Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

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Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003Chapter 2The LIRS Inspiring Leadership Initiative§ 2.1 Introduction to the Inspiring Leadership InitiativeThe Inspiring Leadership Initiative was launched in 2000 to develop strong and effectiveleadership within migrant communities, and to link that leadership with LIRS at the local andnational levels. LIRS served as a catalyst to bring together three of its key constituencies: 1)local service providers such as social ministry organizations and other nonprofit organizationsworking with LIRS to provide social and legal services to refugees, asylum seekers and othermigrants; 2) migrants and their communities; and 3) the LIRS Ambassadors Circle, a nationalnetwork of volunteer advocates.In the Inspiring Leadership Initiative, these three constituencies—immigrant leaders, localservice providers and LIRS ambassadors—together developed local strategies to strengthenmigrant communities and found ways to work together in service and advocacy. LIRS, itsambassadors, and the local service provider work with leaders in migrant communities to providethe skills, resources and access necessary for newcomers to successfully integrate into U.S.society. The goals of the initiative included enhancing the service providers’ outreach efforts andthe communities’ utilization of services; informing the development of new legal and socialservices to ensure they met the needs of the community; and building and training a strongnetwork of immigrant advocates to work with LIRS and its partners, both locally and nationally.Using principles of building community from the inside out, the model engaged immigrants asequal partners in all aspects of community and program development. Immigrants becomegenuine partners in advocacy as they learn new skills in navigating American systems and gainaccess to power structures. Immigrants came to the table as equals and served as team leaders.Service providers learned new ways to engage with immigrant constituencies in collegial ratherthan paternalistic ways. The LIRS Ambassadors Circle was expanded with the addition of evenmore ambassadors drawn from migrant communities.The Inspiring Leadership Initiative builds on LIRS’s long and proud history of “welcoming thestranger, bringing new hope and new life through ministries of service and justice.” LIRS firstbegan welcoming newcomers in 1939, when it reached out to Lutherans fleeing Nazi Germany.Since then, LIRS has helped countless migrants and refugees find new hope and new life in theUnited States, and has become a full-service agency with service and advocacy programs thatwork on behalf of refugees, asylum seekers, the undocumented, those being detained by the INSand unaccompanied children seeking refuge in the United States.LIRS is the recognized Lutheran expression of service to newcomers in the United States, and isa cooperative agency of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Lutheran churchis an immigrant church in an immigrant nation, and LIRS strives to keep the “golden door” opento opportunity for those who will help build our communities and enrich our culture.2-1
Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003LIRS resettles refugees through a national network of affiliated social ministry organizations.This entails, among other activities, locating donations of clothing and food and arranginghousing for new refugee arrivals, offering legal services to assist refugees with their ongoingimmigration needs; assisting refugees and asylees as they seek to reunify with family membersleft behind in war-torn countries or in refugee camps; and providing employment training andplacement services so that refugees can become proud, productive members of society. LIRSalso works with local Lutheran congregations to develop immigrant-focused social ministries toreach out to newcomers with projects designed to teach English, tutor children, create women’sgroups, support community centers, and “welcome the stranger” in many ways.During the 1990s immigration law changed in ways that dramatically and negatively affected thelives of noncitizens. LIRS responded with new service and advocacy efforts including workingwith local affiliates to increase legal assistance for those seeking to apply for citizenship; helpingcreate of the Detention Watch Network to monitor the INS’s use of detention; working with localpartners to develop an efficient model of providing legal advice to those in INS detention; andsupporting a network of organizations that provided life-saving legal services to the mostvulnerable migrant populations. In 2000, with funding from the Open Society Institute’s EmmaLazarus Fund, LIRS launched the Inspiring Leadership Initiative to help affected communitiesdevelop a strong and effective voice and to link with local service providers to ensure thatappropriate legal and social services were available to the community.Developing ways to strengthen the voice of migrant communities, to enhance mutualunderstanding between the native- and foreign-born, and to build personal and institutionalbridges among migrant communities and various sectors of U.S. civil society is even moreimportant as we continue to feel the aftershocks of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Thismanual is designed to be a guide for others who would like to draw on the lessons learned duringthe two-year duration of the pilot project to develop initiatives to inspire leadership their owncommunities. It describes the key design components of the initiative, the successes and thelessons learned.§ 2.2 The Successes of the Inspiring Leadership InitiativeThe Inspiring Leadership Initiative worked with five sites—Denver; Omaha; Austin, Texas;Trenton, N.J.; and Phoenix—and was highly successful. Highlights include the following:• Over 65 leaders were recruited from the five sites, far surpassing the goal of 25.• Each of the three sites that were not already offering immigration legal services to thecommunity developed such plans, invested in training and hiring staff to deliverservices, and entered into the time-consuming process of receiving accreditation fromthe Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).• Service providers enhanced and improved their community outreach, reallocating andreconfiguring staff time to increase the emphasis on community relationships.• All sites successfully reached out to new ethnic populations and developed newservices.2-2
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Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

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