El gato de Raval

Like Toronto’s Kensington Market, or China Town in New York and San Francisco, Barcelona’s Raval is a neighborhood created by waves of immigrants who first came seeking jobs in the city’s 19th century textile mills and today continue to contribute to the character and energy of the district. Almost half of all neighbourhood residents have a migrant background.

Located in the heart of the Ciutat Vella (old city) district of Barcelona, the influx of new immigrants and migrant workers to Raval’s cramped streets has not always been easy. Over the years, a large and varied network of services, associations and ad hoc initiatives came in or were created to address emerging social problems and stresses.

Today, says Nuria Paricio, Director of the Fundació Tot Raval, “Este és otro mundo” (this is another world).

Fundació Tot Raval is the community foundation and umbrella organization at the heart of the Raval neighbourhood.  Since it was founded in 2001, Fundació Tot Raval has acted as a coordination platform for the people of El Raval, empowering the community by working to support and coordinate the efforts of over 60 neighborhood organizations, associations and other initiatives actively engaged in the revitalization of the Raval neighborhood. The foundation’s membership includes organisations such as the Islamic Cultural Council of Catalonia, the National Library of Cataglonia and the A. Rosa Sensat Teachers.

Consell Islàmic de Catalunya

The Fundació provides a variety of work spaces and forums to support community participation (board of trustees, committees, project work groups, seminars, etc.) and collaborative efforts to identify issues and reach common solutions –as well as to pool precious resources.

By enabling the diverse members to work together, the Fundació Tot Raval makes sure that initiatives aren’t duplicated and reinforces the success they achieve. By networking and generating synergies among the neighbourhood agencies and local authorities, the foundation is having a positive impact on the general population.

Fundació Tot Raval encourages cross-cutting actions and multicultural projects that boost coexistence and social cohesion, promote networking, and contribute to better education and employment outcomes. In the entrepreneurial spirit of Barcelona Activa, the Fundació also fosters cooperation between businesses and works to invigorate the local economy and culture with a view to helping make the Raval an inclusive, dynamic neighbourhood committed to the future of all its residents.

Fundació Tot Raval’s unique approach to local development,  cross-cutting nature of its activities, the quantity and diversity of its members, and the participatory spaces it stimulates make it a Good Idea worth watching closely.

For more information,

Fundació Tot Raval
Pl. Caramelles, 8
08001 Barcelona
Tel. 93 442 68 68
Fax: 93 442 68 81
info@totraval.org
www.totraval.org

Tags: Barcelona, community development, participatory planning, Spain

Hola y bienvenido! Cities of Migration se complace en anunciar que su sitio está ahora disponible en español.

This month, Cities of Migration welcomes a new partner, the Barcelona-based Fundación Bertelsmann and its ambitious new program to promote good immigrant integration practice in cities in Spain. Spanish speakers can now explore the Cities of Migration website, en español, whether they are in Madrid, Miami or Los Angeles. Our readers can look forward to more Good Ideas from urban Spain like our recent profile of Barcelona Activa and its ODAME program,  or the community-based energy of Tot Raval.

Cities talking to other cities is an important part of learning how to improve integration outcomes at home and create a vibrant urban culture. Whether it’s about business incubation in Helsinki and Antwerp or crossing cultural divides in city classrooms and sporting fields, it’s what Cities of Migration is all about.

This month we talk to Irene Guidikova, Council of Europe and Intercultural Cities about her work with eleven of Europe’s new immigrant gateway cities, including smaller and medium-size regional centres like Oslo and Neukoln. These “intercultural champions” understand diversity as an advantage and are piloting strategies and developing policies that use the talents of all their citizens and make migration a benefit for everybody. We will be keeping our eye on this rich source of ideas about urban success.

For more on the growing role of gateway cities in transforming the immigrant experience, join us on May 19th for a webinar discussion on Local Gateways to Citizenship, with new Good Ideas from the cities of Fort Wayne and Oslo (co-hosted by the National League of Cities).

Our first international conference, From Migration to Integration: An Opportunity Agenda for Cities, The Hague, October 3-4, 2010, is a two-day event that brings together international city leaders, migration experts and local practitioners in a practical dialogue on one of the most important global challenges facing cities today: the integration of urban newcomers.

Join us for a dynamic event designed to engage urban leadership on this essential dimension of city prosperity and growth. Explore the opportunity agenda, find out why cities matter and what we can learn from 100 Good Ideas in Integration.

The conference is convened in association with the City of The Hague and the 15th International Metropolis, “Justice and Migration, Paradoxes of Belonging.”

For more information, visit the 2010CoM conference website!

Tags: 2010Conference, cities, integration practice, Leadership, The Hague

Last month, our learning exchange showcased two good ideas which support financial inclusion by creating opportunity and providing financial tools. The webinar featured, Fair Finance, a Good Idea that began in Dhaka Bangladesh and made its way to the streets of East London to address unethical lending practices. From the City of Barcelona, we featured Barcelona Activa, a good idea that is supporting the entrepreneurial sprit of newcomers.

• Missed it? You can download the Presentation (PDF)
• Why not re-play the whole event? Watch the Webinar Recording!

Good Ideas about successful integration practice are easy to export and are traveling from city to city. It makes good sense. Proven solutions, tested program models and peer recognition all add up to better outcomes, reduced risk and cost savings.  At Cities of Migration, our Good Ideas also travel from reader to reader. We want to share these stories with you.

On the trail of Good Ideas…

This month Valeisha, from Toronto, connects a Good Idea about Chinese textile workers in Bologna to Mauritius and French Europe. Do you have a story to share ? contact us: citiesofmigration@maytree.com

Name: Valeisha Sobhee, Human Resources & Communications Professional

Her Cities: Vacoas to Cambridge to Montreal to Toronto

The Good Idea that really caught my eye was: Bologna’s “Social Justice Is Better Business: Integrating the Chinese Business Community Into the Mainstream”.

Why: Mauritius welcomes temporary Chinese workers; the good idea acknowledges the presence of a foreign community and actively seeks to build a bridge, through translated manuals, and by using Chinese radio programs to transmit ideas and tools to help that community integrate better. This leads to improved quality of life for the workers and businesses, rather than letting them live in an artificial and isolated bubble within the country.

How did you share it: I forwarded it in English to some of my Mauritian friends through social media. Those are people who somewhere down the line may be policy makers or are already socially involved. Such practical ideas can be adapted and implemented locally. I also forwarded the French version of the article to my French family. They are based in Europe, and it can be interesting to open their perspective to this reality and the actions that can be taken.

Any feedback: Some people were surprised at the realisation that “Made in Italy” can also be “Made by Chinese”. The whole idea of proactively integrating foreign workers is still a work in progress and the feedback was that it’s refreshing to see how easy it can be.

We are interested in what you think about our Good Ideas, and your own experiences. If you have a story to share, please contact us at citiesofmigration@maytree.com.

Tags: Bologna, labour market integration

Meet the Fundación Bertelsmann, our new partner in Spain. We are delighted to be able to introduce you to some of the foundation’s history, their mission and our work together.

Located in Barcelona , Fundación Bertelsmann was founded in 1995 as the independent ’sister’ of our German partner, the Bertelsmann Stiftung (Gütersloh), with a focus on developing the reading and media culture in Spain.  This work resulted in major efforts to benchmark 20 public libraries and promote cooperation between public libraries and schools in seven Spanish cities.

Strong economic development during these years made Spain one of the top immigrant-receiving countries in the European Union, requiring cities like Barcelona to devise and implement new initiatives that are redefining neighbourhoods like Tot Raval and community relationships on a daily basis.

As part of its ten year anniversary, Fundación Bertelsmann responded to these new realities by shifting its focus to the promotion of civic engagement in Spanish communities and enhanced dialogue and exchange between different cultures.  In partnership with the Fundación Bertelsmann, Cities of Migration will be bringing more Good Ideas to you from cities around Spain in the months ahead and making them available in Spanish!

Fundación Bertelsmann:
A Pioneering Institution in Civic Responsibility

Since it began its work in Spain in 1995, Fundación Bertelsmann has become a catalysing institution for social reflection and a meeting point for intellectuals, business men and women, politicians and citizens, always seeking to foster the positive progress of Spanish society through a combination of analysis and action.

The initiative, developed by Reinhard Mohn and now led by his wife, Liz Mohn, has shaped a pioneering institution in social development, whose work is based on three major objectives:

1. Promoting social change by identifying latent social challenges;
2. Preparing society for the future by providing it with the competences that will enable sustainable development; and,
3. Contributing to the promotion of social responsibility, based upon the conviction that community involvement is the essential pillar of social progress.

These objectives are being fulfilled through innovative projects for creating community foundations, managing cultural diversity, raising awareness of a value-based business culture and the fostering of youth participation. The common denominator in these four large projects is the Foundation’s capacity to lead its ideals forward and attract specialised talent in each subject, thus enabling it to create multi-disciplinary work teams that are in direct contact with the social reality. After leading the phases for identifying challenges, proposing and broadcasting solutions, the Foundation stewards the transfer of successful projects to independent institutions in associated areas of interest, thus leading to the consolidation and sustainable development of the concept.

In the areas of immigration and cultural diversity, Fundación Bertelsmann pours its efforts into spreading good practices among different groups, with the aim of achieving a strong social impact: on the one hand, it engages in activities focused on children and young people, whose primary setting is the school; on the other hand, it is partnering with the international Cities of Migration project to identify examples of good integration practices on Spain where active community engagement has actively contributed to local success.

Community foundations, institutions devised and managed by citizens to improve their surroundings, are the instrument through which the Fundación Bertelsmann promotes community involvement. Five foundations in Spain have already joined the network created in 2009 and another two are in the process of joining. Thanks to this initiative, towns all over Spain have managed to involve numerous institutions, businesses and people, confirming that involvement can serve as a powerful generator of development. Cities of Migration will be profiling the work of Fundación Bertelsmann with Spain’s first community Foundation, Fundacio Tot Raval, in the coming weeks.

With regards to promoting a value-based business culture, we highlight our in-depth analysis of the current situation in this area through publications and meetings: the most notable example of these being the annual Dialogue and Action conference that Fundación Bertelsmann organises to encourage debate about an active civil society.

In the youth area, Fundación Bertelsmann drove the “TO2 for youth participation” initiative, a project that began in 2007 to promote young people’s participation in society. Its innovative philosophy has succeeded in awakening the interest of numerous public and private Spanish institutions. The Foundation has also made numerous materials available to the educational community, families and many young people to guide them towards success in their entrepreneurial activities. From a youth website (www.todosporlaparticipacion.org) to a comic book (”Jóvenes emprendedores sociales”), we explore different forms of communication to raise awareness among Spanish youth and to create a growing culture of young social entrepreneurs.

For Spanish Good Ideas see:

• Barcelona - Barcelona Activia
• Barcelona - Tot Raval (a Good Idea We Are Watching…)

Fore more information about Cities of Migration in Spain, please contact:

Monique Dissarz

Fundación Bertelsmann
Pg. Picasso, 16
08003 Barcelona
Tel.: + 34 93 268 72 34
Fax: + 34 93 268 71 73
e-mail: monique.dissarz@fundacionbertelsmann.org
URL: www.fundacionbertelsmann.org

URBACT’s interactive map of EU cities, programs and projects is now online.  This dazzling look at the new Europe ignores regional and jurisdictional divisions in favour of city networks organized around urban issues such as Active Inclusion, Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods, Metropolitan Governance, and Human Capital & Entrepreneurship, to name just a few.  From the URBACT website, click on a city on the map to see associated URBACT projects, or choose one the projects listed in the right column to map the city constellation of its project partners. Lead cities for each project are marked with a star.

Discover, for example, that the mid-sized industrial port city of Duisburg is the City Lead city for the RegGov program which looks at governance issues in the development of deprived urban areas.  The RegGov program prides itself on its integrated approach to urban development but laments that “good practice examples of how to develop, implement and fund such policies are rarely known at a wider European level.”

Good practice and policy is worth sharing. Duisburg is also home to Germany’s largest and least controversial mosque.  Opened in 2008 in the city’s Marxloh District, the Merkez Mosque was planned and built after a broad public consultation using a participatory approach that involved the whole community.  For more about Duisburg city success, see The Miracle of the Marxloh Mosque at Cities of Migration.

What is Urbact?

Established in 2002, and renewed in 2007 with a dynamic slate of work distributed across a network of 255 city partners, URBACTII is a European exchange and learning programme that promotes sustainable urban development, and enables European cities to work together to develop solutions to major urban challenges.

“We help cites to develop pragmatic solutions that are new and sustainable, and that integrate economic, social and environmental dimensions…, reaffirming the key role cities play in facing increasingly complex societal changes.”

URBACT brings together 255 cities and 5,000 active participants with financing from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund and 29 Member States. Visit the URBACT website for more information.

Tags: city networks, Duisburg, Europe

On April 22, global cities and local neighbourhoods around the world celebrated Earth Day and our shared role in supporting our planet. At Cities of Migration, we take pride in the way our webinars are able to connect global cities and bring people together around good ideas -with no carbon footprint. In recognition of Earth Day, we invite you to look at some Good Ideas on environment and stories about healthy cities.

Newcomer populations are often the most vulnerable to environmental hazards, due to deficits in local housing and neighbourhood  or in workplaces where they may be unaware of their rights and  responsibilities (see, for example, Bologna’s Chinese textile workers).

Cultural diversity and the environment are still terms that don’t always overlap. However, this is changing. Groups like People Organising to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights (PODER) from San Francisco’s Southeast neighbourhood recognize that economic, environmental and racial justice are interconnected and can be addressed effectively by unifying community voice.

Healthy cities?  Explore community gardening in East London, or follow Copenhagen’s lead and get on your bike!  Toronto has.

The Toronto Cyclist’s Union and CultureLink are making their city a healthy, safe place for all Torontonians.  This spring, the Toronto Cyclists Union and CultureLink received the 2010 Innovation of the Year Award from  US-based Alliance for Biking and Walking for it’s Partnership for Integration and Sustainable Transportation. The partnership promotes cycling among newcomers to Toronto with posters, a Cyclists Handbook, and workshops available in 16 of the city’s most commonly spoken languages.

Yvonne Bambrick, Executive Director of the Toronto Cyclists Union: “This project is helping us to grow roots in Toronto’s diverse communities, and to exchange knowledge about sustainable habits here and around the world.”

For more environmental Good Ideas see:

• San Francisco - Traffic! Advocating for Environmental Health
• Auckland - Twin Streams Project: Common Ground for Environmental Sustainability
• East London: Digging in for Community
• New York - Engaging Newcomers in City Parks
• Copenhagen - Integration in Action: Cycling Lessons for Better Social Inclusion
• Bristol - The Bristol Bike Project

Tags: environment, Environmental Health

E Pluribus Unum Awards for 2010

Upwardly Global

Cities of Migration would like to congratulate the 2010 winners of the E Pluribus Unum Awards!  We are especially excited to report that two of the winners have previously been featured as Cities of Migration Good Ideas: from the City of Durham the Latino Community Credit Union, and from New York City, Upwardly Global.

The E Pluribus Unum Prizes were established lat year (2009) to recognize excellence in the immigrant integration field in the United States and help us learn more about US initiatives working to strengthen the relationships between native-born and foreign born Americans in order to create stronger, more unified and successful communities.

The awards program is coordinated by the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy (NCIIP) - a hub for groups and individuals around the United States who seek to build their knowledge and skills in the area of immigrant integration.  The four annual $50,000 USD prizes are funded by the J.M. Kaplan Fund with the goal of inspiring and providing program models to others around the United States who might also undertake such efforts.

For further examples of E Pluribus Unum Award Winners, see also:

• New York City: Staying In Touch: The Library Responds To A Changing Community

Tags: Durham, E Pluribus Unum Award, New York

The British Council has launched the Understanding OPENCities report. Featuring case studies from Amsterdam, Auckland, Dublin, Madrid, and Toronto, the new report compares and contrasts their strengths and weaknesses, and highlights how each city has embraced openness in its bid to build a successful world brand.

Greg Clark, city expert and lead advisor on the British Council’s OPENCities programme, sees a bright future for cities with strong leadership and the determination to evolve and grow:

“OPENCities encourages the exchange of positive ideas between forward-thinking world cities. Creating an environment where locals and new migrants can live in harmony is another key element of the programme. For the first time, cities will have a specific way to gauge their openness and help their leaders develop successful strategies to compete on a world-stage.”

Read the press release for more information, or download your free copy at www.opencities.eu.

Tags: Amsterdam, Auckland, case studies, cities, Dublin, Madrid, Toronto

Financial inclusion and financial opportunity are two sides of a coin when thinking about the economic integration of migrants in today’s cities. This month’s interview takes us to London where Omar Khan at the Runnymede Trust about how financial inclusion underpins a range of social and economic issues and translates meaningfully into fairness and participation for newcomer and marginalized populations alike.

New Good Ideas in Integration include a look at Fair Finance, a London NGO that is offering a range of loan products to the ‘unbanked’ in London’s East End - and coming up in the black. At Barcelona Activa, a dynamic business incubator weaves social inclusion into the financial opportunities that immigrant entrepreneurs create for city growth and prosperity.

You can learn more about these Good Ideas during this month’s webinar, The Cost Of Admission: Strategies For Financial Inclusion. Join us on April 13, 2010, for fresh thinking, good questions and insider tips.

Browse the Cities of Migration e-zine for more on this topic, or see more Good Ideas on Financial Inclusion from Bologna, Chicago, Boston and Helsinki.

Tags: Bologna, Boston, Chicago, financial integration, Helsinki

How does your home city compare globally for diversity, easy of entry or purchasing power? PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has just released its third Cities of Opportunity report , and has given us a new perspective on the state of 21 global cities.

PWC believes that cities are home to most of the world’s population and that the intellectual, social and economic capital this represents makes cities important drivers of our future prosperity and well-being. The Cities of Opportunity report benchmarks city performance to answer questions on, “What direction will cities go in the years to come?” and  ”What are the key ingredients needed to make a city strong and resilient to financial downturns and other risks?”

Their overall findings are that the better balanced a city is for both business and residents, the better it will fare. Quality of life is a tangible economic asset. The cities of Chicago, Stockholm, Toronto, Sydney, Singapore, London and New York City are among the cities that demonstrate this balance.

For this edition of the report, diversity indicators were added to the set of 58 variables against which cities were ranked. Toronto popped to the top of the rankings, leading the study in city livability, with high quality of life and health and a diverse population with advanced education. The study suggests that diversity maps well to creative knowledge-based economies –and that diversity, innovation and social cohesion are entirely compatible outcomes of urban migration.

PWC researchers have made this data fun to play with. The study also includes an interactive database that allows you to compare 21 cities against key city indicators –from purchasing power to the number of medical schools to which cities ranks as the top global fashion capitals.

We tested the model on our home city here in Toronto. Toronto comes in third just behind New York and London for demographic diversity. Singapore topped the list for ease of entry, followed by Hong Kong and Stockholm. Alas, for fashion, Toronto was a more distant 16th on the list…

Related Good Idea:

• Gütersloh, Germany: A Community Roadmap: the Wegweiser Kommune

Tags: Benchmarking, cities, comparative research

“Migrants sent 32 billion euro to their former country of residence”- Eurostat’s newest figures say a lot about the generosity and industry of Europe’s migrants and invite us to think about the untapped economic and social capital that immigration represents.

Money sent by migrants to their former country of residence is referred to as workers’ remittances.   In 2007, the level of recorded remittances sent to developing countries were estimated at USD$ 240 billion dollars - double the value of official development assistance. Some estimates suggest that upwards of one billion people, or one in six of the planet’s population, benefit from remittance flows.

Remittances are now one of the largest cash flows in the world. What’s new is that they are supporting local economies, as well as families, by financing the infrastructure needs and economic development of the cities and towns of receiver communities.

The sheer size and impact of remittances invites us to re-think how we frame this important contribution from migrants to local, and global prosperity, especially when migrants are paying taxes like everyone else –whatever their status. Indeed, a recent study from the Public Policy Institute of California, reports that up to 85% of the undocumented population is also contributing to the economy’s tax base.

New thinking

In Amsterdam, the Mama Cash Foundation produced a ground-breaking 2006 study of the contribution of migrant women to this massive global cash flow. In, She Gives Back: Migrant Women’s Philanthropic Practices From The Diaspora , remittances are re-described as ‘diaspora philanthropy” and the impact of this financial contribution by some of society’s least wealthy women is analyzed in diaspora communities in Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and France.

The Western Union Foundation(the charitable arm of the global wire service) partnered with The Economist to see where all the money goes so that it can help local communities leverage its full value with financial literacy and micro-lending programs. The report found that a growing number of remittances are being channeled into community-directed ‘collective’ funds (vs. intra-family) that finance specific projects in the receiving countries, and not just extended family members. The study, “Building A Future Back Home: Leveraging Migrant Worker Remittances For Development In Asia,” reports that collective remittances support community infrastructure development, from schools to roads, and that local leadership and capacity development could further leverage the value of this global funding trend.

Both of these examples suggest that it is time to start rethinking remittances and the change power of diaspora communities.  

For related ideas on remittances, please see some recent articles in the Integration News Update:

• EU: Migrants sent 32 billion euro to their former country of residence (Source: December 18)
• In Mexico, Mother’s Education and Remittances Matter in School Outcomes (Source: Migration Policy Institute)
• Workers’ Remittances Fall Less Than Expected in 2009, But 2010 Recovery Likely To Be Shallow (Source: World Bank)
• “Migrants sent 32 billion euro to their former country of residence” (Eurostat’s newest figures)

Tags: financial integration, remittances

During the recent Vancouver Winter Olympics, Kirin Kalia, Editor, Migration Information Source, found herself thinking about what citizenship means as she watched country-switching athletes demonstrate the same global mobility as other skilled immigrants. Between bobsled and snowshoe events, Kirin shared her thoughts:

Like many people, I probably spent too much time watching the Winter Olympics over the last two weeks. Among the facts commentators noted about certain athletes, and which caught my attention: their citizenship.

In most cases, the athlete became a citizen of another country either for training purposes or because the competition for a spot on the other country’s team was less intense. For some athletes, this has meant giving up their original citizenship because their “home” country does not permit dual citizenship; others are dual citizens, giving them the freedom to choose which country to represent.

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), concerned both about countries essentially buying athletes and about maintaining the spirit of the games, has rules in place that do not allow athletes to switch their allegiances all that easily. After representing one country in the games or other international competition, the athlete generally must wait at least three years after changing/acquiring a new citizenship to represent the new country (see rule 42 of the IOC rules.)

The citizenship issue comes up regularly during the Olympics. The Los Angeles Times gave various examples of country-switching athletes in its piece from August 2004, as did Time magazine in its 2006 article, which focused mainly on Canadian hockey players getting Italian citizenship thanks to their immigrant past.

In Vancouver, the most controversial dual citizen was skier Dale Begg-Smith, a Vancouver native with Canadian and Australian citizenship who won gold for Australia in 2006 and silver in 2010. Some Canadians consider him a traitor and even booed him during the medal ceremony. Yet some Australians wonder if Begg-Smith’s less-than-boisterous personality means he’s not a real Aussie.

Lawyer and economist Ian Ayres, however, sees mainly the benefits of such situations. In an August 2008 post for the New York Times Freakonomics blog, he argued that the fluidity of citizenship has already improved the quality of Olympic competition and that the IOC should change its citizenship rules.

Kirin Kalia, Editor, Migration Information Source
Reprinted with permission from: Migration Information Source (Migration Policy Institute), March 1, 2010, Editor’s Note, source@migrationpolicy.org.

For Good Ideas on the role of sports in integration please see:

• Calgary: Hockey Night In Canada - In Punjabi!
• Munich: Buntkickgut! Integration Through Sport

Tags: citizenship, Sports, Vancouver

Congratulations! Maslaha has been awarded the Diabetes UK Shared Practice Award 2010. Developed to serve a pre-dominantly Muslim Bangladeshi community in London’s Tower Hamlets, Cities of Migration recognized Maslaha as a Good Idea in Integration for its innovative and practical approach to developing culturally sensitive resources and tools for health promotion.

• Read the Good Idea: Dealing with Diabetes: The Maslaha Project
• Re-play the Webinar: Dealing with Diabetes and Everyday Dilemas in London and Chicago

More updates on our Good Ideas:

• Auckland: OMEGA finds Mentoring Programme suits New Zealand’s labour market. Read more
• Oakland: C.E.O. Women launches new multimedia series. See the video.
• Sheffield: Cities of Sanctuary produces a short film on places of welcome and safety. See the video.
• London: New Support for the Living Wage Campaign. Read more.

Tags: Auckland, London, Oakland, sheffield

Last month, our learning exchange featured the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Quality in Multicultural Schools (QUIMS) program from Zurich. It was a positive session that showcased practical approaches to integration through education, demonstrating that it’s not only possible to help immigrant children succeed, but also that effectivel integration supports institutional change and helps empower whole communities.

The session was introduced by Ulrich Kober, Director, Integration and Education Programm, at the Bertelsmann Foundation, in Gütersloh, Germany. From the City of Toronto, Lloyd McKell, Executive Officer, Student and Community Equity, discussed how the Toronto District School Board continues to respond to the challenges of migration and demographic changes in the culturally diverse city of Toronto. From the Canton of Zurich, we had Selin Öndül, Quality in Multicultural Schools (QUIMS) Programme Officer for the Ministry of Education, sharing strategies for local success.

Although implementation differed based on the needs of local populations, both projects shared similarities that anchored and shaped their program approach. This included the belief that schools are at the heart of the community and an essential channel for integration. In both school systems, educators clearly recognised diversity as a normal dimension of the classroom experience.

Interested in more detail? Download the Integration Through Education PowerPoint Presentation (PDF); or view the complete webinar: Watch the Webinar Recording!

For more good ideas on education, please see:

• Frankfurt: “School For Mama and Me!”: language lessons For parents

• Montreal: Play It Fair! a human rights approach to education!

Tags: education, integration, webinar

Second generation learners are a litmus test for integration success. The educational achievement of the second generation relative to their native peers tells a compelling story of how some communities are succeeding and others are falling behind.

This month we profile Good Ideas in the area of education. We look at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), winner of the prestigious international 2008 Carl Bertelsmann Prize, and the canton-wide success of the QUIMS program from Zurich, also nominated for their work in city schools in Switzerland.

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) was recognized by the Carl Bertelsmann Prize in 2008 for its exemplary work in promoting social integration and improving equal learning opportunities at its schools. According to data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) the TDSB has successfully closed the average achievement gap between second generation students of immigrant origin and their Canadian peers.

In Zurich the QUIMS program is tailoring supplementary teacher training and classroom support to the needs of school communities in areas of high diversity (40%+). Their targeted ‘quality standards’ approach improves academic outcomes in the classroom and promotes social cohesion within Swiss communities.

Educational outcomes do not tell the whole story. Matriculation to post-secondary education, for example, doesn’t always mean higher rates of success in accessing the labour market, as the TIES research program at the University of Amsterdam has shown.

In Canada, young second generation women are more successful than their native peers, earning higher grades and higher wages. But this is not true of their male counterparts, where lower labour market outcomes for visible minorities may point to lingering forms of racial discrimination in Canadian workplaces; see Statistics Canada report.

But the data is less important than what we choose to do with it. The good news is that individual families, communities and institutions are using school, sport and other everyday activities to ensure that no one and no child is left behind.

Browse our Good Ideas in Integration collection for ideas and inspiration for your community!

• Frankfurt: “School For Mama and Me!”: Language Lessons For Parents
• Toronto: Making Their Mark: Educational Opportunity for Young Refugees
• Cardiff: Language from the Law: The Cardiff E.S.O.L. Police Project
• Auckland: Walking School Bus
• Toronto: Jump Math
• Singapore: Tuition Program for International Students

Tags: education, Second generation

Earlier this month, The Globe and Mail, Canada’s pre-eminent national newspaper, recognized the top 10 Nation Builders of the Decade.

Ratna Omidvar, the President of the Maytree Foundation (the lead foundation behind the Cities of Migration project) was honoured for her influence and impact in shaping the Canadian approach to and understanding of immigration.

Other Nation Builders included the inventors of the Blackberry and globally acclaimed writer Margaret Atwood.

From the national citation:

“One of the remarkable features of Canada’s last decade is the degree to which a widespread consensus on immigration has taken hold. Ratna Omidvar, a leading advocate for settlement and integration, has been particularly influential in nudging Canada toward this new consensus.” (The Globe&Mail)

Ratna’s success in building a consensus owes much to her focus on the economic argument: when systems and other barriers result in the underemployment of immigrants, Canada, and especially Canadian cities, loses billions from our economy. Her logic and practical solutions have resonated with the highest levels of Canadian government and business.

The Toronto Region Immigrant Council (TRIEC) was created by Maytree to break the cycle of immigrants being overlooked for jobs because they lack Canadian experience. The program resulted in over 5000 skilled immigrants finding jobs and the endorsement of the CEO’s of one of Canada’s largest national banks and insurance companies.

Similarly, Maytree’s practical public policy suggestions such as pre-immigration orientation on Canadian culture and labour markets are being implemented by Canadian offices overseas. The recent guarantee by the national government to evaluate the credentials of foreign-trained professionals within a year of their arrival also bear the influence of her work.

For more on recent Maytree work on immigration reform in Canada: see, Adjusting the Balance: Fixing Canada’s Ecomomic Immigration Policies and Fast, Fair and Final: Reforming Canada’s Refugee Sysytem.

More about The Maytree Foundation

Established in 1982, Maytree is a private foundation that promotes equity and prosperity. Its focus is on the reduction of poverty in Canada, with a particular focus on immigration, integration and diversity.

Maytree believes that immigration and integration must work both in the short term and in the long term. The short term is about basic settlement needs and participation in the labour market; the long term is about a broader sense of participation and inclusion in Canadian society. This is a matter not simply of individual effort by the immigrant, but must be accompanied by institutional change. In other words, inclusion is a two way street that leads to social cohesion, nation building and citizenship.

Maytree programs and funding areas include:

Major poverty reduction initiatives: The Caledon Institute of Social Policy and the Tamarack Institute.

Immigrant employment: The Toronto Region Immigrant Council (TRIEC) and ALLIES.

Leadership: DiverseCity onBoard, one of 8 urban leadership programs in the DiverseCity initiative.

Educational Opportunity: The Maytree Scholarship Program.

Diverse Voices: Diaspora Dialogues.

For more about the Maytree Foundation, visit the Maytree website.

Tags: Canada, citizenship, immigration debate, labour market integration, Toronto

To live inside an inclusive community means removing the concept of the “other”  and re-framing how people think. When commonalities outweigh difference, it’s easier to get on with the game, whether you are in the playground or sitting in a corporate board room.

 Cultivating empathy and a sense of fair play in children reduces social intolerance, bullying and other forms of discrimination and helps take the “other” out of the equation. Working in conjunction with the city of Montreal, the NGO Equitas, has developed an educational toolkit that uses games to teach children to focus on their commonalities and not their differences.

Games, the ordinary tools of childhood.

The Play It Fair! Program is designed for children and youth between the ages of 6-12 and is being used at summer day camps and after school activities. Part of its success comes from using children’s innate and common interest in what is “fair” in games to prompt the development of this same attitude in all aspects of their lives.

Related Good Idea:

• Berlin: Dolls and Diversity: Fighting Prejudice with Empathy
• Munich: Buntkicktgut! Integration Through Sports

Tags: children, human rights, Sports

Luck Mervil

Nowhere is this more true than Montreal, home to the largest Haitian community in Canada. Between 100,000 and 140,000 residents of Canada’s largest French-speaking city were born or have family in Haiti. 90% of all Haitians in Canada live in the province of Quebec.

Haitian immigration to Montreal is part of the first wave of modern francophone immigration to Quebec. Large scale migration from Haiti to Montreal accelerated in the early 1970s when politics shifted the balance of power from anglophone to francophone Quebec. Until then, immigrants gravitated to Montreal’s Anglophone community and the English language.

The historical and symbolic importance of the Haitian community is not lost on one of Montreal’s most important institutions -the Montreal police force. After the devastating earthquake, Montreal police responded quickly to a local community in distress, providing assistance and building trust in a community that will soon be integrating a new influx of family survivors and homeless refugees.

Through Operation Koudmen, from the créole word meaning “coup de main” or helping hand, 61 of 105 Montreal police officers of Haitian origin have been assigned to new temporary support roles working exclusively within Montreal’s Haitian community. Officers like Lyonel Anglade  were instrumental in organizing fellow officers to launch Koudmen because he understood how much the community needs this show of of support. Anglade spends time visiting local Haitian community centres and churches to assess on-going community needs and to look for ways the police can help, both today  and in the weeks ahead.

Before the disaster, Quebec already had 2,000 people from Haiti approved for immigration. This number could increase significantly with a humanitarian provincial decision to widen immigration eligibility for members of extended families of Haitian origin.

Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada

Notable Canadians of Haitian origin include the Right Honourable, Michaëlle Jean, Canada’s Governor General, who arrived in Canada in 1968 as a refugee and went on to build a successful career in public broadcasting before taking public office. Jean is Canada’s first Governor General of Caribbean origin, and the third woman to hold this position.

Other prominent Haitian Canadians include Luck Mervil, the popular Quebecois celebrity and Haitian-born singer-songwriter, who organized a special benefit concert on Jan. 21 for victims of the earthquake; novelist, Dany Laferrière; and Samuel Dalembert, a professional basketball player who plays center for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.

Source: Local Cop’s New Beat (Montreal Gazette, January 22, 2010)
Source: The Haitian Community in Canada. (Statistics Canada, 2007)

Tags: diasporas, Haiti, Montreal, police

On January 19th, the Cities of Migration and the Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) joined the cities of Chicago (US) and Turin (Italy) to explore how public / private partnerships can help cities achieve their integration goals. The event had a fantastic online turn-out and we were joined by participants from the cities of Austin, LA, Philadelphia, San Jose, Budapest, London, Madrid, Calgary, Dublin and others.

The speakers included Daranee Petsod, the Executive Director of GCIR, Clare O’Shea, Senior Planner from the Village of Mount Prospect, Chicago, and Luca Cianfriglia, Director, “The Gate Project” of Turin.

For the complete city success story, see their Good Idea profiles at CitiesofMigration.ca:

Chicago: The Chicago Community Trust partnership involved three municipal governments within the larger Chicago region. The funding model was designed to address the needs of growing newcomer communities while securing wider investment from both community and private sector stakeholders to build local capacity for the long-term.

Turin: The Gate Project at Porta Palazzofrom the City of Turin is 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 a committment to poverty and crime reduction to the primary goals of social inclusion and sustainable urban renewal

To view the complete webinar including the Q&A portion, visit: Municipal Action on Integration or access just the power point presentation.

Highlights from the discussion included:

• What are the benefits and risks of partnering with local government ? Some of the benefits discussed include: leveraging government infrastructure, longevity, credibility and reach. Some of the risks? The political agenda driving the decision, the risk of a change in leadership (and accompanying shift in the political agenda) and accountability.

• Tips for effective public/private partnerships from the City of Chicago included:open communication, cultivating a network of relationships, the importance of credibility, sustainability and the need to educate elected officials and community.

• Porto Palazzo shared their multi-stakeholder success story; highlights included: the importance of mixing the formal with the informal, including reaching out to informal networks and community leaders ; and creating the opportunity and space for casual programming; for example, Sunday language classes in the piazza in Italian, Arabic, Chinese , Romanian …and Italian!

For more Good Ideas on Public and Private partnerships, see also:

• Boston (US): From Boston’s Back Streets to Mainstream Success; and
• Stansted (UK): Bringing People to Jobs: Runways to Work Programme

Tags: Chicago, private/public partnerships, Turin, webinar

Tags: plan, webinar

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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Tags: Fort Wayne, immigrant integration, Littleton

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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Tags: broadcast media, census, demographics, Minority communities, United States

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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Tags: anti-discrimination, religious minorities, religious tolerance, Switzerland

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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Tags: Auckland, environment, New York, San Francisco

Our recent Cities of Migration webinar on Youth Participation and Migrant Voice  included opening remarks by Florence Laufer of the UN Alliance of Civilization (UNAoC) in New York and an introduction to the UN AoC’s exciting new project, PLURAL+, an international youth-produced video festival on migration, diversity and identity.

On December 18th, 2009, in honour of International Migrants Day, the UN AoC announced the three International Jury Award winners at the PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival Awards Ceremony at the Paley Center for Media in New York.

Over 150 videos produced by youth age 9 to 25 from 39 countries representing all areas of the planet responded to the PLURAL + call for entries that were vetted by an international jury which includes youth representatives, film critics and critically acclaimed filmmakers such as Abbas Kiarostami.

The winning videos will be presented at a number of conferences and festivals as well as broadcast around the world throughout 2010.

For further information on PLURAL + and this year’s award winners, please visit: www.unaoc.org/pluralplus.

Tags: competition, videoclips, youth

November 9 was International Day Against Facism and Antisemitism.

UNITED for Intercultural Action (aka the ‘European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support of migrants and refugees’) has produced another great poster for this year’s campaign. To see a selection of posters going back to 1997, visit the UNITED campaign page.

If you have a photo that tells an integration story or conveys a key message visually, share it with us! at citiesofmigration@maytree.ca.

Tags: anti-extremism, anti-racism, photography

Albany Park Theatre Project - Upcoming Production

The process of sharing your story can life changing for both the audience but especially for the participants.

This is the belief behind The Albany Park Theatre Project (APTP), a Chicago based, nationally recognised and award winning initiative - and one of the good ideas that CoM is currently watching.

Albany Park is a neighborhood of 57,000 people on Chicago’s northwest side.  It is one of the most diverse communities in the country, with more than 50% of the residents having been born outside the United States.

The Albany Park Theatre Project is a multiethnic, 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 the Albany community.

The result is that they bring to stage voices that are either overlooked or too frequently have their stories co-opted by other organizations and media outlets.  Along the way, the lives of the youth participants are also changed.   In Chicago, where almost half of the students who enter a public high school never make it to graduation, more than 90% of the Albany youth who become a part of the Albany Park Theatre Project graduate from high-school (or earn a Graduate Equivalency Diploma) and matriculate into four-year colleges.

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

Watch our site for more on this initiative…

Tags: Chicago, theatre, youth

Have a look at this new short film that tells the story of the City of Sanctuary movement, and showcases some of the wonderful stories of friendship and hospitality between people seeking sanctuary and local communities.

Cities of Sanctuary is one of Cities of Migration’s Good Ideas in Integration. Click here to learn more about this Good Idea: Cities of Sanctuary, Communities of Welcome.

Visit the Cities of Sactuary’s home base in Sheffield: www.cityofsanctuary.com

Tags: sanctuary, sheffield

With slick graphics, high tech features and an urban soundtrack, ICED (I Can End Deportation) is engaging American youth on the issue of illegal immigration in a whole new way: videogames. Players choose from one of five characters and then live out the day to day life of an immigrant youth in the US - being chased by immigration officers, risking being thrown into detention and then facing unjust conditions while awaiting — often for unknown amounts of time for the random outcome of his or her case.

ICED is designed to spark dialogue and create awareness of unfair U.S. immigration policies (and is a deliberate play on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department). It is a free, 3D downloadable game available at www.icedgame.com

ICED was produced by Breakthrough an international human rights organisation.

Getting a snapshot into someone else’s experience and perspective is often the fastest way to realize how much we actually have in common.

That’s the idea behind the 43 short films below.

Organised by Manifesta and Runnymede, the Belonging Project brought together young people from Paris, Lisbon and London to make and then share short films that explore the themes of migration, identities and forming new communities.

The result? 43 vehicles that deliver the first hand voices of urban newcomer youth - and a global audience to share it with.

Recognizing ourselves in the narrative is at the heart of the best storytelling. Diaspora Dialogues supports the creation and presentation of new fiction, poetry and drama that reflect the complexity of the city back to Torontonians through the eyes of its richly diverse communities.

Diaspora Dialogues has successfully taken its mentoring program to Toronto’s high schools in diverse neighbourhoods as a way to support the growth of younger creative voices in the city.

Working in partnership with high school teachers, Diaspora Dialogues offers a customized series of after-school creative writing workshops for students in Grades 11 and 12. These in-school workshops are led by professional writers and consist of three 60-minute sessions per week over a three week period.

The Diaspora Dialogues secondary school programme helps students develop creative voice as well as personal confidence - and occasionally introduces them to future audiences. Some of these young writers go on to showcase their work alongside their professional mentors at local venues. Past mentors have included Griffin Prize nominee and York creative writing professor Priscila Uppal,actor and playwright Marcia Johnson and Commonwealth Prize winner Olive Senior.

Visit www.diasporadialogues.com

Natalia Chan

Interview: Natalia Chan, Research Associate, Young Foundation
City: London
Good Idea: Dealing With Diabetes: The Maslaha Project

1. Our project Cities of Migration is about urban integration, what’s the best example that you’ve seen recently?

Spitalfields City Farm where I was surprised to see the number of community activities happening. It felt like integration on a much bigger scale - not only bringing together groups of people from different communities, but also bringing nature into an urban environment.

2.Your projects, “Maslaha Engage” and “Thinking Allowed” are about engaging “youth”, so how did you get them interested in your work?

Maslaha has been built on and inspired by conversations with young people right from the start. Our early research showed a lack of accessible resources to answer the questions from young Muslims living within a western society.

Young people can be our harshest critics, but also our most important advisors, making sure we really address the key issues , and in a way that makes sense to them. For example, feedback from young people have informed the development of our website all the way through to ensure it’s something they will use and find interesting and exciting as well as useful.

3. With blogs and the web it seems easier than ever for youth voices to be heard, but who is listening to them? And if you asked them, who would they say they wanted to have listening to them?

Muslim communities have experienced a lot of negative media over the past few years. Many young people have told us that they just wanted to grab a camera and shout down it, to be given some kind of forum to have their voices heard. Maslaha ” Engage ” is both a window into what it’s like to be a young Muslim in Britain today, and also a mouthpiece.

Who they want to be heard by ? That would depend on the young person you talk to - some express a keen interest in politics, with others it’s about being able to open up other sectors, express yourself in the arts, or have the opportunity to participate in all areas of society without being labelled or stereotyped.

4. In person/online or over the phone - whats the best way to connect with this age group? Are you using Facebook or Twitter ?

Sure, you have to bring all of these media together, using the web and film , social media. But you also have to get out and talk to people who are already working with young people, organising events and discussion groups through schools, youth groups and more.

5. What have you learned from working with these different youth groups?

Well, they’re not backwards in coming forward ! They have been given free reign to criticise our website and tell us what they want ! They are great at reminding us about what really matters, in keeping us in tune with the real issues that need to be addressed by Maslaha. For example, one of our Engage films is essentially a health message around the use of Khat in the Somali community. This project was entirely driven by a young woman who felt passionate about that subject and it taught us a lot in the process. We are constantly blown away by their creativity and ideas. They are definately worth listening to.

For more on the Mashala Project see: Dealing With Diabetes: The Maslaha Project  and Dealing With Diabetes and Other Everyday Dilemmas: The Maslaha Project

Tags: community integration, London, youth

The experience of a 12 - 18 year old newcomer or migrant is very different from that of his or her parents or younger siblings. Age and life stage distinguish young people as a group willing to take risks and challenge the status quo, but also open to sharing their hopes, cares and aspirations and ready to experiment with new ways of doing things.

This month, Cities of Migration looks at the different ways that migrant youth are sharing their stories, both with each other and the larger community.  These profiles also show us the different ways that migrant youth are leading and contributing to social change, and what youth has to tell us about the migrant experience in our cities. Stories of identity and belonging invite us all to think about how our stories can shape, distort or reflect the communities we live in.

Youth-themed integration stories include:

• Diaspora Dialogues, a literary project in Toronto;
• Peacemaker, a community leadership initiative in Oldham and Manchester;
• Belonging, a tri-city film project from Paris, London and Lisbon; and
• from Amadora (Portugal), “The Generation Project: Community Partnerships For Youth.”

Do you have a story to share with Cities of Migration?  Let us know about it! Submit a comment or contact us at citiesofmigration@maytree.com.