Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

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Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003Chapter 1Introduction to the Inspiring Leadership Initiative:Leadership Development in Immigrant Communities§ 1.1 What is the LIRS Inspiring Leadership Initiative?The leadership development model explored in this initiative has at its core the relationshipbetween community-based organizations that provide services to immigrants and the immigrantcommunities they serve. We believe this is an effective collaboration because the uniting ofestablished, experienced organizations with the energy, ideas, skills and concerns of immigrantsand refugees can strengthen both. It is only one of several immigrant-oriented leadershipdevelopment models. Other initiatives include those that focus more prominently on therelationship between faith-based institutions and the immigrant community, or on communitymembers building their own organizations to mobilize around supporting particular policies orpolitical movements.Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) initiated the “Inspiring Leadership Initiative”in 2000. This initiative began to effect social change by engaging three key sectors of the LIRScommunity—immigrant communities, local service providers, and the LIRS AmbassadorsCircle, a national network of volunteer advocates—in projects of service and advocacy. Thetraining and support that LIRS and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) have beenproviding to immigrant communities is designed to help the immigrant communities speak ontheir own behalf and navigate U.S. institutions such as local governments, law enforcement,schools, social service systems, the media and employers. Two factors have been vital to thesuccess of this training and support phase of the initiative. First, the inclusion of communityleaders in planning and implementing program design ensured community buy-in andinvolvement. Second, assisting immigrants to acquire the skills necessary to join the native-bornas full partners has created a new, interactive model of local and national partnerships.The importance of developing leadership skills among immigrant and refugee communities ismore important now than ever. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, there has been a widelyreported increase in the hostilities, violence and discrimination against immigrant and refugeecommunities. Community leaders, with the proper skills and tools, can help the communityunderstand its rights, develop strategies for educating the public about who immigrants andrefugees are and the benefits they bring to our society, and work to ensure that any newimmigration legislation includes adequate provision of services.The Inspiring Leadership Initiative worked with five sites—Denver; Omaha; Austin, Texas;Trenton, N.J.; and Phoenix—and was highly successful. Highlights include:• 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 from1-1
Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003the 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.• Immigrant communities, led by the participants in the Inspiring Leadership Initiative,eagerly engaged in the project, implementing new community-based programs,forging coalitions and, in one instance, creating a mutual aid association.• The LIRS ambassadors embraced their mentoring role, using their new connectionswith the community to learn new perspectives and to move into new and excitingareas of advocacy.• Seventeen leaders asked to become LIRS ambassadors, formally representing LIRS inthe broader U.S. society.The goals of the Inspiring Leadership Initiative were met by these means:• Building links among LIRS ambassadors, immigrants and service providers.• Developing a new ambassador role as mentor and key team member at each pilot site.• Engaging ambassadors to serve as mentors to community leaders and developing peerpartnerships between community leaders and ambassadors working together onbehalf of LIRS and their communities.• Training community leaders to become ambassadors and facilitating access to theapplication process.• Building skills through national and local training through a national conference andon-site visits.• Ongoing coaching and mentoring through teleconferences, site visits, one-on-onetelephone consultations, a listserv and a newsletter.• Linking immigrant communities with traditional U.S. power structures andinstitutions and with other immigrant communitiesThe success of the Inspiring Leadership Initiative is what prompted LIRS and ILRC to write thismanual. LIRS and ILRC wanted to share with others what we learned during the training part ofthe Inspiring Leadership Initiative. For more information on LIRS’s Inspiring LeadershipInitiative, please see Chapter 2 of this manual.§ 1.2 Who are Immigrant and Refugee Leaders?Immigrant and refugee leaders can come from any walk of life. They can be politicians,professionals, union activists, clergy members, business owners, school teachers, neighbors,apartment dwellers, elderly, youth, restaurant workers, farm workers, people working in thetrades and so on. For the purpose of this manual and this initiative, when we refer to leaders weare generally referring to grassroots leaders, not politicians, professionals and successfulbusiness owners who are already established in their fields.1-2
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B. Critique of the brainstorm sessi
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