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

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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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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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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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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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.

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….