Immigrant Workers Empowerment and Community Building: A Review of Issues and Strategies...

"In this research brief, [the authors]… [profile] eight organizations who have had success working with an immigrant worker population, generally in the context of broader efforts for community and policy change. This is not a comprehensive examination of practices around the country – but…eight cases, selected from a broader pool in consultation with experts and community advocates,…drawn from five states with large and increasing immigrant communities" (p.2).

The authors “goal was not just to identify promising practices, but to probe deeper into the tensions and tightropes organizations encountered in pursuing various strategies, the trade-offs they face in considering different organizational activities, and the organizational challenges they overcame in developing their particular set of activities. Though the case studies reflected the particularities of their local economic and political contexts, they also offer more general lessons on possible strategies to address key barriers and challenges facing immigrant workers” (p.9).

“The report begins with a brief review of current conditions immigrants experience in the U.S. labor market, and the multiple barriers they face in finding and keeping decent employment. [The authors] then present key strategies used by community and worker-based organizations to address these barriers. [The authors] ground these strategies in terms of the organizational capacity and identify lessons that illustrate the organizational challenges and tensions that the case study organizations faced in developing their various programs. The final section provides some concluding comments for informing…workforce development programs for immigrant residents” (p.11).

Full Publication Title: Immigrant Workers Empowerment and Community Building: A Review of Issues and Strategies for Increasing Workforce and Economic Opportunity for Immigrant Workers

(Abstractor: Author and Website staff)

The authors found that the organizations’ immigrant participants experienced the following challenges to workforce and community development engagement: 1) language barriers, 2) low education levels, 3) discrimination and exploitation, 4) difficulty in accessing government services, 5) lack of documentation, and 6) vulnerability to ineffective labor laws and spread of low-wage jobs. (p.25) The organizations employed the following strategies to address these challenges: 1) Language barriers – ESL Classes 2) Low education levels – Computer training; Peer-teaching; Vocational Education courses 3) Discrimination and exploitation – Political education; Popular education strategies 4) Difficulty in accessing government services – Provision of social services and legal assistance; Provision of social services through coalition partners 5) Lack of documentation – Formation of collective enterprise; Advocacy and immigrant rights 6) Vulnerability to ineffective labor laws and spread of low-wage jobs – Monitoring and accountability of labor laws; Improving conditions for day laborers (p.25). “The…immigrant worker programs and strategies generally [fell] into four broad categories: • Service provision…” (p.2) • “Enterprise development” (p.2) • “Advocacy” (p.2) • “Community organizing” (p.2) The authors found that “these strategies are overlapping and integrated in order to promote larger change in the conditions immigrant workers face, rather than focusing solely on providing necessary services. That is, services and enterprise promotion are seen as part of a larger effort to empower immigrants and their communities, and so advocacy and organizing are integral parts of this process” (p.2). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2005
• Author(s): Benner, Chris; LoPresti, Tony; Matsuoka, Martha; Pastor, Manuel; Rosner, Rachel
• Organizational Author(s): U.C. Santa Cruz, Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community
• Funding Source: Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Laura Aron
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies