Controversy has erupted at recent amateur sporting events in Canadian cities over the wearing of the hijab by young female athletes. Newspaper reports tell stories of soccer teams forfeiting the right to play because of the coach’s refusal to withdraw hijab-wearing team members. In another instance, young champions of tae kwan do were ejected from a martial arts tournament for the same reason.

While soccer and martial arts officials cite safety concerns, many call the ejections racist and intolerant of the religious and cultural differences of immigrants in a secular and multicultural society.

In Montreal, a 26 year-old University of Montreal graduate and industrial designer named Elham Seyed Javad decided to focus on the needs of the ebullient, competitive young athletes rather than issues of religious accommodation.

According to Seyed Javad, “Your beliefs shouldn’t prevent you from playing sports.”

Seyed Javad has designed a sleek sports hijab which fits tightly around the head and is part of a sports shirt underneath, solving the problem of untucked ends of fabric that could cause injury. As a Muslim who does not herself wear a hijab, Seyed Javad emphasizes that her “Resport” design is more than a hijab; it can be used by any athlete, male or female, who needs to keep their hair protected during sport activities. Her choice of name, “Resport” is a wordplay combining ’sport’ and ‘respect.’

A number of schools in Montreal have endorsed the use of a safe hijab in sport because it helps ensure that all kids are involved in this important part of a typical Canadian education.

In the face of a volatile recent debate in Quebec on reasonable accomodation, Salam Elmenyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, finds such sporting and practical reactions encouraging. “I think its a normalization of wearing the hijab by having the institutions offer it,” he comments.

It lets girls be girls.

Source: “Sports hijab aims to be game-changer,” by Andrew Chung. The Toronto Star, November 12, 2009.

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The National League of Cities (NLC) is the largest organization in the US focused on promoting cities as centres of opportunity, leadership and governance. With a membership of over 19,000 US cities and towns, the NLC new immigrant integration program has plans to make a big impact. 

In August 2009, just one year after the launch of the Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration (MAII) project, the NLC rolled out new pilot programs in a push to promote civic engagement and naturalization among immigrant communities. Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Littleton, Colorado, are the first two cities in an ambitious national plan.

The MAII program has two components: the NewCITYzen Naturalization Campaign and the CITYzenship Community Initiative.

The NewCITYzen Naturalization Campaign highlights the benefits of naturalization, including voting rights and provides the pilot cities with a campaign toolkit.  This includes outreach material and public service announcement to help launch naturalization campaigns.

The program’s CITYzenship Community Initiative helps cities develop an action plan for managing immigrant integration challenges, as well as define a strategy to increase immigrant outreach in advance of the upcoming 2010 Census.

The City of Fort Wayne has a population of nearly 250,000 residents, nearly six percent of whom are foreign born.  Over the past decade, Fort Wayne has become home to the largest population of Burmese refugees in the US, increasing the need for immigrant services in the city. The MAII pilot will also provide technical assistance and training to Forty Wayne’s new Hispanic and Immigrant Liaison.

In Littleton, nearly nine percent of the city’s 43,000 are foreign born. Littleton will be using NewCITYzen Naturalization Campaign materials to promote the idea of naturalization in the immigrant community, and will also receive technical assistance to prepare for Census 2010.

Cities of Migration will be watching both of these cities and reporting back to you on the success of these initiatives. We will also be profiling some great ideas from the city Indianapolis where a comprehensive immigrant integration campaign is paying big dividends for the city. 

For more information, see the NLC MAII Indianapolis case study and updates here at Cities of Migration.

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The Grand Cafe

At Cities of Migration, we’re always looking for examples of good integration ideas that have been replicated and are travelling from city-to-city. The recent news that the US Census Bureau is making strategic use of telenovelas (soap operas) is a fantastic, and unexpected,  example.

Earlier this year, we featured, “A Soap Opera For Success: The Grand Cafe Telenovela,“  about a vocational training initiative for immigrant women developed by the organization C.E.O. Women in Oakland, California. 

The Grand Cafe is a telenovela written and filmed by C.E.O. Women as a way to teach immigrant women practical entrepreneurial know-how and basic English skills. The telenovela is a hugely popular form of melodramatic television series from Latin America.

Hispanics now surpass African Americans as the largest minority group in many U.S. states and are the majority ethnic group in cities like Los Angeles and Oakland, California (Census, 2000). Media analysts report that roughly sixty percent of Hispanics in all age groups watch an average of 2.5 telenovela episodes (2.5 hours) per week. Research also suggests that  telenovelas can be useful vehicles to transmit information on a range of issues –from health-related issues to adult education and vocational training.

Now the US Census Bureau is also taking its message to the telenovela by adopting this innovative approach for its 2010 Census campaign.  The telenova was identified as an effective way convey information and build trust among the Hispanic community, a group that has been wary of the census process in the past.  In addition to the typical public service announcement and advertisements, the Census Bureau is having their message of, “Don’t be afraid to be counted” incorporated into the popular Spanish telenovela, “The Devil Knows Best,”  broadcast by the Telemundo network.

What dramatic character plays the messenger?  Ms. Perla Beltran is a young widow in New York City who’s down on her luck. Her husband, a thief, was just murdered and she’s living on the “wrong side of the tracks” until her life takes a turn when she decides to become a recruiter for the US Census Bureau. Tune in for more!

An additional twist on this story is the business angle. The campaign’s partnership with Telemundo is not merely about civic participation.  Higher Hispanic participation is also likely to mean more advertising revenue for Telemundo and other Spanish language networks over time. We’ll be watching how this initiative and Ms. Perla’s story both play out.

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Cities of Migration tells stories about immigrants settling into urban neighbourhoods and new workplaces. We also tell stories about host communities that welcome newcomers with simple gestures, clear messages, open institutions and inclusive city spaces.

In December, Cities of Migration celebrates its first anniversary with a report card of success!

Our collection of Good Ideas in Integration is growing and so is our audience. We are adding new cities and new ideas all the time - from older gateway cities like London, Montreal, New York, and Frankfurt to rising new capitals like Auckland and Copenhagen to emerging centres of migration like Vancouver, Turin and Dublin.

With the support of our Good Idea network and our partners, Cities of Migration has travelled the world and been able to go from “beta” to sharing city stories at the United Nations Head Quarters in New York City.

Global recognition has also meant global participation. We use smart IT and our virtual Learning Exchange to bring you webinars featuring new ideas and lively Q&A with thought leaders from global cities. City-to city connections with no carbon footprint!

How we work for you and your cities:

• Over 60 profiles from over 40 cities in our Good Ideas in Integration collection. We are aiming for 100, so please send your Good Ideas in Integration to citiesofmigration@maytree.com.
• Archived webinars - events are available for post-event viewing on topics like: Civic engagement, Faith-based integration, Mentoring for work and daily life, Youth and migrant voice,  Ethnic health and Municipal planning for integration.
• Integration News Updates from cities, migration networks and institutions -updated weekly, sometimes daily! 
• Online library. Our best-kept secret. Over 450 downloadable resources to provide context and info about great ideas in urban integration. 
• Our 2nd best kept secret - read about Good Ideas in FRENCH and GERMAN .

But there is much more to come.

This month, we are re-launching Conversations in Integration, a new e-zine with articles, interviews, news and an array of other international multimedia content.

Looking ahead!

As a real step forward, Cities of Migration will host its first international conference next year! In October  2010, join us in The Hague for the first In International Cities of Migration Conference. Co-located with the 15th International Metropolis, the event brings together international city leaders and migration experts for an open discussion about one of the most important global challenges facing cities today, the integration of urban migrants to our cities. Conference details will be available soon.

Thank you again for your interest and support of our work. We always welcome your comments and feedback citiesofmigration@maytree.com  and look forward to hearing your suggestions.

All the best for the coming year from Cities of Migration!

Kim Turner, Project Lead
Reva Seth, Communications
Evelyn Siu, Coordination

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Duisburg, Germany

Cities of Migration profiles innovative ways in which today’s cities are dealing with rapid urbanization, global migration and the challenges of good immigrant integration. Tomorrow’s prosperous cities recognize immigration as an opportunity to access skills, recruit talent and compete globally. With the vision and good sense to know that success takes time, they use smart practices and strategic planning to ensure immigrants are welcomed and integrated into the life of the city.

In recent weeks Switzerland has voted in favour of a binding referendum to ban the building of any ‘more’ minarets on mosques in Switzerland. There are currently four minarets in Switzerland. The Muslim population is approximately four percent.

Denmark and other EU countries have announced cash incentives to entice immigrants who “can’t” or “won’t assimilate” to return to their homelands (although how they intend to judge this status remains unclear).

However, notwithstanding national policies and sentiment, cities seem to march to their own tune. Some of our Good Ideas come from places that may surprise you.  In the Canton of Zurich for example, has mandated a Quality in Multi-ethnic Schools program (QUIMS) to prevent newcomer children from being disadvantaged.  For example, in Chicago innovative banking products help build a new customer base by allowing religious communities to become home owners. Simple solutions include school-based programming for new families in Frankfurt where mothers and children learn language skills together, and a culturally sensitive health promotion campaign in London for communities dealing with high levels of diabetes.

Ironically, we found some great ideas in Denmark:  a women’s leadership network building bridges to immigrant success through mentoring partnerships, and Copenhagen’s environmentally friendly cycling program for its newest citizens.

Other Good Ideas include a community-wide consultation in Duisberg, Germany, that successfully concluded with the building of the beautiful new Marxloh Mosque — with a minaret “no taller” than the local church bell tower. In northern Germany, the city of Rheine has adopted a policy of openness to religious and cultural differences to offset the alienation that intolerance creates –and the community cohesion it disrupts. Open doors means open communities, whether the institutions are secular or religious.

So as we can see, there are alternatives to banning minarets.

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With world leaders gathered in Copenhagen to discuss climate change at the COP15 Summit, it’s time to think about environmental issues closer to home.

In New York City, municipal officials have launched a program that encourages immigrants and newcomers to use city parks, a first step toward developing a broad consensus on the importance of our green spaces and how they contribute to individual well-being as well as the health of our cities.

In San Francisco, PODER’s “Immigrant Power for Environmental Health & Justice Initiative” took on the city over the heavy traffic pollution in low-income and immigrant neighbourhoods. They succeeded in requiring the city to plan for environmental justice and galvanized a vibrant, informed community lobby for future action in the process.

In Auckland, Project Twin Streams brings together diverse groups around the shared goal of restoring and reclaiming local streams, the “lifeblood of the planet.”

And let’s not forget Copenhagen’s very own  environmentally friendly cycling program for its newest citizens -and the genius of simple solutions to daunting challenges!

Do you have a good idea, local project or city program about engaging newcomers on environmental issues? Tell us about it!  Email us at citiesofmigration@maytree.com.

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Ping Chen, University of Helsinki

As a result of increased international cooperation between universities, the number of foreign degree students in Helsinki and across Finland has grown. Currently, Finland has 11,000 international degree students and aims to increase this to 20,000 students by 2010. Finland’s total national population is just over 5 million.

Attracting international talent is the first step.  Retention is the next. The VALOA project, led by Career Services at the University of Helsinki,  has joined 19 other universities, city councils and entrepreneur organizations to create a framework to transition these students into the local market. The project is starting in the Helsinki metropolitan area in late 2009 and will specifically targets small and medium size enterprises that are internationalizing and growing.

The tools being used include training university teaching and guidance staff to promote international students into the Finnish job market, an employers tool kit that will include practical tools to make obtaining permits and contracts simple as well as resources on guiding an international university student into a new job. The project will also be actively working to to do its part to promote their work and help make the attitude of local society more welcoming to newcomers overall.

For more information, contact: Paivi Jyry, Project Manager, Career Services, University of Helsinki at firstname.lastname@helsinki.fi.

Some of the greatest cultural integration challenges happen inside the home and between generations. For many immigrant parents, the idea of sex education for children is not just foreign, its taboo.

“Many newcomers have this impression from the media that Canada is a very open place and kids are taught about sex at a young age and so are encouraged to have sex,” says Anda Li, Toronto Public Health sexual educator and administrator. “These parents get a letter about sex education at their child’s school and they don’t know what the teachers are going to tell their kids. And it it so difficult for them to ask because sex is such a taboo in their cultures.”

Breaking down these barriers is the goal of the Toronto Public Health’s Raising Sexually Healthy Children Peer Parent Leadership Training Program. The results are worth it. “Raising sexually healthy kids can reduce sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy and even gay bashing,” says Li. “If young people are going to engage in sexual activities anyway, we should talk about it openly, so they know how to protect themselves and how to say no.”

To date, over 106 parents form seven cultural communities have graduated from the program and become Parent Mentors in their community Julie Wang, one of the graduates, now runs a Mandarin speaking workshop where she answers questions for parents about everything from masturbation to contraception and helps answer questions that other immigrants parents have but are too uncomfortable to ask.  Recent funding has made it possible for graduating parents to deliver 52 series of workshops around the city.

Toronto Public Health acknowledges the input of the Ethno-Specific Family Sex Education Peer Parent Leader Coalition representing Bengali, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil and Vietnamese communities. For more information, contact: Toronto Health Connection at the City of Toronto.

Ricardo Gambetta, Manager of Immigrant Integration Programs at the National League of Cities, shared this green project with us, a “Good Idea We Are Watching:”

Park officials, city planners and immigrant advocates are exploring opportunities to increase usage of city parks among local immigrant communities and seeking ways to incorporate these new residents into the traditional public parks system. This is especially critical given that minority and immigrant children experience high rates of obesity. The opportunity for physical activity provided by city parks can help to increase fitness and reduce obesity among immigrants.

Public parks are one of the most important assets in cities, and parks facilities should be available to all residents. One of the challenges faced by new immigrants is the lack of awareness regarding city services, which might explain their limited use of city parks and facilities in some cities.

In addition to providing health benefits and recreational activities, experts agree that city parks play an important role in the immigrant integration process. The key question is: how should city parks adapt to the recent demographic changes in their communities?

For the last few years several cities have been trying to answer that important question. For example, a 1993 study focuses on Boulder, Colo. The City of Chicago and the University of Chicago published a similar report in 1987, and the City of Indianapolis Parks Department published another study on the same topic in 2004. Most of these studies and reports show that immigrant populations represent a traditionally underserved group in the public parks system.

The New York City Parks Department recently published a report on this topic, entitled “Parks for All New Yorkers: Immigrants, Culture, and NYC Parks.” The study was the result of a public and private partnership of several organizations and was funded by New Yorkers for Parks.

The report states that ethnic and cultural background has a decisive influence over an individual’s preferences regarding recreation. Changes in demographics bring changes in the popularity of different sports.

According to the report, parks are tools for immigrant communities and serve as gathering places for social activities and interaction with other groups and communities. While newcomers use and enjoy park facilities, they encounter some language barriers that limit this use.

Another finding is that it is important for parks officials to consider their diverse international population during the planning, development and implementation of potential parks programs. Finally, the New York report mentions the financial limitations faced by the parks department and the challenges regarding potential funding for some of the recommendations and proposals suggested in the study.

Recommendations to local parks and recreation departments from this study include: recognize the importance of outreach to local immigrant organizations; train parks staff in the areas of managing diversity and cultural competence; encourage the translation of important safety information; review food concessions to include a more diverse pool of vendors; and develop internal and external immigrant friendly parks policies.

“Parks for All New Yorkers: Immigrants, Culture, and NYC Parks” can be downloaded from the New Yorkers for Parks website.

Reprinted with permission of the National League of Cities (NLC). To learn more about NLC’s Municipal Action on Immigrant Integration (MAII)programs, contact Ricardo Gambetta at gambetta@nlc.org.

December 2009. Hello from Aotearoa New Zealand!

As we look back over the year, we can see that 2009 has been a big year for the arts as a way of communication among and between the diverse communities that share this land. Here is a small sample from our three largest cities:

Wellington: Mixing the mediums of writing, radio, film, photography and online media, Yunited Voicez is a youth media project based in Wellington. The November launch displayed the candid stories produced by participating young people from a wide variety of backgrounds through prints; short films; written stories; and audio recordings which will be played on Wellington Access Radio.

Also in Wellington, the Migrating Kitchen Trust re-staged their successful 2007 exhibition at the Pataka Gallery. Featuring a variety of ethnic communities, the exhibition celebrated food, families and festivals through an interactive visitor experience that provided a chance to step inside neighbours’ kitchens  to hear their stories, taste their food and take away their recipes.

Further south, the Christchurch Arts Festival brought together both local and international acts including Pacific Underground, who also contributed to the Samoan tsunami benefit concert ‘I Love The Islands’ and staged the world premiere of the Samoan comedy play ‘Angels’ this year.

In Auckland, Prayas Theatre group have produced annual productions showcasing fine contemporary Indian Theatre for a New Zealand audience since 2005. The 2009 production highlighted one of the more intimate challenges of migration to Auckland through the voice of a young and handsome man from Bombay. Young artists and performers from Auckland’s ethnic communities were invited to work with acclaimed UK string collective Urban Soul Orchestra in the British Council’s People in Your Neighbourhood project. Seen as a vehicle for intercultural collaboration in the arts, the project created a free downloadable album and performed live music shows in Auckland and at the WOMAD Festivalin Taranaki.

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An interview with Ricardo Gambetta, Manager, Immigrant Integration Programs at the US National League of Cities.

The National League of Cities is the oldest and largest national organisation representing municipal government in the United States. It works in partnership with 49 state municipal leagues, and advocates for more than 19,000 cities and towns than it represents.

Q1. Connecting global cities is one of the key goals of our project, Cities of Migration. What’s one of the most successful examples of cities partnering for change?

While several come to mind, I would really highlight the work that the municipal government in Boston has done. Boston was one of the first cities to effectively use partnerships with the private sector, with faith-based groups, community groups and others to both create and sustain a series of leading municipal programs that have subsequently been replicated in other cities. [Note: for a Cities of Migration profile, see Boston Backstreets Program]

In terms of partnering or working with each other, recent examples are the cities of Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Littleton, Colorado. In August 2009, we launched pilots in both these cities for our new program, the Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration (MAII) project. As both cities roll out MAII programs, they will be able to share with each other what they learned about what worked and even more importantly, what didn’t.

Q2. America is a nation of immigrants, its in its DNA. So why do we need a program like MAII? and why is is this important to the NLC?

At the National League of Cities (NLC), we are focused on connecting our 19,000 cities so that they can learn from one another. To support this, we provide them with networking opportunities and forums to exchange information as well as tools, sources and training to learn from one another about: what works and what doesn’t.

Really, we need programs and opportunities like this more than ever before. Immigration is no longer just something that happens in the the larger or coastal US cities. Today immigrants are coming to cities and towns of all sizes, many of which don’t have extensive experience in how to best integrate newcomers into the fabric of their community.

Since the national government has yet to provide cities with a national immigration policy, our hope is that by providing the tools as well as practical opportunities for learning and dialogue between cities, we can give Mayors and their offices some of that missing support.

Q3. What is your advice for an organisation or municipal government interested in partnership relationship like this?

To be successful you need to make sure that the Mayor’s office is fully on board and then make sure that you can get representatives from the private sector, from community organisations and any other sector all to the table.

What is essential is to bring them all to the table and to keep the lines of communication open. Which brings me to my next piece of advice: creating an effective partnerships ultimately just takes time and can’t really be rushed.

Q4. Your program, Municipal Action for Immigrant Integration (MAII) has joined efforts with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Can you tell us more about this partnership?

It began informally at the beginning of this year and it progressed from there. We see this partnership as both an indication of how serious this [Obama] administration is on the immigrant integration issue as well an an opportunity to have the federal government begin to work with municipal governments. This is an area that is federal in nature (i.e., the US immigration system) but is really being addressed municipally and locally.

Q5. What are the main issues that you see facing cities?

The main issue now is that although mid-sized and smaller cities all receive immigrants, they often have very few resources with which to create a successful environment for newcomer integration.

Q6. Could city partnerships help with this?

Yes certainly to a degree. Larger cities with longer histories of successfully being able to integrate immigrants can provide some guidance to cities that are just facing these questions today. The caveat is that the history, dynamics and resources of these cities and the new immigrant communities are often quite different.

Q7. What your favorite city - and why?

Well, I’m not going to choose from the cities in our network, so outside of the US…. Well, I’m still not going to choose just one, but I will say that Barcelona, Frankfurt and Copenhagen are all cities that I enjoy culturally. I have been very impressed with many of the programs they have.

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Whether it’s a church, temple, synagogue or mosque, religious institutions present challenges to those who are not part of that particular religious culture.

The unknown, here symbolized by the distinctive architecture of  religious buildings, can be intimidating.  Whether it is the unfamiliar, or an innate respect for another culture’s sacred spaces, most of us hesitate to enter unfamiliar religious buildings. As a non-member without an open invitation or reason to attend, or who is unfamiliar with the customs or the reception they might receive, most will just stay away. As a result, religious buildings can become barriers to intercultural connection in a community and symbols of division and difference.

In the German city of Rheine, municipal leaders realized that the local Muslim community was becoming increasingly insular and alienated from the larger community. The city instituted its “Open Mosques Against Prejudice Program” with the goal of eliminating prejudice and fear on both sides, and building trust and openess in their place. How?  by creating a two-way dialogue between Turkish Muslims, local Christians and the larger community.

Rheine is located on a historical trade route near the German/Netherlands border and has been a destination point for immigrants since early 20th century industrialization.  Currently, the largest groups of foreign born residents are from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia. Both these communities are primarily Muslim.  The city’s growing immigrant population is typical of Germany as a whole, which has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France, and has embraced a modern vision for itself as a “nation of immigrants.”

An Invitation to Participate

The City of Rheine directly approached the mosques in town to persuade the religious leaders to open their buildings and communities to all the residents in the city.

The request was a seemingly simple idea that achieved significant results and success.

With the support of the City, the mosques held “Open House” days for visitors from all parts of the community. Visitors learned the significance of the different religious ceremonies and heard about Islamic beliefs and cultures. In return, the Protestant and Catholic communities invited the Turkish community to participate at Christian church services  So successful was this intercultural exchange that In a couple of instances interreligious worship services were given jointly with the imam and priest.

Success

Opening up the local mosque allowed ordinary prejudices to be broken down built trust between the two communities. The program’s success prompted additional initiatives designed to deepen intercultural communication and strengthen connections between the various religious communities.

Local schools began celebrating Islamic holidays in the classroom, and invited all parents to attend in order to share the learning experience and further extend the integration opportunity. In other instance, a Christian-Islamic peace prayer was jointly organized and celebrated. Several mosques started printing copies of the Friday sermons in German to make their content accessible to the community at large - eliminating unsubstantiated fears about what was being preached within the mosque.

To build on grassroots community efforts, the Mayor’s office instituted a special relationship with the offices of the imams, reaching out to formally welcome and celebrate each new appointment. This inclusive attitude has now moved beyond just the Muslim and Christian communities. Most recently, Divali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, is being celebrated in Rheine by the town at large.

Ten years ago when Shiv became a Canadian citizen, it was the final step in what had been a long and emotional journey from leaving his home in Sri Lanka to relocating to Canada.

The ceremony was a moving but formal process, held in a government building and presided over by a citizenship judge who administered the oath of citizenship and then handed him his certificate.

When his brother Ram recently took his citizenship oath, the ceremony was far different. Held on the grounds of the local elementary school, it included numerous people from the community and a spirit of celebration. “It was great since Ram was able to meet and celebrate with people from his new neighbourhood. Everyone had brought food and there was music and people all shared their own stories with him and the other ten people taking their oaths,” Shiv describes.

This difference is the work of the Institute For Canadian Citizenship (ICC) and its “Building Citizenship” Program that aims to connect new and established Canadians by encouraging community celebrations around the rites of citizenship. ICC takes a well-established Canadian tradition (and condition) of citizenship and embeds it in the heart of newcomer communities.

Getting Started

Per capita, Canada welcomes more new immigrants than any other country in the world. Over a quarter million immigrants enter Canada annually.

The citizenship ceremony is a unique part of Canadian life. It is also a formal celebration of citizenship instituted by the Government of Canada to welcome new Canadians into the Canadian family and to recognize the acceptance of the rights and responsibilities of membership. A mandatory part of Canada’s citizenship process, Citizenship and Immigration Canada hosts approximately  2,500 citizenship ceremonies across Canada every year.

Community citizenship ceremonies were initiated by the ICC to address the isolation that immigrants often feel within their larger community. To bridge this distance, ICC’s service model actively engages community partners in the delivery of citizenship ceremonies. Planned and hosted by local residents and community groups, each ceremony becomes a unique event that reflects the distinct and frequently diverse culture of that community.  The whole community participates in these celebrations of citizenship.

ICC in Halifax

Launched in July 2006, the Building Citizenship program creates a national network of local citizenship committees that organize and host ceremonies which are more personable and reflective of the local community. Groups can host the ceremony in public spaces such as schools, community centres, parks, and libraries. Participants are encouraged to add unique aspects to the ceremonies such as dance or musical performances to make each ceremony special and memorable.

Before the ICC ceremony participants will meet in roundtable discussion groups to talk over what is important to them in terms of citizenship and community. New citizens are also encouraged to join citizenship committees, to share their experience and take part in planning ceremonies for future citizen candidates.

The Building Citizenship program receives funding from the federal government and fund raises to support the staff and resources from the Institute for Canadian citizenship. Organizing committees are asked to take on the cost responsibility for space rentals (if necessary) and refreshment costs, but they are given support and guidance in how to approach elected officials, community groups etc. for donations of these funds.

Looking ahead

Building Citizenship is the flagship program of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, an organization founded by The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, a former Governor General to Canada and dedicated to the idea that citizenship is a bond that must be fostered and shared by a community.

Other ICC programs include the “Cultural Access Pass” program which enables new Canadians to learn about the national culture through free access to major cultural institutions in Canada.  Available in municipalities across Ontario, the Cultural Access Pass has recently been launched in Montreal and ICC has plans to roll out the program nationally.

In three short years, ICC has grown by leaps and bounds. Its network has grown to include 24 citizenship committees across Canada. From October 2009, a new pilot project called Building Citizenship: Change for Change will make $1000 available to committees to go towards further engagement with new and established citizens, to help take the celebration beyond the ceremony to citizenship itself.

Having a place to tell your story can be life changing for both the audience and the participants.

This belief has been central to the nationally recognized and award winning work of the Albany Park Theatre Project (APTP).

APTP brings to the stage the lived experience and authentic voice of migrant youth growing up in Chicago.

The Albany Park Theater Project (APTP) is a multi-ethnic, ensemble-based theater company of teens and young adults that creates original performance works based on the actual stories of immigrants living and working in Chicago’s Albany Park neighbourhood.

Since its founding in 1997, the APTP has performed over 50 original performances for more than 25,000 people and has shared the life experiences of Mexican indocumentados, Bosnian refugees, Bolivian revolutionaries, persecuted Ukrainian Jews, Palestinian-American Muslims, Persian Sufis, Polish domestics, Vietnamese refugees and other immigrants to the city.

By focusing on the stories of the Albany Park community, the APTP has created performances that tell the stories of people whose lives are impacted by immigration policy, globalization, war, inequalities in public education, poverty, child abuse and neglect, addiction, domestic violence, gang violence, the criminal justice system, prejudice and intolerance as well as neighbourhood growth, change and renewal.

As co-founder Laura Wiley described: “This is what I hope my theatre work does for people: it takes them inside a world they’re curious about but have no real access to; it bears witness to truths that many folks - both government leaders and lay people - try aggressively to distort or ignore….”

Public performances receive rave reviews, the product of a uniquely collaborative and interactive process that involves the entire troupe listening, responding and physically interpreting the raw and often highly emotional stories that the participants share. For example, the 2006 production of Gods Word was the result of a two and year process that began when a APTP student shared a reference to the challenges that she and her 15 brothers and sisters endured at the hands of their father, a religious fanatic.

Education and future success…

The APTP has also created educational programmes that help Albany Park youth access opportunities beyond the inner city neighbourhood –with tangible and dramatic results

As part of their focus on youth development, the APTP offers a free comprehensive college preparation and planning program to help teens translate their artistic success and ambition beyond APTP. Teens begin the formal program with an overview of the different types of colleges and of the application and financial aid process and then receive personalized guidance to address issues, questions and obstacles.

In Chicago, almost half of the students who enter public high school drop out before graduation. By contrast, more than 90% of Albany Park youth involved in APTP programming go on to graduate from high school (or earn a Graduate Equivalency Diploma) and matriculate into post-secondary colleges.

What’s more, follow-up studies show that APTP alumni stay in college and graduate in record numbers compared to their peers. According to the Consortium on Chicago School Research, only 8% of Chicago public high school students will graduate from college within six years after high school. However, APTP ensemble members are 8 times more likely to earn a college degree by the age of 25 than their peers. It is important to note that more than 90% of APTP ensemble members are the first in their families to go to college.

Community building

The Albany Park Theatre is located in a neighborhood of 57,000 people on Chicago’s northwest side, one of the most diverse communities in Chicago and nationally. More than 50% of residents are born outside the United States.

The diversity of the APTP ensemble is indicative of the neighborhood: APTP’s teen artists have traced their roots to Belize, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Sweden, the Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The list goes on.

In 2007, the APTP reached into the larger Chicago community to share its stories and success with new audiences. The theatre company founded the “The $5 Renaissance”, a roving, all ages, performing arts nightspot that brings people together to dance, eat, and move to music from the many cultures of Albany Park and Chicago.

The APTP has received numerous awards including the David Kellum Award and Chicago’s “Community Group of the Year” award. In 2004, APTP was recipient of the “Coming Up Taller Award” from the US President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, established “to recognize and support outstanding arts and humanities program that celebrate the creativity of America’s young people.”

Mount Prospect Library

The convention is that a foundation advances its mission by funding nonprofit organizations –from community service providers to think tanks and policy advocacy groups.

Until recently, local or municipal governments have rarely been considered as prospective support recipients by foundations and other grant-making organizations.

This is where the Chicago Community Trust breaks new ground.

As part of their recent strategy to support immigrant integration initiatives, the Chicago Community Trust has made a series of direct grants to municipal governments in Chicago after determining that a partnership with the city government would be an effective way to advance their agenda.

The Chicago suburbs of Berwyn, Mount Prospect, Schaumburg and Skokie all share two characteristics: they have their own local governments and rapidly rising immigrant populations. According to the 2000 US Census, 25% of residents in Berwyn and Mount Prospect are foreign born; in Schaumburg, nearly 40%.

The Chicago Community Trust launched a three year $1.5 million immigrant integration initiative to address new and changing needs that emerged in the community along with these demographic shifts. The innovative funding model included support for “local government leadership” on immigrant integration.

However, this was not the first time in its 94 year history that the Chicago Community Trust has advanced its work through direct government support. In 1919, during an earlier wave of European immigration, the Chicago Community Trust launched a variety of initiatives with local government in an effort to integrate the city’s newest Americans.

Partnership for Success

The Chicago Community Trust experience has found that funding to local government, particularly during periods of economic downturn, can be an effective way to achieve results: “A governmental agency,” says Clare O’Shea, Senior Planner at the Village of Mount Prospect, “can impact an entire community with a grant.”

Local governments have the infrastructure and longevity, as well as the reach and authority, that few non-profits can match. A grant to a local government not only delivers services but also the potential to leverage broader community support for greater investment and impact. Local infrastructure and existing programs that can help the foundation funding go much further.

The Chicago Community Trust granted $50,000 to the Village of Mount Prospect to conduct a feasibility study on the development of a immigrant-serving community resource center. This study was able to persuade the local government to proceed with the project as well and helped to raise $600,000 from businesses such as Wal-Mart and community groups like the Kiwanis Services Club to defray costs.

Community Connections Center staff

The Village of Mount Prospect worked with other services providers in the community to gain their support and involvement.  The result? A 2,400 square foot, “Community Connections Centre” where residents can go for programs ranging from financial assessment and employment counseling to community policing services. In addition to the Village, the Mount Prospect Public Library, School District 214 Community Education, Community Consolidated School District 59, and Northwest Community Hospital are partners in the Center.

Ngoan Le, Vice President of Programs at the Chicago Community Trust and the driving force behind the initiative, explains: “If we give a grant of $50,000 and that allows us to have the entire set of local government, including their housing agencies, human service agencies, etc., working on immigrant integration, we think that is pretty good leverage.”

Power to Influence Change

The Chicago Community Trust found that local government partners also had the capacity and reach to influence stakeholders beyond the originally funded project. Intergovernmental and cross-sectoral interactions create natural opportunities for ideas to spread.

“Our grants are not just influencing the local government we’re funding: they’re actually influencing other local governments in our region” says Le. For example, the Regional Immigration Integration Symposium, organized by the Village of Skokie in June 2009, brought together public representatives from a number of neighboring municipalities to learn about programs funded by the grant.

Much like venture capital in the private sector, grants to governments can also provide seed money for more innovative and experimental ideas that otherwise might not be tried. If these programs are successful, then they can be brought to scale.

“There are a lot of things you might want to do but you don’t have the money to do,” says Village of Schaumburg Management Analyst, Jennifer Maltas.

The Village of Schaumburg has seen a steady rise in South Asian immigrants, with the 2007 Census estimated that one in six local residents were of South Asian origin. While many new residents were visible in the business director, they were under-represented in the civic and community life of the village. With the Chicago Community Trust grant, the local government laid the groundwork for creating an advisory group of South Asian community and business leaders, recruiting South Asian residents to serve on the Board of Health and Arts Foundation as well sponsoring community events that celebrated the South Asian community. Two years into the grant, the city has increased South Asian participation at civic events ranging from membership in the Schaumburg Business Association to South Asian residents on community boards.

“Without the grant, I don’t think any of our communities would have embarked on what we did or have gone as far,” concludes Maltas.

Watch the Webinar Recording!

Download the Municipal Action on Integration Powerpoint Presentation (PDF)

Join Cities of Migration and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) on January 19 for a 60-minute discussion on integration strategies for municipal leaders.

Learn about the Chicago Community Trust’s partnership with municipal governments in the larger Chicago region. The Chicago Community Trust funding model is designed to address the needs of growing newcomer communities while securing wider investment from community and private sector stakeholders that can help build local capacity for the long-term..

From the the City of Turin, you will learn about The Gate Project at Porta Palazzo, an urban regeneration initiative that uses a flexible, participatory approach to community development. With a wide platform of public and private participation and support, the city of Turin has transformed The Gate from a pilot project into a local development agency that integrates social inclusion, poverty and crime reduction and sustainable urban renewal

Speakers

Daranee Petsod
Executive Director, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR)

Daranee Petsod has worked on social and economic justice issues for the past 22 years. Prior to joining GCIR in December 1998, Daranee was a consultant working with foundations and nonprofits on program planning and communications. She previously served as interim executive director and development director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and was a program officer for the Sophia Fund and the Field Foundation of Illinois, Inc. She has also worked as a policy analyst for the United Way, a social worker at a child-welfare agency, and an outreach worker for a refugee women’s services program. Daranee’s areas of expertise include immigrant integration, immigrant and refugee grantmaking, and building the capacity of immigrant-based organizations. Daranee has authored and co-authored a number of publications, most recently Investing in Our Communities: Strategies for Immigrant Integration in 2006. Other publications include: Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area: An Introduction for Grantmakers (2004), Newcomers in the American Workplace: Improving Employment Outcomes for Low-Wage Immigrants and Refugees (2003), and Moving from Welfare to Work: The Experiences of Refugee Women in Illinois (1999). Daranee holds a master’s degree in social policy from the University of Chicago.

Clare O’Shea
Senior Planner, Village of Mount Prospect, Chicago

Clare O’Shea is the Senior Planner for the Village of Mount Prospect, Illinois. In her current role, Ms. O’Shea is responsible for long range planning, grant writing, and economic development activities. Ms. O’Shea recently served as the project leader of implementation and construction of Mount Prospect’s Community Connections Center. The Center benefits the community by bringing services to a previously underserved population and is the result of multiple grants awarded to the Village of Mount Prospect from the Chicago Community Trust. The Center opened in August 2009 in collaboration with the Mount Prospect Public Library, District 214 Community Education, Northwest Community Hospital, and Community Consolidated School District 59.

Luca Cianfriglia
Director, “The Gate Project”

Since 2006, Luca has been the director of “The Gate Project”: public- private local development agency born to create, develop and manage specific regeneration projects on the area of Porta Palazzo in Turin. Luca has also been the director of “Parco Dora Committee”: public- private local development agency born to follow the physical and social transformation from industrial area to a new district (13.000 new inhabitant, 1 milion sqm) in Turin. Since 2007 he has been the collaborator with the Deputy Mayor of immigrants integration and urban regeneration policies of the Municipality of Turin. He has also been the project advisor for public organizations in the field of integration, urban regeneration, innovative reusing of abandoned areas, and empowerment of the local communities.

Watch the Webinar Recording!
Download the Powerpoint Presentation

How do migrant youth deal with living inside and between two cultures?

Young people make up a significant percentage of international migrants and an increasing proportion of today’s urban populations. Yet, a recent UNFPA report laments that relatively little is known about the young migrant experience: “Young people remain largely invisible in research, public debates and policy about international migration.”

On December 1, 2009, join Cities of Migration for an open 60-minute webinar on projects from Oldham, Paris, London and Lisbon that looks at the active participation of young people in community development and their views on identity and belonging

Meet Raja Miah, Director, Peacemaker and learn about how this Manchester-based organization works with young people from different communities and ethnicities to help formerly deeply segregated communities move towards a new, integrated “commonsense vision of Britishness.”

Marion Vargaftig, of Manifesta (London), will describe the Belonging project (Manifesta)a transnational initiative that uses intercultural dialogue and video to explore identity and belonging in London/Newham, Lisbon suburb/Casal da Boba and Paris/20th arrondissement.

Florence Laufer, UN AoC, will frame the discussion with opening remarks on the youth project PLURAL+ and tell us why the UN Alliance of Civilizations has developed special youth programming; Helen Walsh, Executive Director, Diaspora Dialogues (Toronto) will launch the Q&A.

Requirements: To participate, you will need a computer with internet access and a landline telephone, not a mobile.

For more information, contact citiesofmigration@maytree.com

Speakers

Florence Laufer
Migration/Integration program officer, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC)

Florence Laufer is the Migration/Integration program officer for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC). In this field, the UNAoC challenges polarization by addressing intercultural tensions in cooperation with migrant populations - those exposed to divisive issues on a daily basis. The UNAoC will launch soon an online Migration/Integration clearinghouse, promoting good practices as tools to build cultures of inclusiveness and social cohesion.

After working for a non-profit organization on the integration of migrants and on asylum seekers’ rights in Switzerland, Florence Laufer managed development programs and emergency response in the Middle East. She developed several projects building bridges across cultural differences, acting as a mediator in the negotiation and implementation of the activities.

Florence Laufer has studied Human Geography in the University of Geneva, focusing on Cultural and Migration Geography.

Marion Vargaftig
Founder and Co-director, Manifesta

Marion Vargaftig is founder and co-director of Manifesta, leading/producing European programmes and media initiatives. Her expertise is in developing projects associating media and culture as a catalyst for social change. Marion has a particular interest in putting youth and other marginalised voices (migrants, refugees, cultural and ethnic minorities) centre stage, using video as a trigger for creative expression and providing multiple platforms for these voices to be heard.

Recent projects include:-
- Video ART (Anti-Racist Trails) Postcards - uncovering sites related to historical racism in the West India Docks area of London and interpreting this heritage creatively;
- the trans-national initiative Belonging, working with mixed group of urban youth in London, Paris and Lisbon and exploring their own sense of belonging (43 short films available for viewing on www.manifesta.org.uk and on project partner’s Runnymede, www.runnymedetrust.org;

Marion is also European Consultant and Media advisor; since 2003, she has advised the European Cultural Foundation, on www.theoneminutesjr.org and more recently www.strangerfestival.com; she has also worked on Media and Minorities/ Diversity in Europe, having previously led research projects leading to publications including with/for UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

Contact: marion@manifesta.org.uk

Raja Miah, MBE
Former Chief Executive, PeaceMaker
Raja Miah has been leading PeaceMaker’s work since 1997. First developed to tackle local issues in Oldham, PeaceMaker soon found itself supporting the government in responding to issues of community conflict across the country.

Raja’s experience through PeaceMaker has helped inform and develop the community cohesion agenda. In particular, Raja has supported in the development of practice with children and young people, helping them to find long-term solutions to issues of community conflict and equipping them with the skills necessary to challenge and overcome prejudice, both their own and that of the communities where they lead their lives.

Raja has led PeaceMaker to become recognised by the government as a lead organisation in developing the Community Cohesion agenda.