26. Municipal
Governments' Response to New Immigrants
SUMMARY
Organizers:
Natasha Pavlova
The City of New York
UNITED STATES
npavlova@cityhall.nyc.gov
Madeleine Tress
The City of New York
UNITED STATES
mtress@cityhall.nyc.gov
Description:
This workshop will examine how municipal governments respond to new immigrant populations through changes in their infrastructures, relationships with local voluntary organizations, other governmental entities (state/provincial and national/federal), as well as with immigrant communities themselves, to ensure successful incorporation of newcomers. Both "old" and "new" cities of immigration have responded by establishing immigrant-specific agencies, replacing older "ethnic" offices. For example, New York City, one of the "oldest" cities of immigration, did not have an Immigrant Affairs office until 1985. More recently, Boston, MA established an Office for New Americans. Other cities have immigrant-specific components within their Human Relations Commissions (e.g. Los Angeles).
We envision this workshop as a vehicle for officials in similar offices in both "old" and "new" cities of immigration to discuss policies and practices in their particular locales. We are particularly interested in exchanges with officials from other nations where the public-private partnerships are not as prevalent as they are in the U.S., as well as discussions amongst cities with centralized immigrant services and those with immigrant-specific services scattered within various governmental agencies. Finally, we would like to discuss how municipalities advocate for immigrants and changes in immigration policy on a national or supra-national level.
Presenters
Maria Jose Caldeira
, University of Minho, PORTUGAL 
