Irish Immigration Center

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROGRAM

Best practice in relation to effective policy making and service delivery in a multi ethnic society

BOSTON

SEPTEMBER 18TH TO OCTOBER 1ST 2010

REPORT

Prepared by

Dr Dennis McCoy

Project supported by PEACE III Programme managed for the

Special EU Programmes Body by Donegal County Council

SUMMARY

BACKGROUND

The Irish Immigration Center successfully bid to Donegal County Council to provide a Learning Program that would connect County Donegal to models of best practice in Boston and help participants to develop an approach to policy making and service delivery that supports greater community integration and cohesion in County Donegal’s increasingly multi-ethnic society. IIC were appointed in January 2010 with funding from the PEACE III Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Donegal County Council.

As one of New England’s leading facilitators of international exchange programs, and with its experience in serving a diverse clientele, the Irish Immigration center IC was able to draw upon the expertise of a wide range of partners to create a bespoke Learning Program.

The 11 participants in the Program came from a wide variety of organizations in Donegal including the Health Services Executive, Innishowen Partnership, the Donegal Travelers Project, Donegal Vocational Education Committee, Donegal County Council, MEAS (Irish for Respect), Department of Rural, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs and An Garda Siochana

DEVELOPING THE PROGRAM

First steps in Donegal

In February 2010, IIC met with officials from Donegal County Council. Following these meetings, an action plan was prepared for the early stages of the project. In March 2010, IIC gave a presentation to the Donegal County Development Board, outlining the broad scope of the program and launching a call for expressions of interest. In April and May 2010, 11 candidates were interviewed. Detail was gathered on the challenges that each applicant faced in their own work and the learning needs that arose from those challenges. From this process an analysis of both individual and group learning needs was developed.

Planning in Boston

The Director of the IIC established an Advisory Board for the Program, drawn from amongst the most influential and successful leaders in Boston. The Board met on 4 occasions and proved fundamental to the successful planning of the Program. At its initial meeting, the Board suggested that:

  • there should be a rural element to the Program to reflect Donegal’s rural nature,
  • within each neighborhood, one organisation would take the lead and be the effective focal point, coordinating with local agencies to provide a varied and effective experience for participants, and
  • the neighborhood visits would be led in each case by a Barr Fellow.

Preparation in Donegal

On August 3rd, IIC held a workshop in Donegal with all participants. This workshop engagedthe participants as a group for the first time and began to establish a group identity. Further information was gathered about the group’s learning goals and specific interests that participants had for specially arranged visits to individual organisations.

Further Preparations in Boston

At its final 2 meetings, the Advisory Board revised and finalized the content of the program. It was decided that a substantial part of the Program would be built around the whole group visiting neighborhoods together, spending time together as a group in an immersion experience, and looking at how different organisations and services work together to provide a holistic approach to service delivery for migrant and immigrant populations. At this stage, and throughout all of the Advisory Board’s work, extensive effort was expended by Boston based IIC staffin research, planning, networking, preparing a draft program and setting logistics in place for accommodation, transport etc.

THE PROGRAM.

The Program took place in Boston between September 19th and October 1st and included:

  • Neighborhood visits hosted by:
  • Center for New Americans Northampton
  • Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
  • Project Hope
  • Codman Academy Charter School
  • Codman Square Health Center
  • Urban Edge
  • Centro Latino, and
  • Chelsea Neighborhood Developers
  • Contributions by a wide range of other organisations including:
  • Nuestra Raices, Holyoke
  • The Food Project
  • Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Greater Eagleston High School
  • Hyde Square Task Force
  • MGH Health Center.
  • Chelsea Police Department
  • Chelsea Collaborative, and
  • ROCA
  • Further learning and support through:
  • Orientation day
  • Attendance at National Immigrant Integration Conference
  • Reception hosted by Boston College
  • A range of individual networking events, and
  • Group Reflection and evaluation

OUTCOMES

As a result of their participation in the Program participants gained:

  • An understanding of practical ways to harness the skills and contributions of immigrant communities through:
  • Harnessing individual commitment and leadership in energizing and giving a lead to neighborhood development,
  • Supporting community leaders to mobilize when there is a threat to their community, and
  • Harnessing the skills and commitment of youth.
  • A greater knowledge of practical methods in building trust between immigrant communities and service providers and a set of skills to help in the design of consultation processes that truly involve immigrant communities as evidenced by:
  • Chelsea Neighborhood Developers use of Charettes and other community consultation techniques
  • Chelsea Police and its relationship building with local communities
  • An ability to empathize with the challenges that immigrant communities face in accessing services, particularly:
  • Empathizing with the challenges by understanding the life and expectations that immigrants have left behind
  • An improved ability to identify and eradicate the barriers that immigrants face in accessing services, in particular eradicating barriers by:
  • providing one-stop shop services
  • agencies working in close harmony with each other to achieve community development aims
  • developing creative ways in which funding can be used to achieve both funders and neighborhood’s goals, and
  • pushing the boundaries of what is possible by creating the circumstances under which funding could be fully harnessed.

The group also developed a sense that they had been through a shared and joint learning experience and face the same challenges from different perspectives and can, therefore, be mutually helpful to each other. They also recognized the value of keeping the group together for mutual future support and learning.

FOLLOW UP

Workshops in Donegal to share the learning

In December of 2010, IIC hosted two, half-day, workshops in Donegal. The purpose of the workshops was to encourage dissemination of the participants’ learning to a wider audience. Feedback from attendees was encouraging both in terms of cascaded experience and in terms of the quality of the Program.

Follow with participants up in Ireland

Also in December 2010, IIC interviewed participants in their workplaces to ascertain how their learning was being translated into their daily work. The full impact of the project is only likely to be seen over the coming years. However, given the short period of time that had elapsed between the Learning Programme and the point at which this evidence was gathered the number of examples showing direct implementation of learning was extremely encouraging.

CONCLUSIONS

The Program provided relevant and engaging opportunities to learn best practice in developing policy and services that meet the needs of immigrant communities. The willingness of host projects and organizations to share, discuss and be open to debate helped to deliver a rewarding learning experience for all the participants.

The main factors contributing to the success of the Program were:

  • The intensive planning process by the IIC and the Advisory Board that resulted in a whole group neighborhood immersion experience,
  • The commitment of individual members of the Planning Board to ensuring that the Program content closely matched the needs of participants,
  • The work with participants before departure to ensure that their individual and group learning goals were understood and explicated,
  • The extensive logistical planning and attention to detail by Boston based IIC staff that ensured a smooth flow of activity during the Boston stay,
  • The commitment of all the people from the neighborhoods who generously shared their experience and knowledge, and
  • The commitment of the participants themselves to engage fully with the learning opportunities provided for them.

The evaluation of outcomes shows a high degree of fit between what participants were looking for from the program and what it delivered. This is clearly evident both from the achievement of learning goals and also from the first steps that participants are taking to implement their learning. As participants learned in Boston, creating social change and social engagement in diverse neighborhoods is a long term process. The full impacts of the project will only be seen in the longer term as our participants continue to influence the journey that Donegal is taking towards its diverse future.

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. As one of New England’s leading facilitators of international exchange programs, and with its experience in serving a diverse clientele, the IIC was able to draw upon the expertise of a wide range of partners in creating a bespoke Learning Program. The Program was designed to connect County Donegal to models of best practice in Boston and to help participants to develop an approach to policy making and service delivery that supports greater community integration and cohesion in County Donegal’s increasingly multi-ethnic society. During their learning visit to Boston, the participants learned from the knowledge, experience and insights of their Boston counterparts and saw how they have successfully faced the issues and challenges of serving a multi ethnic society. The IIC Learning Program facilitated participants in developing the capacity of their own organizations back home to meet the challenges that County Donegal faces in achieving its vision of a shared county where there is no racism or sectarianism and where all feel equally valued and confident that they belong.
  3. The 11 participants in the Program came from a wide variety of organizations in Donegal including the Health Services Executive, Innishowen Partnership, the Donegal Travelers Project, Donegal Vocational Education Committee , Donegal County Council, MEAS (Irish for Respect), Department of Rural, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs and An Garda Siochana (the Irish police service).
  4. The project was directed by IIC’s Executive Director, Sr Lena Deevy. Dr Dennis McCoy was the project manager in Ireland.
  5. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE PROGRAM
  6. County Donegal’s population is growing. In 2006, it had a usually resident population of 144,685, a 7% increase over 2002. The 2006 census showed that this population is comparatively sparsely distributed with a substantially lower population density than the state as a whole (28.3 persons per square kilometer compared with the national average of 56). The sparseness of the population has knock on effects on the location and delivery of services and upon the potential for social isolation and marginalization of the population. The County has high levels of social deprivation compared to the state as a whole and a comparatively high level of age dependency. Unemployment in County Donegal rose by 20% between 2007 and 2008, partly due to the recession in the construction industry.

2.2.Ethnicity

County Donegal has a varied mix of ethnic origin. The County has a comparatively greater proportion of people born outside Ireland than is the case across Ireland as a whole. Residents of the County born outside Ireland are typically from the UK, Poland, Lithuania and other parts of the EU as well as other parts of the world. In terms of ethnicity, the main categories are ‘Irish’, ‘Irish Travellers’, ‘African’, ‘other Black background’, ‘Chinese’, and other Asian background. Also relevant in terms of cultural richness is the fact that County Donegal has the largest Gaeltacht area in Ireland. In terms of numbers, the 2006 Census shows that there were 22,675 persons usually resident in Donegal who were born in the UK, 714 who were born in Poland, 236 born in Lithuania, 981 from other EU states and 3033 from other countries. The County also has the second highest percentage of Travellers in the border region. Just 81% of those usually resident in Donegal were born in Ireland.

2.3.In spite of these diverse groupings and the comparatively large proportion of the population that were born outside Ireland, al larger percentage in County Donegal regard themselves as Irish than is the case in either the border region or the country as a whole. This may indicate a comparatively greater willingness in Donegal for persons born outside the region to integrate and to feel part of Irish society, provided the right opportunities can be provided for participation and social inclusion.

2.4.Religious Tradition

County Donegal also has a varied mix of religious tradition. It has one of the lowest percentages of any Irish County where people consider themselves to be Roman Catholic. Just under 1 in 20 are ‘Church of Ireland’ and 1 in 25 are Presbyterian. One person in every 50 comes from a religious tradition that is ‘Muslim’, ‘Other Christian, ‘Orthodox’, ‘Methodist’ etc.

2.5.Marginalization

The levels of unemployment and deprivation experienced in Donegal, the varied ethnic and religious mix, the numbers of people whose first language is not Irish or English and the comparatively high proportion in the population belonging to the Traveller community, all lead to the potential for marginalization and exclusion. The marginalization of the Traveller community is particularly well documented and, with numbers in the County said to be rising, this creates real challenges for interventions that are aimed at increasing social cohesion and inclusiveness. Language, rural isolation, poverty and the impact of the Troubles all have the potential to multiply these marginalization effects.

2.6.Need for the Program

In 2009, The Donegal County Development Board undertook a wide ranging consultation exercise within the County to identify the key issues in relation to ethnicity, racism and sectarianism. The 7 key issues identified were:

  • Sectarianism and Racism: Two sides of the same coin in an increasingly diverse society
  • Denial and lack of acknowledgement of sectarianism and racism Lack of awareness and understanding of sectarianism and racism
  • Lack of trust and cross-community contact
  • Isolation, poverty and conflict
  • Ingrained mentality and,
  • Acknowledging and dealing with the past
  • The County Development Board was conscious of the need to educate leaders of key institutions around issues of racism andsectarianism. In particular, they were keen to
  • empower minority communities and equip them to articulate andadvocate for themselves and develop their confidence and ability totake, and play a full part in public and economic life through policychange.
  • experience, adapt and implement international best practice in thechallenges and changes required in a post conflict society.
  • experience, adapt and implement international best practice indealing with the challenges of immigration and the development of amulti-ethnic society[1].
  • Against this background, the Donegal County Development Board Peace & Reconciliation Partnership issued a tender for the provision of models of international best practice so that organisations in Donegal can approach policy making and service delivery in a multi-ethnic society in a way that encourages and enables greater community integration and cohesion. The aim was to expose key individuals and institutions to ways of working that develop a greater capacity in policy making and service delivery in County Donegal.
  • The Irish Immigration Center prepared a bid to provide international models of best practice and, having been successful, were appointed in January 2010 with funding from the PEACE III Programme managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Donegal County Council.
  1. THE PROGRAM
  2. Phase 1: Donegal

In February 2010, Sr Lena Deevy and Dr Dennis McCoy met with officials from Donegal County Council to formalize the contract and to meet with a range of organizations in Donegal who work with immigrants and Travellers. The meetings were designed to orientate the IIC to the issues facing immigrants and Travellers in the County. Lena and Dennis were accompanied on this visit by Claudio Martinez, Executive Director of the Hyde Square Task Force and a Fellow of the Barr Foundation.

3.2.Following these meetings, Lena and Dennis drew up an action plan for the early stages of the project. This included a broad scoping of the program (which would later become much more fully developed by the Advisory Board in Boston) and the actions needed to get the program off the ground. A key element of the latter was the development of methods by which participants were to be identified and selected. This involved:

  • an initial call for expressions of interest,
  • a scoring and selection process, and
  • follow up meetings to explore participants learning needs in greater depth.
  • In March 2010, Lena and Dennis gave a presentation to the Donegal County Development Board, outlining the broad scope of the program and launching the call for expressions of interest. A form was made available online for those wishing to express an interest (see Appendix 1).
  • In April 2010, 11 expressions of interest were received from a wide range of interested parties. The applications came from a wide range of sectors including local authority, education, health, policing and community development. The Expression of Interest forms were assessed to identify candidates’goodness of fit to the Program and its aims. At this stage it was evident that all 11 candidates would benefit directly from the Program.
  • In April and May 2010, Dennis interviewed 10 of the 11 candidates. The 11th candidate was interviewed by Ann-Marie Byrne, IIC Director of International Programs. The interviews identified in greater detail the challenges that each applicant faced in their own work and thelearning needs that arose from those challenges. From this process an analysis of both individual and group learning needs was developed. Whilst each participant had their own unique learning goals, those identified for the group were as follows:
  • Common learning goals:
  • An understanding of practical ways to harness the skills and contributions of immigrant communities,
  • A greater knowledge of practical methods in building trust between immigrant communities and service providers,
  • A set of skills to help in the design of consultation processes that truly involve immigrant communities,
  • An ability to empathize with the challenges that immigrant communities face in accessing services, and
  • An improved ability to identify and eradicate the barriers that immigrants face in accessing services.

3.7.Whole group goals