In 2025, the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research and Policy (III-RP) will spotlight the theme of social integration: Engineering an Inclusive Society. Mark the event dates below on your calendars! Each event will examine models and interventions by different actors that foster trust, access, sense of belonging, community connectedness, social capital, and peaceful communities.
Local government that can employ inclusive governance increases citizens’ trust, builds resilient communities, and promotes social well-being and cohesion. United, organized, and well-connected communities overcome challenges, strengthen social capital, leverage their human capital and assets productively, and avoid waste and gaps associated with disconnected and fragmented communities. Governments expect to govern (a) responsibly by including immigrant social integration goals in their strategic and implementation plans, conducting regular needs assessments of their communities, communicating inclusive messages about the value immigrants bring; (b) collaboratively by including members of the immigrant community in planning, developing, implementing and evaluating their strategic and operational plans; (c) equitably by ensuring the institutionalization of mechanisms through which the needs of immigrant members of the community are addressed and instituting policies and practices that protect them from exploitation and discrimination; and (d) accountably by monitoring, evaluating and auditing the implementation of policies and practices to root out any exclusionary approaches. The webinar features theoretical and applied models of inclusive governance.
As the nation faces a backlash against immigration and with the rise of national populist and nativist rhetoric that threatens to deepen divisions, fear, and distance between foreign-born and native-born community members, models that combat such divisions are more important than ever. These interventions bridge the gaps and repair fissures. They seek to cultivate a mutual understating of the ties that bind, deconstruct stereotypes, and illuminate the shared humanity and shared futures. The webinar showcases models that intentionally build connected and integrated communities and activate skills of empathy and altruism. These models combat exclusionary narratives and promote social unity and cohesion. They strengthen social capital and fortify support networks. Replication and scaling up of these models are explored.
Political, social, and economic upheaval experienced in many parts of the world led to the displacement of many young children and their families and their arrival to the U.S. seeking protection and stability. Educational systems in New York State are consistently confronted with the challenge of integrating refugees, asylees, and other immigrant children and fortifying mechanisms to ensure their success. This webinar discusses lessons learned around the country and the world in integrating immigrant children into educational systems. Speakers will tackle various questions including what institutional arrangements facilitate or hinder immigrant children’s success. What are the best practices for increasing capacity for English language learning and bilingual education? Additionally, the pre-migration experiences of children who have been exposed to trauma and armed conflict mandate attention to their mental health prevention and treatment. Models of school interventions that can facilitate social and mental well-being for immigrant children are examined.
There is no doubt that the multicultural workplace is here to stay. The inability to cross cultural divides and employ a multicultural lens in understanding immigrant employees can hinder their access, survival, and advancement in the workplace. What can workplaces do to ensure the social integration of their foreign-born workers? What skills do native and foreign-born workers need to thrive in a multicultural workplace? It is often said that immigrant workers “show up differently” and those differences can create misunderstanding and unfair disadvantage. What are the best practices to create a socially integrated workplace?
In partnership with several immigrant-serving community-based organizations, the Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy started collecting data on social integration in the Fall of 2024. The survey seeks to gauge the perspectives of immigrant New Yorkers in each of the ten New York State regions on several dimensions of psychosocial integration including (a) sense of connectedness; (b) navigational integration; (c) English proficiency; (d) sense of support; (e) resiliency; (f) self-concept; (f) context of reception; (g) multicultural orientation and (h) wellbeing. In this webinar, researchers will share the findings of the study and discuss recommendations for policy and practice to address gaps and leverage opportunities for increasing social integration for foreign-born New Yorkers in the State.
