless. (Thethen-recent killing of a young African American bya Korean merchant, and the subsequent acquittal ofthe perpetrator, had enraged the community.) SomeLatinos hired by local merchants felt exploited.

To get beyond emotion to analysis, beyond race tosystemic issues, a great deal of education of the mul-ticultural membership was necessary. Membersstudied the history of the neighborhood: as blacks

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had first entered South Los Angeles, it was theirbusinesses that current residents wanted to closedown. Latino workers were reminded that they werealso exploited by Latino employers. Economicanalysis enabled members to understand that amotel making a marginal profit might be tempted torent rooms by the hour; a liquor store in a similarsituation might be tempted to sell alcohol to minors.

Broad outreach and adaptability were also neces-sary. Before launching its campaign, to minimizeethnic tensions the coalition created a task forcewith Asian leadership in the city. The morning afterthe task force held its first meeting, Los Angeleserupted into the flames of civil unrest that followedthe Rodney King verdicts. Once the smoke settled,the goal of the campaign evolved into providingalternatives to rebuilding. Coalition membersworked with owners and the city to develop incen-tives, including waiving fees (as much as $100,000)for connection to the sewage system for liquor storesthat would reopen as laundromats.

Not every issue taken on by the coalition has suc-cessfully drawn immigrants and African Americanstogether. Karen Bass cautions that, even if the issueis right, constant attention must be paid to counterdiscriminatory attitudes. Latinos don’t tend to thinkof Caribbeans as immigrants, for example, andAfrican Americans don’t tend to think of them asblacks. As they work together, she says, “Peopleneed to learn the facts about race, racism, anddemographics.” These topics, along with economicand social analyses of Los Angeles, constitute theevolving popular education program that the coali-tion couples with its organizing campaigns.

Raising the Barn

Americans have two dominant cultural met-aphors for our democracy. One is the town hallmeeting, where our ancestors gathered to deliber-ate and make public decisions. The image carriesan implication of cultural homogeneity; peopleparticipated because their grandparents had. Butif your grandparents grew up in the mountains ofLaos, and mine in the mountains of Mexico, whatthen?

The metaphor for American cultural diversity is thebarn raising. On the frontier, people who had comefrom many backgrounds gathered to build oneanother’s barns. I was motivated to help you becauseI needed your help on my barn. Together, we raisedgood barns. We also learned how to build barns,and we learned to know one another through theshared experience.

Newcomer civic participation is barn-raisingdemocracy. The problem the immigrant wants tosolve motivates participation in collective problemsolving. Together, civic participants improve com-munity conditions. Through the shared experience,they educate themselves and build trusting relation-ships with one another, becoming a part of thebroader society.

A few fundamental principles are in play:

• Engagement is paramount. Newcomers areencouraged to engage in all aspects of communi-ty problem solving.

• Participation starts where the newcomer starts.More than likely, this begins with working onissues that affect their daily lives, not in a votingbooth or a political campaign (though electionsare the way to get there).

• Education informs all. Learning is at the core ofprogram design.

• Relationship matters. Building relationships withpeople from different backgrounds is a centralprogram component.

Civic participation organizations are built upon thedemocratic belief that sustainable social improve-ment can be achieved only when those experiencingproblems are involved in learning how to solve them.

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Democracy is its own integrating force, and thecommunity organizations putting these principlesinto action represent democracy at work. The glob-al conditions that have changed the country’sdemography so dramatically are not going away. Asthis change continues, simultaneously testing ourideals and increasing our assets, foundations withmany interests have reason to consider investment innewcomer civic participation.

N O T E S

Capps, R., Fix, M. E., and Passel, J. S. “The Dispersal ofImmigrants in the 1990s.” Washington, D.C.: UrbanInstitute, 2003.

Dickerson, L. “Perspectives: Bring in the Immigrants.”Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 27, 2001. (www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20010527dicker9.asp) AccessedOct. 5, 2004.

Gorden, D. “Legislative Melting Pot.” State Legislatures,July–Aug. 2002, p. 48.

Grogan, P., and Proscio, T. Comeback Cities: A Blueprint forNeighborhood Revival. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press,2000.

“The Immigrant and Refugee Leadership DevelopmentInitiative: Proposal for Phase II.” (Proposal to HyamsFoundation.) Management Consulting Services, Apr. 2003,p. 1.

“Mobilizing the Vote: Latinos and Immigrants in the 2002Midterm Election.” Washington, D.C.: National Council ofLa Raza , 2003.

National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences.The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and FiscalEffects of Immigration. Washington, D.C.: NationalAcademy Press, 1997.

“The Power of New Voices.” Sacramento: PICO CaliforniaProject of the Pacific Institute for Community Organization,2003.

Putnam, R. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival ofAmerican Community. New York: Simon and Schuster,2000.

Riley, M. “Yuma’s Invisible Line: Newcomers BringDiversity But Fuel Fears.” Denver Post, Apr. 14, 2002.

Sum, A., Fogg, N., and Harrington, P. Immigrant Workersand the Great American Job Machine: The Contribution ofNew Foreign Immigration to National and Regional LaborForce Growth in the 1990s. Boston: Center for LaborMarket Studies at Northeastern University, 2002.

Tocqueville, A. de. Democracy in America. Garden City,N.Y.: Doubleday. 1969. I am indebted to Pia Moriarty ofCultural Initiatives Silicon Valley for the insight.

2002 American Community Survey. U.S. Census Bureau.(http://www.census.gov/acs/www/)

Craig McGarvey is a consultant who works with founda-tions. He received the 2001 Robert W. Scrivner Award forCreative Grantmaking from the Council on Foundations forwork supporting immigrant civic participation inCalifornia’s Great Central Valley.

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