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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