Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 200310:00-11:40 INS Raids Advocacy ExerciseA. Group Discussion on Negotiations– (20 minutes)Facilitate a discussion on negotiations following the outline below. Comments in italictype are notes to you, the trainer. Questions in CAPITAL LETTERS are for you to ask ofthe participants. All other text is for you to tell the participants.1. What is negotiation?Ask leaders questions to elicit basic information about their past experiences withnegotiation. Sample questions follow:HAVE ANY OF YOU EVER NEGOTIATED WITH YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOL, ASTORE CLERK, A NEIGHBOR, A LANDLORD, THE INS OR ANY OTHERINSTITUTION ABOUT ANYTHING?Allow them to give short examples. If they don’t think they have any to contribute,then suggest some such as:Every time we ask someone to do something, we’re negotiating. Everyone (leaders,trainers, community members) has experience negotiating somewhere in his or herlife, whether it is trying to get child to clean up room, or trying to convince the bossto give you a day off, or returning a sweater received as a gift.a. Formal vs. informal negotiationIntroduce this topic by saying, “Many of our experiences in negotiation areinformal (with family, friends, etc.). Although negotiation with INS and otherinstitutions is different, they require many of the same skills of persuasion.Discuss some of the differences. You may also ask the participants the followingquestions to elicit this information:WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INFORMAL ANDFORMAL NEGOTIATIONS? FOR INSTANCE, HOW IS NEGOTIATIONWITH A GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTION LIKE YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOLOR THE INS DIFFERENT FROM NEGOTIATING WITH YOUR FAMILY?Some possible answers: INS and your child’s school are more formal and havemore power, INS is “meaner,” may need to make legal arguments to themsometimes.12-3