ICA Denver's Paper on Immigration

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                                                                ICA Denver
                                                 Concept Paper for Proposed Partnership in Colorado
                                         Concerning Immigrant Integration and Refugee Resettlement

Introduction
Immigrant integration (including refugee resettlement) is a high profile issue in Colorado about which a variety of governmental initiatives are under consideration. How do we develop thoughtful and sensible policies for integrating immigrants into our population? This issue is one where we find Coloradans much divided. Addressing policy alone will not make the changes that are now urgent. Local action is required.

The ICA Denver (ICA-Denver) is interested in working with organizations, government, and communities to help build broad areas of consensus that can form the basis for effective action in addressing the issues of immigrant integration and refugee resettlement, as well as the concern for national security at the local level. Experience has shown that “action-based consensus” provides a basis for solving problems in communities.

To overcome the divisiveness that is evident in Colorado around immigrant integration issues, four significant challenges need to be overcome:

1.Identifying common entrenched images that sustain behaviors we need to change in order to successfully deal with the realities concerning immigrant integration and perceptions of breaches to national security in Colorado.
2.Changing our behaviors to embrace diversity while at the same time taking reasonable steps to address potential threats to public safety and the well being of all Coloradans.
3.Minimizing the adverse effects of immigration and national security policies that ignore the realities on the ground by working together with local communities, governments, and industry.
4.Creating collaborative models that bring together many entities to act efficiently and effectively to help Coloradans resolve immigrant (and refugee) integration and public safety issues.

These four challenges require that we, as a society, understand that change is no longer simply an option for the faraway future, but is an imperative requiring action now. If communities throughout Colorado and the United States plan and act with imagination and creativity, we may find that a future that better accommodates the needs of immigrants and local communities will be more desirable than the discord that is commonplace right now.

ICA Denver facilitators bring a wide breadth of knowledge and experience to facilitating diverse groups in a wide variety of contexts. Although ICA-Denver facilitators are not consultants that bring expert analysis to bear on substantive issues, they are skilled at eliciting the full range of perspectives and wisdom from the groups with whom they work. Communities are encouraged to bring in necessary substantive expertise to educate and advise them of possible avenues to pursue. After education, however, comes the opportunity for action. Here, ICA-Denver excels in its capacity to apply useful processes to help communities wrap their arms around difficult, complex issues, forge consensus, and take effective action.

Immigrant Integration and Refugee Resettlement in Colorado
In the past thirty years, hundreds of thousands of people have come to Colorado seeking refuge, work, and a better life. In Denver alone, the 2000 census tabulated approximately 140,000 first, second, and third generation immigrants who spoke a foreign language in the home. Each major war contributed a group. Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians came after the Vietnam War. Bosnians, Serbs, and Kosovars came after the war in Yugoslavia. Now Africans, Iraqis, and Afghans are fleeing wars in their countries.

There are also large numbers of economic immigrants coming from Latin America seeking work and a way to support their families back home. A few thousands of these are documented, but the vast majority, estimated at 15 million in the U.S. and perhaps 100,000 in Colorado, come as undocumented workers.   Many come for the harvesting season in agricultural areas and then leave. In tourist areas in the mountains, large numbers of immigrants work in hotels and restaurants during the ski season. Over the years, many of these undocumented workers have quietly settled into communities throughout the state of Colorado.

Dislocations and misunderstandings can develop when groups of people from different backgrounds, languages, and cultures attempt to integrate. In general, however, it is remarkable that succeeding waves of immigrant integration in Colorado have caused so little disruption. That is, until recently.

Fueled by fear and anger in the wake of the 9-11 attacks, many communities have become less hospitable to foreign workers. Critics claim that this wave of “illegal immigrants” puts pressure on social services, schools, and medical facilities. Others claim that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, fill a crucial need for workers in the agricultural and service sectors, and clearly generate tax revenues beyond their costs in services.

This discussion has grown in volume and vitriol.   In response, the Colorado legislature has passed some of the most restrictive laws in the nation. Enforcement and arrests are on the rise. Agricultural and tourist communities are experiencing a substantial drop in available workers.

How ICA-Denver Can Help Address This Major Issue

Local communities that are interested in resolving the issues around positive immigrant integration will find that the ICA Denver has effective tools for dialogue and action planning. ICA-Denver and the Institute of Cultural Affairs (its former parent organization) have a proven track record of working with multicultural groups, facilitating communication based on objective information, and the sharing of opinions in a format that engenders mutual respect. Groups find and implement their own solutions using the wisdom of all participants. Examples of previous work with multicultural groups are listed in the appendix.

Specific Services

1.Facilitation Services
ICA-Denver is known for its expertise in facilitation. Collectively, ICA-Denver associates have rich and expansive experience working with diverse, multicultural groups around the world.   They employ methods that release personal insights, form meaningful conclusions, and build resolve for action. Using proven methods to assist participants to reach sustainable agreements, ICA-Denver facilitates consensus building based on the premise that consensus-based agreements result in commitment to action.

Associates apply image analysis to identify images that dampen creativity and innovation and block individuals and communities from achieving their desired outcomes. Utilizing this process, the Institute of Cultural Affairs and ICA-Denver associates have designed programs that have been replicated across and among communities in many parts of the world. They have trained partner agency personnel, communities, and individuals assuring quality and effective applications of consensus principles. In addition, the Institute of Cultural Affairs’ Imaginal Education design process has been taught in several universities across the U.S. and abroad.

2.Participatory Methods Training
ICA-Denver conducts training in methods of active participation. Through the Technology of Participation^® (ToP^®) courses, ICA-Denver has locally trained hundreds of individuals and teams, including community leaders, youth leaders, nonprofit service providers, government and business employees in effective group methods. Associates also provide on-the-job mentoring and coaching while designing and implementing community planning sessions. Through its international affiliations, ICA-Denver is able to provide facilitators from around the world to best suit the needs of its partners and clients.

Potential Programs
Need to add a section here - i.e. what would ICA Denver’s help look like?

Recent ICA-Denver Programmatic Work

ICA-Denver partnered with Mercy Housing’s Refugee Services division during 2007 and early 2008 to provide three Community Safety Leadership Training programs for residents in their affordable housing apartment complexes. The training had two objectives: 1) to familiarize refugees with common safety practices to protect their families and enhance life-safety in their living environments; and 2) to promote positive interaction between the refugees and their neighbors. The training sessions included refugees from several different African countries, Afghanistan, Burma, and Myanmar, as well as African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Anglo residents. To overcome language barriers, much of the curriculum was reinforced via role play and visual props that helped everyone to actively engage in the training regardless of English proficiency.

In the spring through the fall of 2008, ICA-Denver colleagues helped facilitate a series of neighborhood dialogues through which participants reached consensus in identifying key neighborhood values, incorporated a variety of hard data and expert opinions related to current trends in the housing market, and developed action plans in four areas:
1) increasing housing options for a diverse community; 2) strengthening the neighborhood through enhancing resident and business connections; 3) creating and strengthening neighborhood interactions; and 4) shaping and influencing public policy to reflect neighborhood values..

§From the fall of 2004 through the spring of 2005, local ICA-Denver colleagues partnered with Rocky Mountain Mutual Housing Association to conduct the East Montclair-Lowry Neighborhood Academy. Academy participants lived in the RMMHA affordable housing community and surrounding neighborhood. They learned ToP® facilitation skills which they used to facilitate neighborhood meetings. They successfully brought neighborhood residents and government officials together to improve the safety of a dangerous intersection near the affordable apartment complex.

§ICA-Denver hosts a regular film series and an occasional book study group including facilitated conversations. Films are chosen for their portrayal of diverse cultural values and/or unique cultural gifts and struggles. Books are recommended by study participants. The most recent book we studied was Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.

§During 2007 and 2008, eight public ToP^® group facilitation and strategic planning courses were held and eighty-eight graduates were provided with methods for effective group facilitation, including training in Spanish. There are four additional public courses scheduled for 2009. Two new ToP^® trainers were qualified in October of 2008, expanding the number of active local trainers to seven.

Results of ToP Methods Applied to Immigration/Refugee Issues in Other Locations
Appendix of previous work with multi-cultural groups (mentioned above in yellow highlight) is missing - this might be the info from use of ToP with I/R Issues from other locations.

Insert data from interviews/emails from colleagues.