Building relationships and bridging social capital: An inclusive approach to immigrant civic engagement within libraries A PROCESS AND OUTCOME EVALUATION, YEAR ONE Rebecca Thomas, PhD Associate Professor University of Connecticut School of Social Work 1

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 2

Evaluation team structure University 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 3

Project overview Immigrant 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 4

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 5

Immigrant Advisory Group (IAG) Provide leadership and oversight of the initiative Membership Recent immigrants Advocates of immigrants Service providers that serve immigrant populations 6

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 7

Goal 2: Community Dialogues Develop and implement a structure that will help better established immigrants to Participate in civic integration Become 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 8

Evaluation plan Process & Outcome Evaluation Discuss and evaluate the initial stages and implementation processes Make note of challenges, findings, and recommendations 9

Methods Participant-as-observers Multiple note-takers In-depth semi-structured interviews Data triangulation Debriefing sessions Participant feedback Audit trail Reflecting phase Analysis phase Doing phase Planning phase 10

Findings: Immigrant Advisory Group Consistently 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 11

Findings: Cultural Navigator Program Recruitment 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 12

Findings: Community Dialogues Foundation laid for the successful implementation in years 2 & 3 IAG members actively participate in the generation of Dialogue topics On-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 participants, including local immigrants and non- immigrants 13

Next steps Continue attendance at meetings Semi-structured interviews with project staff Conduct focus groups Project staff Project partners IAG members Cultural brokers and matched family members Develop a survey for immigrants to assess the goals of the Cultural Navigator Program 14

Questions… Rebecca Thomas, PhD Associate Professor University of Connecticut School of Social Work 15