building relationships and bridging social capital: an inclusive approach to immigrant civic...
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Building relationships and bridging social capital:
An inclusive approach to immigrant civic engagement within librariesA PROCESS AND OUTCOME EVALUATION, YEAR ONE
Rebecca Thomas, PhDAssociate ProfessorUniversity of Connecticut School of Social Work
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Presentation outline Evaluation Team structure
Project overview Social Capital Immigrant Advisory Group Goal 1: Cultural Broker Program Goal 2: Community Dialogues
Evaluation design
Data collection & analysis
Findings
Next steps
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Evaluation team structureUniversity of Connecticut School of Social Work
Dr. Cheryl Parks: Co-Principle Investigator
Dr. Rebecca Thomas: Co-Principle Investigator
Christina Chiarelli-Helminiak: Research Coordinator
Jamilah Tigner: Research Assistant
Rio Comaduran: Research Assistant
Brunilda Ferraj: Research Assistant
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Project overviewImmigrant Civic Engagement Project
A three year demonstration project funded by Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Grants
Based on the importance of building networks of trusting relationships: social capital
Libraries uniquely positioned as agents of social change
An opportunity to address
Immigrant voices isolated from the mainstream
Language and economic barriers
Lack of engagement in community and civic associations
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Social capital defined
Connections among individuals, social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them (Putnam, 2000)
Benefits of building social capital Increased trust, reciprocity, information &
cooperation
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Immigrant Advisory Group (IAG)Provide leadership and oversight of the
initiative
MembershipRecent immigrantsAdvocates of immigrantsService providers that serve immigrant
populations
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Goal 1:The Cultural Navigator Program
Facilitate the transition of newly arrived immigrants into the community and build trusting relationships of mutual understanding between…
Cultural Navigators Local residents who serve as guides, mediators,
advocates, teachers and friends
Newly arrived immigrant and refugee families Have been in the U.S. 3 years or less and have limited
social supports other than immediate family and friends
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Goal 2: Community DialoguesDevelop and implement a structure that will help better established immigrants to
Participate in civic integrationBecome involved in broader community building
efforts
Community Dialogues: Individuals share opinions and exchange ideas
about an issue affecting their community, in an effort to solve their own public problems
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Evaluation planProcess & Outcome Evaluation
Discuss and evaluate the initial stages and implementation processes
Make note of challenges, findings, and recommendations
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MethodsParticipant-as-observers
Multiple note-takers
In-depth semi-structured interviews
Data triangulation
Debriefing sessions
Participant feedback
Audit trail Reflecting phase
Analysis phase
Doing phase
Planningphase
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Findings:Immigrant Advisory GroupConsistently high attendance and participant
engagement at meetings
Meetings end with a Plus/Delta Exercise; feedback is integrated into future meetings
Monthly presentations by local immigrant service provider, grant project updates, and networking opportunities
Social capital is being built among the IAG participants
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Findings:Cultural Navigator ProgramRecruitment materials developed and
distributed to a wide range of potential Cultural Navigators
More than 40 inquiries received from potential Cultural Navigators, 20 applications received, and 20 interviews conducted with IAG member participation
The Intercultural Liaison has coordinated in-house trainings to equip new Cultural Navigators with knowledge to begin navigating process
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Findings: Community DialoguesFoundation laid for the successful
implementation in years 2 & 3
IAG members actively participate in the generation of Dialogue topicsOn-line survey tool and discussion with Capital ESL
class has been used to gain broad input for the topic selection
Hosted a Sample Dialogue with approximately 20-25 participants, including local immigrants and non-immigrants
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Next stepsContinue attendance at meetings
Semi-structured interviews with project staff
Conduct focus groupsProject staffProject partners IAG membersCultural brokers and matched family members
Develop a survey for immigrants to assess the goals of the Cultural Navigator Program
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Questions…
Rebecca Thomas, PhDAssociate Professor University of Connecticut School of Social Workrlthomas@uconn.edu
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