JULY 2008

Will SomervilleJamie DuranaAaron Matteo Terrazas

I. Introduction

Immigrant organizations form based on their members’ sharedexperiences and interests, be they professions, ethnic affilia-tions, or a common hometown. Manuel Orozco, a leadingscholar in the field, defines hometown associations (HTAs)more specifically as “organizations that allow immigrants fromthe same city or region to maintain ties with and materiallysupport their places of origin.”1 Scholars Jonathan Fox andXóchitl Bada define HTAs somewhat more broadly as “migrantmembership organizations formed by people from the samecommunity of origin.”2

Policymakers typically group HTAs under the general umbrellaof diaspora organizations. Furthermore, policy interest tradi-tionally distinguishes between concerns of immigrant-origincountries and immigrant-destination countries.

Policymakers in origin countries are interested in the role ofdiasporas in promoting development, for example throughincreased remittance flows or the return of skilled profes-sionals. In contrast, destination-country policymakers mayview diaspora organizations as signs of insularity inimmigrant communities and worry that such organizations

Hometown Associations:An Untapped Resource forImmigrant Integration?

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Hometown associations (HTAs), immigrantorganizations based on a common hometown,are typically informal, voluntary groups thatbring members together for social, cultural,political empowerment, and economicdevelopment goals. The literature on HTAs hasconcentrated almost exclusively on their roleas agents of international development.Government policies, both in countries oforigin and destination, reflect this view,focusing on managing development projects,reducing the transaction costs of remittances,and improving decision making in the selectionof projects to fund.

Less attention has been paid, however, to thefact that HTAs also function as integrationintermediaries in their country of destination,whether providing a social network for newimmigrants or offering more tangible servicessuch as language classes. Policymakersconcerned with immigrant integration are notgenerally cognizant of the integration opportu-nities HTAs can offer, in part because they maybe wary of organizations that focus beyondtheir borders.

Our analysis shows that policymakers shouldnot consider immigrants’ internationaldevelopment and domestic integrationobjectives as a zero-sum game of competingpriorities. Instead, policymakers should viewboth roles as complementary and concentrateon enhancing associations’ capacity to deliverfor communities at home and abroad.

Limited, well-designed interventions bygovernment and nongovernment organizationscan strengthen HTAs’ immigrant integrationcapacity, so long as they are done cooperatively.Such partnerships might focus on leadershiptraining, outreach to immigrant communities,and strengthening immigrant services providedby local governments. Collaborative datacollection is a first step to designing such part-nerships, but HTA participation must bevoluntary to ensure that meaningful relation-ships can develop.

S U M M A R Y

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act as obstacles to their members’ successfulintegration. This latter view is flawed. Theintegration and development functions ofdiaspora organizations are likely to becomplementary rather than contradictorybecause the evidence shows that well-integrated migrants are more capable of

contributing todevelopment efforts intheir countries oforigin. Diaspora organi-zations can supportboth immigrantintegration indestination countriesand economic and

community development in countries oforigin. Indeed, well-designed interventionsfrom a variety of actors such as governments(from national development agencies tomunicipal councils), nongovernmental andintergovernmental institutions, and relevantcivil-society groups can enhance the naturalsynergies between immigrant integration andeconomic development.

This Insight focuses mainly on the less-studied integration role of HTAs. First, wedescribe the current political context, thenwe identify the trends important for policy-makers and the gaps in our knowledge,

before finally addressingwhat policy options couldbe employed.

Public policy regardingHTAs remains nascent. If we chart policydevelopment in the United States over the

course of a century, we find that HTAs (ortheir equivalent) were first ignored, thenseen as hindrances to assimilation in thehost country, and most recently embraced asa potential policy tool in promoting economicdevelopment. Such a perspective was narrowand remains the case today. HTAs havestrong and underdeveloped integrationfunctions. They can be helpful as institutionsof immigrant socialization in the host countryand they act as organized points of contactand coordination between immigrants, thehost government, and other institutions.

II. The Political Context

HTAs are hardly a new phenomenon andhave long been a feature of national andinternational migration.3 Various studies havepointed to the existence of mutual aidsocieties based around a common hometownamong Jewish immigrants in New York asearly as 1880.4 The number of HTAsappears to be increasing, however, as globalmigration grows.

While it is impossible to say with certaintyhow many HTAs exist worldwide, estimatessuggest their numbers are growing. Asample of 25 US states showed the numberof Mexican HTAs increased from 441 in1998 to 623 five years later.5 Estimates forthe number of Mexican HTAs active in theUnited States range from 600 to 3,000,6

while it is thought that there are at least 200Ghanaian HTAs in the United States.7 TheSalvadoran Vice Ministry of SalvadoransAbroad estimates there are about 268

Diaspora organizationscan support both

immigrant integrationin destination countries

and economic andcommunity development

in countries of origin.

Public policyregarding HTAs

remains nascent.

Salvadoran associations in the UnitedStates; 45 in Europe; 12 in CentralAmerica and the Caribbean; 11 in Africa,Asia, and the Pacific; five in SouthAmerica; and three in Mexico.8 In France,there were an estimated 300 village associ-ations, analogous to HTAs, representingMauritania, Senegal, and Mali in the Parisarea in 2000.9

More visibly, HTAs are emerging incommunities where they did not previouslyexist, as immigrants increasingly move tonew destination countries and newdestination regions within traditionalcountries of immigration. In the UnitedKingdom (UK), Tanzanian andCameroonian HTAs, traditionally found inLondon, have been established in citiesbeyond the traditional immigrant gateways,including in Slough and Leicester,according to findings from an Economicand Social Research Council-fundedproject.10 Similarly, according to data onMexican associations collected by Mexico’sconsular network and analyzed by sociolo-gists Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, Xóchitl Bada,and Luis Escala-Rabadán, Mexican HTAsare being established in new immigrant-destination states such as North Carolinaand Georgia.11

The evolution and trajectory of MexicanHTAs are instructive for broaderevaluations of the field because they aregreater in number than for other nationali-ties and have, almost certainly as a result,attracted more scholarly attention. Mexican

HTAs originated in the late 19th and early20th centuries and originally focused oncommunity organizing, battling social andjob discrimination, offering members loans,providing health care, attenuating the costsof deportation, and repatriating the remainsof migrants who died abroad.12

Perhaps unsurprisinglygiven the growth of theMexican-born populationin the United States, thenumber of Mexican HTAshas grown rapidly inrecent years. For example,between 1998 and 2003 the number ofMexican HTAs in California grew from 240to 329. As Figure 1 illustrates, the number

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HTAs are emergingin communitieswhere they did notpreviously exist.

Source: Directorio de Oriundos en los EstadosUnidos, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 1999and Programa para las Comunidades Mexicanasen el Exterior, Secretaría de RelacionesExteriores (2003) in Rivera-Salgado, Bada, andEscala-Rabadán (2005).

Figure 1. Top Ten US States withMexican HTAs, 1998 and 2003

of HTAs in the top ten US states where theMexican born live grew from 434 in 1998 to613 in 2003. These ten states were home toapproximately 85 percent of the Mexican-born population resident in the UnitedStates, according to the 2000 US Census.Although this data is incomplete, includingonly HTAs that have registered with Mexicanconsulates, it is indicative of broader trends.

Much of the recent growth of Mexican HTAsin the United States is due to theconvergence of several political andeconomic events which have occurred onboth global and local levels. They include:

1. Structural adjustment, the USImmigration Reform and Control Act of1986, and the temporary reestablishmentof cross-border circularity. In the late1980s, Mexican immigrants began estab-lishing HTAs in great numbers, aphenomenon directly related to theImmigration Reform and Control Act of1986 (IRCA), which provided legalpermanent residence to over 2 millionMexicans living without authorization inthe United States, as well as the effects ofstructural adjustment programs inMexico. During the structural adjustmentprograms of the 1980s, the Mexicangovernment reduced public spending,causing local infrastructure investmentsto dwindle. At the same time, the 1986legalization allowed many Mexicanmigrants to freely visit their hometownsand witness firsthand the economichardships and serious infrastructure

needs their communities faced. ManyMexican immigrants established HTAs inthe United States to fund basic improve-ments in their rural hometowns.13

2. Migrant responses to controversialimmigration legislation. HTAs havedeveloped a political presence indestination countries, particularly at thestate and regional levels, by usingfederations to consolidate their domesticpolitical efforts in response to controver-sial immigration issues. One of the earliestcivic mobilizations of Mexican HTAs inSouthern California was in response toProposition 187, a hotly contested 1994referendum that aimed to excludeunauthorized immigrants from access to awide range of public services includingeducation and health care.14 (Thereferendum was approved by voters butoverturned by a federal court). Morerecently, California HTAs have mobilizedagainst California Assembly efforts to limitthe use of consular identification cardsand in favor of comprehensive immigrationreform. It is probable that similar trajecto-ries will play out in new immigrant desti-nations across the United States — and,indeed, other places where immigrationrestriction efforts are undertaken.

3. The Mexican government’s proactiveapproach. Mexico began taking a moreactive approach in engaging its diasporaand promoting the formation of HTAs withthe 1990 inauguration of the Program forMexican Communities Abroad (Programa

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de Comunidades Mexicanas en elExterior, PCME). Under the PCME,HTAs became the principal interlocutorsbetween the Mexican government andMexican-American civil society. MexicanHTAs’ importance increased with theinvolvement of the Mexican Ministry ofSocial Development (Secretaría delDesarrollo Social, SEDESOL) in theThree-for-One program that providesfederal, state, and local (and in somecases private) matching funds for HTAdonations to small- and mid-sizeddevelopment projects in theircommunities of origin.15 More recently,the Mexican Education Ministry(Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP)inaugurated a similar matching-fundprogram for HTAs that fund educationalscholarships to secondary and post-secondary students in their communitiesof origin.

Although many of the factors cited aboveare unique to the Mexican experience,Mexican HTAs appear to be on the leadingedge of broader trends among othercountries’ associations. However, extrapo-lating conclusions from the Mexicanexample should be undertaken with care.Three reasons stand out. First, themunicipal level forms the basic unit ofgovernance in Mexico and is the level atwhich local development typicallyhappens; second, the rural origin of manyMexican migrants is likely to lead to agreater “hometown” identity; and third, theMexican government has so far managed to

balance the challenges of providingassistance to HTAs without imposingbureaucratic hurdles.

III. Hometown Associations: The State of Knowledge

HTAs promote a social,economic, and culturalidentity among theirmembers that crossesnational borders. Theorganizations exemplifytransnational ties becausethey directly link onelocality to another.16

Unsurprisingly perhaps,HTAs’ organizationalstructure takes many different forms.Nevertheless, it is possible from theliterature to identify several broad trends inhow HTAs develop.

Hometown Associations Mature over TimeHTAs begin as informal, volunteer-drivenorganizations. As migrantsfrom the same hometownmigrate to the same com-munities or areas, theytend to seek out their co-nationals and establishinformal bonds. Over time,these informal relation-ships can develop into anassociation with thepurpose of maintaining ties with the homecommunity, establishing a social support

Mexican HTAsappear to be onthe leadingedge of broadertrends amongother countries’associations.

HTAs promote asocial, economic,and culturalidentity amongtheir members thatcrosses nationalborders.

network in the country of destination, andsharing experiences. HTAs frequently formfollowing a natural disaster in the town orcountry of origin. For example, manySalvadoran HTAs were established inresponse to devastation caused by HurricaneMitch in 1998.17

HTAs are thus spontaneous voluntary socialnetworks based on place of origin that maycoalesce into more formal organizations atthe initiative of their members and leaders.Experience illustrates that public policiescan influence the trajectory of HTAs but themajority grow because they fulfill anessential role in addressing the concerns ofindividual migrants.

Over time, the informal organizations candevelop into formal associations and evenmore elaborate hierarchies. Once amembership group has been established,HTAs collect dues or raise funds throughcultural activities (such as festivals) whichare then directed to services and projects,including small-scale hometown developmentprojects. In select cases, individual HTAshave united to form federations.

In the UK, the Greater Sylhet Developmentand Welfare Council — which focuses on thewelfare of immigrants from Sylhet,Bangladesh — was founded in Birminghamin 1993 to unite several smaller communitygroups. In the United States, the first formalfederation of Mexican HTAs, the Federationof United Mexican Clubs (Federación deClubes Mexicanos Unidos), was formed in

1972 by HTAs from the Mexican state ofZacatecas. There also are federations bydestination state, such as the Federation ofMichoacano Clubs in Illinois. This type ofstructure can also lead to wider networks ofmigrant organizations. The Confederation ofMexican Federations in the Midwest(CONFEMEX) was created in 2003 andcomprises nine federations of MexicanHTAs. One year later, CONFEMEX helpedfound an umbrella organization, theNational Alliance of Latin American andCaribbean Communities (NALACC).

Mergers provide benefits becausefederations are able to make a largerimpact than any single HTA. They havegreater leverage with their homegovernments and ensure a wider networkfor members as well as greater resourcesfor activities. At the same time, somefederations may be co-opted by otherorganizations such as labor unions or civil-rights groups.

Hometown Associations Develop New Functions over TimeHTAs often link newly arrived immigrantswith established predecessors. While HTAmembers include new immigrants primarilyconcerned with settlement in the destinationcountry, HTA leaders tend to be relativelyestablished, long-term immigrants who createassociations with a view to contributing toeconomic development in their hometownsand preserving cultural traditions in theirnew communities.

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Survey evidence indicates that newcomersjoin immigrant organizations to seek adviceon employment, housing, and immigrationin addition to maintaining culturalpractices in their new country.18 GhanaianHTAs in Toronto, known in Canada astownship associations, serve newimmigrants by assisting members in findinghousing, employment, and even providingsmall loans for needy members.19 Similarly,Cameroonian and Tanzanian HTAs in theUK provide members with burial andbereavement services. While a critical massof immigrants — that is, a significantnumerical presence or concentration ofmigrants of the same origin — is importantto HTA formation, it is alone insufficient.Professor Roger Waldinger finds that Latinoimmigrant participation in civic associa-

tions such as HTAs decreases over time —12 percent of recent Latino immigrants tothe United States are members of civicgroups compared to 5 percent of Latinoimmigrants who have been in the UnitedStates 20 to 29 years.20 At the same time,Orozco finds that belonging to an HTA ispositively associated with the length of timeliving outside of thehomeland and the longerthe time abroad, the morelikely a person is to join anassociation (see Figure 2).21

HTAs nearly always expandtheir scope of operations toaddress concerns in both thecountries of origin and destination. MatureHTAs appear to nearly always focus on

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Source: Manuel Orozco, "Diaspora and Development: Some Considerations," (presentation at the GeorgeWashington University conference, The Role of Diasporas in Developing the Homeland, Washington, DC,June 16, 2006).

Figure 2. HTA Membership and Duration of Residence Abroad

Mature HTAsappear to nearlyalways focus onboth developmentand integrationobjectives.

both development and integrationobjectives. The various development roleshave been expansively documented in theliterature; the role of HTAs in integrationless so.

Integration services or activities generallyinclude (a) welfare services, (b) assistingwith legal services, and (c) educationalopportunities, such as scholarship programsand language classes. A common theme isthat HTAs serve as social networks formigrants, be they established immigrants orindividuals new to the destination country.

Among Ghanaian HTAs inToronto, the main motive forestablishing the associations wasgenerally to contribute toeconomic development in Ghana,but the associations have anadditional objective of bringingtogether Ghanaians through

various social activities, including partiesand meetings.22 Similarly, the BianibazarAssociation of London and the BaniachangAssociation of East End in the UK formedto provide support for schools and mosquesin Bangladesh, fund infrastructure repair,provide scholarships for students, andassist with disaster relief; however, theyhave expanded their focus to provideleadership on issues such as voting rightsand racial discrimination.23

Ixim, a Mayan immigrant association in LosAngeles, differs from the majority of HTAsin that it was formed with a specific focus

on integration rather than developmentprojects. Ixim was initially established by agroup of Q’anjob’al Maya immigrants tohelp other Mayan immigrants adapt to lifein Los Angeles. Legal advice and workshopson health matters were among the servicesoffered. As the association grew, leadersexpanded their focus to include work in theorigin country — helping fund the construc-tion of a soccer field in members’ hometownof San Miguel Acatan, Guatemala.24

IV. The Knowledge Gaps

Collecting reliable data on the associationsis an exceedingly difficult task consideringthe small size and informality of mostHTAs. Although a number of scholars andsome nonprofit groups have conductedsurveys of HTAs in specific metropolitanareas such as New York City, Chicago, LosAngeles, Montreal, Toronto, and London,these data are not comparable due todifferent parameters. For example, specificsurveys may focus only on one country ororigin, limit the universe of associations toa specific time frame, or only be interestedin associations involved in certainactivities. Also, HTA numbers are inconstant flux — associations form anddissolve on a continual basis.

Various governments have createdspecialized agencies to address the needs oftheir diasporas. However, the creation ofsuch an agency does not always translateinto a meaningful partnership. For example,the Haitian government established its

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Collectingreliable dataon the asso-

ciations is anexceedingly

difficult task

Ministry of the Diaspora in 1994, yet theministry remains limited due to its smallbudget, with the minister generally unableto make official trips outside of Haitiwithout additional funding.25 Where they areendowed with sufficient resources, diasporaagencies have launched effective efforts tosystematize knowledge on HTAs, including:

• Mexico. The Institute of Mexicans Abroad(Instituto de Mexicanos en el Exterior,IME) — a division of the Secretariat ofForeign Affairs (Secretaría de RelacionesExteriores, SRE) — began a Directory ofMexican Clubs and HometownAssociations in 2005. At the time,SEDESOL, the Secretariat of SocialDevelopment, maintained data on HTAsregistered to participate in Mexico’sThree-for-One program. Starting withSEDESOL’s information, IME expandedthe database through three phases: (1)Mexican consular officials invited clubsand HTAs to register, and only thoseorganizations that expressed interest inbeing listed in the database wereincluded, making the process entirelyvoluntary; (2) IME then began to contactunregistered Mexican HTAs they wereable to locate on the Internet, expandingthe database to include associationsoutside of North America; and (3)following the initial task of registeringHTAs, IME posted the directory on theirwebsite, allowing new associations toenter their information online.26 The listwas initially published in December 2006with 570 associations. Currently, the

directory contains data for about 850associations in 24 countries.27

• El Salvador. The Salvadoran Vice Ministryof Salvadorans Abroad, part of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs, has compileda directory of Salvadoran associations.Similar to the Mexican database, most ofthe information collection is performed byconsular officials and the database islinked to El Salvador’s HTA matching-fund program, United Hands for ElSalvador. The database is availableonline, although all submissions must besent via post or electronically to the ViceMinistry. The database includes anestimated 268 Salvadoran associationsaround the world.28

A number of other developing countries,including Colombia and India, maintainsimilar databases.

Far fewer destination countries haveattempted to compile data on HTAs,perhaps as the result of organizationalbarriers within government. Diasporapolicy has typically been assigned to inter-national development agencies indestination countries. For example, the UKDepartment for International Development(DFID) has an elaborate diaspora policy,and the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) and CanadianInternational Development Agency (CIDA)also work with diaspora groups. They areoften limited in the scope of their domesticoperations, however. Collecting data on

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what are often considered domestic civil-society groups may not be within themandate of development agencies. Therefore,data collection may correspond better to theresponsibilities assigned to interiorministries or local government authoritieswho typically do not play a role indevelopment or immigrant integration.

Nevertheless, there are examples ofdestination-country development agenciescarrying out data collection efforts ondiaspora associations. France offers perhapsthe most prominent example of a countrywhich has developed a systematic approach.In 2000, the French Directorate General forInternational Cooperation and Development(DGCID) and the European UnionCommission on Cooperation andDevelopment (CCD) jointly funded a studyinto Organizations de SolidaritéInternationale Issues de l’Immigration(OSIMs), which are immigrant associationsthat maintain a focus on developmentprojects in their home countries. Researchersexpanded their list of potential OSIMcontacts, provided by CCD, through Frenchconsulates in sending countries. Notably, ofthe 568 OSIMs investigated, 293 werevillage associations, which have membersfrom the same village or a set of neighboringvillages in their country of origin.29 Thesecan be considered the francophoneequivalent of HTAs.

Admittedly, privacy laws in some destinationcountries may limit the extent to whichdomestic actors, and especially local

government, can collect information on civil-society groups. Furthermore, migrants maydistrust the intentions of any effort bydestination-country governments to collectinformation. In order for any data collectioneffort on civil-society groups to be effective,a mutually trustworthy relationship must firstexist and participation should be incen-tivized but voluntary.

V. The Current Concern:Hometown Associations asAgents of Development

It is clear that HTAs already play twin pivotalroles in linking migrants with developmentefforts in their countries of origin and facili-tating their integration into their destinationsocieties. At the same time — and signifi-cantly from a policy perspective — it is alsoclear that they face organizational, capacity,and funding challenges that policymakers areonly partially addressing.

The following examples are representative ofcurrent policies from the perspective ofgovernments, nongovernmental organizations,international agencies, and private initiatives.They illustrate how existing policies towardHTAs are overwhelmingly focused on onlyone of their roles: development concerns inthe country of origin.

• Government initiatives in the countryof origin. HTAs generally work closelywith local government authorities in theircommunities of origin; however, few origin-country governments have targeted

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programs for HTAs. There are notableexceptions. As previously described, theIniciativa Ciudadana Tres-por-Uno, orthe Three-for-One program, is amatching-grant program implementednationwide by the Mexican governmentin 2001. All Mexican states participatein the Three-for-One program, which in2006 co-funded projects with 723 HTAsin 34 US states. Projects carried outunder Three-for-One vary, but officialSEDESOL statistics indicate that themajority of projects are public infrastruc-ture (see Figure 3). The government of ElSalvador operates a similar matching-fund program for migrant HTAs.

• Destination-countrydevelopmentagencies.Internationaldevelopment agenciesin destinationcountries have takenan active interest inpartnering with HTAsto fund projects, bothdirectly and indirectly,through broader asso-ciations. In particular,development agenciesmay view HTAs asreliable partners —especially in countrieswith weak governancestructures. Sometypical types ofengagement between

HTAs and international developmentagencies include the following:

• Direct funding of HTA projects.USAID has funded studiesexamining HTAs’ developmentrole and has a number of partner-ships with associations from ElSalvador, Guyana, and Mexico.Similarly, in 2008 the NorwegianAgency for DevelopmentCooperation (Norad) launched amatching-fund pilot program forPakistani HTAs in Norway thatcontribute to developmentprojects in Pakistan. The

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Note: Includes projects funded through October 10, 2007. * Communitycenters include senior centers, orphanages, rehabilitation centers forthe disabled, cultural centers, personal and family mausoleums,museums, libraries, and women's centers. Total number of projects =7,353.

Source: Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL), 2007.

Figure 3. Tres-por-Uno Funding by Project, 2002 to 2007

program, which partners PakistaniHTAs with professional nonprofitgroups (NGOs) in Norway, willmatch HTA contributions in fulland has been initially funded forfour years.

• Funding intermediaries andfederations. The CanadianInternational DevelopmentAgency (CIDA) works with organi-zations like the Association ofCanadian-Haitian Organizationsfor Development (LeRégroupement des OrganismesCanado-Haïtiens pour leDéveloppement, ROCAHD), afederation of Haitian hometownassociations in Montréal. CIDAco-funds small-scale developmentprojects in Haiti.30 In the UK, theDepartment for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) funds eventsfor the charity AFFORD, whichaims to assist African diasporaorganizations with theirdevelopment goals in theircountries of origin throughcapacity building and leadershipdevelopment. AFFORD’s HelpingAfricans Influence London (HAIL)program, for example, focuses onsupporting African communities’involvement in London andnational politics by bringingtogether various actors, includingpolicymakers and African

immigrants. AFFORD alsomaintains an online database ofAfrican diaspora organizations inthe UK.31

• HTAs in co-development policy.Under the aegis of its official co-development policy, the FrenchMinistry of Foreign Affairsprovides up to 70 percent of fundsfor development projects in Maliand Senegal that are designed,carried out, and co-funded (at aminimum of 30 percent) bydiaspora organizations and theircommunities of origin.32 TheFrench government also overseesa Support Program for MigrantSolidarity Organizations(Programme d’Appui auxOrganisations de Solidarité Issuesdes Migrations, PRA-OSIM),administered through thenonprofit Coordination SUD. Thisprogram gives technicalassistance and provides co-funding for development projectsfor these organizations. Anyapplicant organization mustcontribute at least 15 percent oftotal project costs from its ownresources and the government cancontribute a maximum of 50percent.33 Umbrella organizationsthat count village associations asmembers receive the bulk offunding through this initiative.

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•• International organization andgovernment partnerships. In April2004, the International Fund forAgricultural Development (IFAD) of theUnited Nations and the MultilateralInvestment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)established a $7.6 million fund for micro-finance and investment remittanceprojects. MIF contributed $4 million andIFAD contributed $2 million, leavingHTAs, microfinance institutions, andcredit unions to contribute $1.6 millionfor projects in Mexico, Honduras, andHaiti.34 In April 2003, USAID and thePan American Development Foundation(PADF) launched a joint initiativeintended to link Latin American andCaribbean immigrant groups in theUnited States with development projectsin their countries of origin. The pilotinitiative began with training workshopsfor three immigrant groups and is workingwith partner groups from El Salvador,Haiti, and Mexico. The projects includethe effort of the Washington, D.C.-basedNational Organization for theAdvancement of Haitians (NOAH) tocreate fruit-tree grafting and seedlingprojects in Haiti, and the work of theCalifornia-based Organization of Migrantsfor Ayoquezco (OMA) with theirhometown in Mexico to enhance ediblecactus cultivation.35

•• The nonprofit sector. Somedevelopment-oriented nonprofit groupshave partnered with HTAs as well.

Through its Linkis program, OxfamNovib (the Dutch branch of Oxfam) hasprovided development funding todiaspora organizations based in theNetherlands. Oxfam Novib approved559,877 euros in 2005 for a three-yearproject carried out by Hirda, a Somaliorganization based in Amsterdam. In2007, Oxfam Novib provided a three-year grant worth 364,969 euros for anEthiopian organization, the DIRFoundation.36

•• The private sector. The private sectorhas also shown interest in working withHTAs. The Four-for-One program — apartnership launched in2005 by First DataCorporation, the ownerof remittance industrygiant Western Union;the government of the state ofZacatecas; and Mexican HTAs — addsan additional tier of matching funds todonations made by Mexican HTAsunder the Three-for-One program, up to$1.25 million yearly.37

Ultimately, it is difficult to analyze theimpact of HTA development efforts. Theambiguous relationship between HTAs anddevelopment — much like the relationshipbetween migration and development —suggests that while HTAs can helpalleviate poverty in countries of origin,they rarely have the capacity to promotesustainable development. While HTAs’

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Ultimately, it isdifficult to analyzethe impact of HTAdevelopment efforts.

total financial contributions to theircommunities of origin are often cited, suchfigures may obscure the actual impact ofsuch investments. Policy initiatives thatconcentrate solely on the developmentimpact of migrants’ transnational activities,including participation in HTAs, fail tocapture the full scope of contemporarymigration dynamics. For example, efforts toincrease migrants’ access to financialservices were originally framed in thecontext of facilitating remittance flows tothe origin country, but also have importantimplications for migrants’ economicmobility in the destination country.

It is important for policymakers to recognizethat fully integrated migrants are best

positioned to contribute totheir home countries’development efforts, andconversely, thatdevelopment in origincountries has positiveoutcomes for destinationcountries. Indeed, transna-tional activities arenecessarily rooted in thedestination countries asmuch as they are in theorigin countries.Examining the role thatHTAs play in immigrant

integration can provide a framework toanalyze their strengths, and outline possiblesynergies between integration anddevelopment objectives.

VI. Rediscovering an Old Truth:Hometown Associations asIntegration Intermediaries

The academic literature describing HTAs isextensive, but it mainly focuses on thedevelopment impacts of HTAs. Few studieshave examined the complementary nature ofHTA activities in both origin and destinationcountries.38 Yet due to these synergies HTAsare a unique forum to foster coherence ondiaspora policy issues and to advance inter-governmental and international civil-societydialogue on diasporas.

Although few public policies have focused onHTAs in their capacity as integration inter-mediaries, there are clear areas where theassociations support immigrant integration.Firstly, HTAs can help new immigrants copewith the initial period of settlement, andwhile it is rare that the organizations providedirect support services to migrants, theyserve as natural points to disseminateinformation on available services. Secondly,HTA membership may be a first step towardactive citizenship in the destination country— particularly for migrants with limitedproficiency in the destination-countrylanguage. Also, HTAs offer members thechance to become involved with a communityorganization and the opportunity for leadersto hone their organizational skills.

Partnerships for social service support Migrant associations and ethnic community-based organizations provide a safe andfamiliar setting for migrants to gain basic

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Although fewpublic policies

have focused onHTAs in their

capacity asintegration inter-

mediaries, thereare clear areas

where the associa-tions support

immigrantintegration.

assistance in adjusting to their newcommunities. In some cases organizationsmay offer services directly, such as AlianzaDominicana, a Dominican communityorganization in New York, which offersEnglish as a Second Language (ESL)classes, citizenship education, healthservices, and day care in addition to anumber of other services.39

HTAs vary in terms of size, operation, andobjectives. The majority, however, do nothave the expertise or capacity to offercourses themselves. Some social services,such as legal aid, may be the logicalpurview of country-of-origin governmentsthrough mechanisms such as consularnetworks whereas destination-countrygovernments may more efficientlyadminister other social services such asESL and citizenship education. Still otherservices, including education, workforcetraining, and health care, may be bestserved through collaborative efforts betweenboth governments and the associations. Ultimately, the most appropriate role ofHTAs in social-service delivery may be toinstitutionalize a function that many alreadyperform — that is, to serve as de factomigrant information centers. Given thatboth consular agencies and municipalgovernments are faced with limitedpublicity budgets despite often offering awide array of services, partnerships withHTAs may be a productive means to reachtheir intended clientele. This alreadyhappens in many cases. In a typicalexample, Princeton University’s 2005

Comparative Immigrant OrganizationProject (CIOP) recorded a Michoacán HTAin Southern California working with theMexican consulate to offer legal aidservices, one of the primary services theassociation provided to its members.40

Civic participation: HTAs and migrant mobilizationInvolvement in HTAs can encourage civicinvolvement on a wider scale. Individualswho work with HTAs can gain valuableexperience in organizing and HTA agendascan expand over time tofocus on political andcommunity action incommunities ofdestination. For instance,a recent study focused onthe Chicago area (Illinoisis home to more than 170 HTAs registeredwith the Institute of Mexicans Abroad41)found that the majority of HTA membersbelonged to, on average, four othernondiaspora community organizations.42

Similarly, HTA involvement can bolsterpolitical participation. One study ofDominican HTAs in New York City’sWashington Heights neighborhood foundthat association membership was a strongpredictor of political participation becauseinvolvement with HTAs gave immigrantsthe skills to participate in US politics.43

Immigration issues frequently provide themotivation for participation in destination-country politics.

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Involvement in HTAscan encourage civicinvolvement on awider scale.

Immigrants are able to focus their politicalgoals through HTAs, ensuring a voice signifi-cantly louder than any one person. HTAstook part in nationwide demonstrations forimmigrants’ rights in spring 2006. Later thatyear, Mexicans for Political Progress wasformed in Chicago. This political actioncommittee has endorsed and raised funds forpolitical candidates, and participated invoter registration and election volunteering.44

CONFEMEX has been an increasingly activeparticipant in US politics, getting involved inimmigration and education reform and civil-rights debates.45

VII. Policy Options and Cautions

Small, well-crafted interventions (with thevoluntary cooperation of HTAs) should bemade where they can enhance the effective-ness of HTA-provided integration services.Based upon the existing policy initiativestoward HTAs as well as knowledge of themultiple roles that HTAs play, collaborativepolicy options include:

• HTA capacity building. HTAs rely onthe work of volunteers who are frequentlynew to management and communityorganizing. In order to build HTAcapacity, outside actors could providetraining for HTA leaders in areas such aslaws governing nonprofit incorporation,nonprofit management, and accessingmunicipal services. Training HTA leaderscould lead to the professionalization ofassociation management and perhapsadvance formalization. While municipal

government or local nonprofit groups maybe best suited to provide training,consular officials’ participation could alsoprove useful.

• Incentives for federations or organiza-tional collaboration. Local governmentsand foreign ministries may not have thefinancial capacity to deal with the vastnumber of HTAs in their communities orthat are part of their diasporas, respec-tively. Federations and umbrella organiza-tions therefore have an important role insuch instances because, while many HTAswould like to appeal to donors andgovernments for support, it is not feasiblefor individual HTAs to do this. Majordevelopment agencies such as USAID,DFID, or CIDA are not able to providefunds to individual HTAs for small-scaledevelopment projects. Establishingfederations, especially if they havenonprofit status, can give HTAs leveragewith such donors.

However, many HTAs do not createfederations and not just because ofinadequate resources, but also due to lackof time, organizational experience, orinterest. Furthermore, creating federationsmay institutionalize a “homeland gaze” —an outcome that destination-country poli-cymakers intent on integration may bewary of encouraging. It may be moreappropriate to incentivize collaborationthrough coalition building between HTAsand other community organizations.

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• Partnerships for information dissemi-nation. While most HTAs are unable toprovide a wide range of social services,they can be pivotal points of contactbetween existing social service providersand migrants. When they are wellinformed, HTAs can direct members toappropriate services, including jobplacement, language, vocational training,health care, and legal assistance. Indeed,the Mexican Secretariat of Health isconsidering leveraging HTA networks toprovide health insurance to Mexicans inthe United States.

•• Reaching out to nontraditional actors.NGOs, community organizations, and localgovernments can explore opportunities toaccelerate HTAs’ integration work byidentifying the most promising interventionpoints. Such sponsorship would come atlittle cost to government, but could have asignificant impact on HTA operations.Local governments are uniquely positionedto take on this role because HTAs arecommunity-based. Furthermore, localgovernment actors have a more in-depthview of their communities’ needs. By theend of 2006, for example, the Monirinkiprogram of Vantaan Järjestörinki ry (VantaaAssociation Circle) in Vantaa, Finland hadpartnered with 12 immigrant associationsto provide support and training to enhancetheir function as voluntary associations.More notably, the Monirinki programassists immigrant associations in forgingrelationships with the municipalgovernment and other organizations.46

• Learning from past experience. HTApolicy is a relatively novel policy field,and accordingly in-depth cross-nationalstudies of existing policies are lacking.Developing a thoughtful, policy-relevantresearch agenda on HTAs will beessential to evaluating outcomes andinforming decision making. Comparableexperiences working with migrant civilsociety may prove instructive. Inparticular, the refugee resettlementprocess provides an example of howdestination countries can work effectivelywith migrant associations, for examplelocal government cooperation with ethniccommunity-based organizations in theUnited States.47 HTA engagement couldfacilitate immigrant or refugee integrationservices and strategies.

• Collaborative data collection. Thepaucity of data on HTAs complicates anypolicy design or implementation efforts.Collecting data on HTAs creates greateropportunities for partnerships to develop.From the HTA’s perspective, getting wordof its existence in a directory, be it with agovernment agency or NGO, increasesthe likelihood that donors and potentialpartners will be aware of the association.For organizations and governments thataim to work with HTAs, obtainingreliable information about the number ofassociations and contact information canbe very difficult. Data collection couldbe carried out by local governments,nonprofit organizations, academic institu-tions or, as shown by the Mexican and

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Salvadoran examples, consular networks.However, any HTA registration shouldremain entirely voluntary and safeguardsshould ensure that associations will notbe co-opted.

Policymakers have a seemingly universalpreference to view HTAs as developmentagents, yet in reality associations perform amore complex role, adapting to the needs andinterests of migrants in both the destinationand origin countries. As such, and due to theirflexible, ad hoc nature at the intersection ofpolicy in countries of origin and destination,HTAs offer a valuable opportunity to achievegreater coherence among different policyarenas involving migrants.

As this Insight argues, the initial step is topursue complementarities betweendevelopment and integration objectives.However, working with HTAs — or anydiaspora groups — can also provechallenging. It is essential that policymakersrecognize the limitations of HTAs, including:

• Establishing meaningful partnerships.Essential elements of successful origin-country government initiatives to engageHTAs as development agents include:interest and commitment on the part ofboth parties, and an established degree ofmutual trust. Governments may beunconvinced of the return on investmentin informally organized HTAs that aredifficult, if not impossible, to holdaccountable. In this respect, larger andmore organized HTAs, or association

federations, may be more successful atattracting home-country governmentinterest. Conversely, HTAs may beskeptical of the motivations of interestedgovernments, often jaded by historicpolitical cooption or perceived (and real)corruption among bureaucrats andpoliticians. While government-matchingschemes and funding programs canattract participation, financialinvestments are not a panacea. It isimportant to progressively build institu-tional and personal relationships.

•• Recognizing the limits of HometownAssociations. In thinking through policyoptions for accelerating cooperation withHTAs, it is important to recall whatHTAs are, and whatthey are not. Theyare volunteer organi-zations, spontaneousmigrant networks,and an expression ofmeaningful contactswith the country andcommunity of origin.HTA members (andleadership) are veryrarely experts ineither development or immigrantintegration. HTA staffs have jobs andother responsibilities, and associationstypically lack the resources necessary toundertake expansive projects orprograms. Since many HTAs raise moneyto fund hometown projects, the initiativesare often chosen by the HTA members

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Hometown associa-tions can complement,but cannot substitutefor other efforts toengage migrants indevelopment,integration, and civicengagement inparticular.

ENDNOTES

1 Manuel Orozco and Rebecca Rouse, “Migrant Hometown Associations and Opportunities for Development: AGlobal Perspective,” Migration Information Source, February 2007,http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?ID=579.

2 Jonathan Fox and Xóchitl Bada, “Migrant Organization and Hometown Impacts in Rural Mexico,” Journal ofAgrarian Change 8, no. 2 (April 2008): 435-461.

3 For an overview, see Jose C. Moya, “Immigrants and Associations: A Global and Historical Perspective,”Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 31, no. 5 (2005): 833-864.

4 See, for example, Anat Helman, “Hues of Adjustment: Landsmanshaftn in Inter-war New York and Tel Aviv,”Jewish History 20 no. 1 (2006): 41-67; Daniel Soyer, Jewish Immigrant Associations and Identity in New York,1880-1930 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997); Hannah Kliger, ed., Jewish HometownAssociations and Family Circles in New York: The WPA Yiddish Writers’ Group Study (Bloomington, IN: IndianaUniversity Press, 1992).

5 States include Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Georgia, Utah, Florida, Oregon,Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Washington, New York, Texas, Illinois, and California. The statesaccounted for over 90 percent of the Mexican-born population resident in the United States, according tothe 2000 US Census.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and University of California-Santa Cruz, Invisible No More:Mexican Migrant Civic Participation in the United States (Washington, DC: WWIC and UC Santa Cruz, 2006).

6 Manuel Orozco and Rebecca Rouse, “Migrant Hometown Associations,” Migration Information Source, February2007, http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=579.

7 Manuel Orozco, Micah Bump, Rachel Fedewa, and Katya Sienkiewicz, Diasporas, Development andTransnational Integration: Ghanaians in the U.S., U.K., and Germany (Washington, DC: U.S. Agency forInternational Development, 2005).

8 Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Viceministerio para los Salvadoreños en el Exterior, ComunidadSalvadoreña en el Exterior (San Salvador: Viceministerio para los Salvadoreños en el Exterior, 2005).

9 Christophe Daum, Typologie des Organisations de Solidarité Internationale Issues de l’Immigration (Paris:GREM, Institut Panos, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, 2000).

10 Claire Mercer (Department of Geography, University of Leicester), interview via telephone with MigrationPolicy Institute, February 21, 2008.

11 Woodrow Wilson Center, Invisible No More, 2006.

12 Instituto de Mexicanos en el Exterior, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, “Clubes de Oriundos,” Mexicanosen el Exterior 1 no. 7 (October 2004).

13 Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, Xóchitl Bada, and Luis Escala-Rabadán, “Mexican Migrant Civic and PoliticalParticipation in the US: The Case of Hometown Association in Los Angeles and Chicago” (paper presented atthe seminar Mexican Migrant Social and Civic Participation in the United States, Washington, DC, November4-5, 2005), http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/riverabadaescala1.pdf.

14 Ibid.

15 The program originally began at the state level in Zacatecas as early as 1992 under a state and localmatching-fund program, the Two-for-One program. Several other states replicated the program during the1990s, and in 1999 the federal government offered an additional layer of matching funds to states with suchprograms, creating the Three-for-One program. In 2001, Mexican President Vicente Fox made the programapplicable to all states.

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16 See Robert Courtney Smith, Mexican New York: Transnational Lives of New Immigrants (Berkeley, CA:University of California Press, 2006).

17 Manuel Orozco, Diasporas, Philanthropy and Hometown Associations: the Central American Experience(draft) (Washington, DC: Inter-American Dialogue, 2006).

18 See for example: African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), Survey of African Organizations inLondon: An agenda for AFFORD’s action (London: African Foundation for Development, 1998), http://www.afford-uk.org/documents/DownloadArea/african_org_london.pdf.

19 Thomas Owusu, “The Role of Ghanaian Immigrant Associations in Toronto, Canada,” InternationalMigration Review 34 no. 4 (2000): 1155-81.

20 Roger Waldinger, Between Here and There: How Attached Are Latino Immigrants To Their Native Country?(Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, October 2007).

21 Manuel Orozco, “Diaspora and Development: Some Considerations,” (presentation at the George WashingtonUniversity conference, The Role of Diasporas in Developing the Homeland, Washington, DC, June 16,2006). http://gstudynet.org/what/research/programs/diasporas.php.

22 Thomas Owusu, “The Role of Ghanaian Immigrant Associations,” 2000.

23 Government of Bangladesh, Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, and InternationalOrganization for Migration, Dhaka, Institutionalizing Diaspora Linkages: The Emigrant Bangladeshis in UKand USA,” (Dhaka: International Organization for Migration, 2004).

24 Shelton Davis, “Migration, Remittances, and Ethnic Identity: The Experiences of Guatemalan Maya in theUnited States” in Moving Out of Poverty: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Mobility, eds. Deepa Narayanand Patti Petesch (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007).

25 Tatiana Wah, “The Significance of US Haitian Expatriates for Haiti’s Development and their Requirementsfor Participation” (paper presented to the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, Inc.,August 2000), http://www.noahhaiti.org/conferences/Jean1.htm.

26 Nadia Flores Vences (Institute of Mexicans Abroad, Secretariat of Foreign Affairs), interview via telephonewith Migration Policy Institute, February 29, 2008.

27 The associations in the database include hometown associations, professional associations, and otherimmigrant organizations; Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior, “Directorio de Organizaciones y Clubesde Oriundos,” http://www.ime.gob.mx/directorioorganizaciones.

28 Viceministerio de Relaciones Exteriores para los Salvadoreños en el Exterior, “Asociaciones de Salvadoreñosen el Exterior,” http://www.comunidades.gob.sv/website/comunidades1.html.

29 Christophe Daum, Typologie des Organisations, 2000.

30 Based on authors’ communication with CIDA and ROCAHD.

31 African Foundation for Development, http://www.afford-uk.org.

32 Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Cellule co-développement, La Lettre du Co-développement, no. 1 (Paris :Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, July 2005).

33 German Foundation for World Population, “PRA-OSIM,” http://www.euroresources.org/guide_to_population_assistance/france/pra_osim.html.

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22

34 International Fund for Agricultural Development, Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank, the European Commission, and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, “IFAD, EC,and CGAP Launch New Initiative to Promote Remittances Services for Poor Rural People,” (IFAD release41/06, November 13, 2006), http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2006/41.htm.

35 US Agency for International Development (USAID), “USAID, PADF Launch Remittance-Based EconomicDevelopment Initiative,” (news release, April 25, 2003),http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2003/pr030425.html.

36 Leila Rispens-Noel, “Building Partnerships with Diaspora Organizations,” Migrant Remittances 4 no. 5(2007): 7-8.

37 National Hispanic Business Information Clearinghouse, “Mexico 4x1 Program,”http://www.nhbic.org/index.php?id=11008&lang=en.

38 Notable exceptions include Alejandro Portes, Cristina Escobar, and Renelinda Arana, “Bridging the Gap:Transnational and Ethnic Organizations in the Political Incorporation of Immigrants in the United States”(working paper 07-05, Center for Migration and Development, Princeton University, December 2007);Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, Xóchitl Bada, and Luis Escala-Rabadán, “Mexican Migrant Civic and PoliticalParticipation in the US: The Case of Hometown Association in Los Angeles and Chicago” (paper presentedat the seminar Mexican Migrant Social and Civic Participation in the United States, Washington, DC,November 4-5, 2005), http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/riverabadaescala1.pdf; João Sardinha, “CapeVerdean Associations in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon: Their Role in Integration,” (working paper no. 26,Center for Migration Research, University of Sussex, 2005).

39 New York Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Agency Directory, “Alianza Dominicana,” (online directory,accessed June 17, 2008), https://a069-webapps3.nyc.gov/dsial/Agency_Detail.aspx?id=005.

40 Portes, Escobar, and Arana, “Bridging the Gap,” 2007.

41 Woodrow Wilson Center, Invisible No More, 2006.

42 Timothy Ready, Roger Knight, and Sung-Chan Chun, “Latino Civic and Community Involvement: Findingsfrom the Chicago-area Survey,” Latino Research @ ND 3 no. 4 (2006).

43 Adrian Pantoja, “Transnational Ties and Immigrant Political Incorporation: The Case of Dominicans inWashington Heights, New York,” International Migration 43 no. 4 (2005): 123-44.

44 Federación de Clubes Michoacanos en Illinois, “Mexicanos for Political Progress. Un Paso Más en laParticipación Cívica de la Comunidad Mexicana” (paper presented at Presencia Michoacana en el MedioOeste, Chicago, June 2-23, 2007).

45 Rivera-Salgado, Bada, and Escala-Rabadán, “Mexican Migrant Civic and Political Participation,” 2005.

46 Vantaan Järjestörinki ry, “Monirinki-hanke,”http://www.vantaalla.info/sivu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=49.

47 Kathleen Newland, Hiroyuki Tanaka, and Laura Barker, Bridging Divides: Ethnic Community-BasedOrganizations in Refugee Integration (Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2007).

48 Tatiana Wah, “Significance of US Haitian Expatriates for Haiti’s Development,” August 2000.

23

Will SomervilleWill Somerville is a Senior Policy Analyst for the Migration PolicyInstitute’s International Program. Previously, he worked in Englandfor the Commission for Racial Equality, the Prime Minister’s StrategyUnit, Cabinet Office, and the Institute for Public Policy Research. Heholds a First Class Degree from Leeds University and a Masters withDistinction in Social Policy from the London School of Economics,where he was awarded the prestigious Richard Titmuss Prize.He has managed over 20 research projects and has over 25 publica-tions to his credit. He is a regular contributor to the Guardiannewspaper and has edited five welfare-rights and best practice books.His most recent book, Immigration under New Labour, was publishedin September 2007.

Jamie DuranaJamie Durana was a Research Intern at the Migration Policy Institutein spring 2008, where she focused on immigrant integration andmigrant associations. She holds a Master of Arts degree inNationalism and Identity from University College London and aBachelor of Arts degree in Government and Politics from theUniversity of Maryland.

Aaron Matteo TerrazasAaron Matteo Terrazas is a Research Assistant at the MigrationPolicy Institute, where he focuses on the migration-developmentnexus and on US immigrant integration policy. He holds a Bachelorof Science degree with honors from the Edmund Walsh School ofForeign Service at Georgetown University, where he majored inInternational Affairs and earned a certificate in Latin AmericanStudies. He was awarded the William Manger Latin American StudiesAward for his senior thesis, “The Mexican Connection: Remittances,Diaspora Engagement, Economic Development, and the Role of theState.” He also studied at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris.

About the Authors

Insight

The Migration Policy Institute(MPI) is an independent,nonpartisan, nonprofit thinktank dedicated to the study ofthe movement of peopleworldwide. The instituteprovides analysis, development,and evaluation of migrationand refugee policies at thelocal, national, and internationallevels. It aims to meet therising demand for pragmaticresponses to the challengesand opportunities thatmigration presents in an evermore integrated world. MPIproduces the MigrationInformation Source atwww.migrationinformation.org.

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1400 16th Street NWSuite 300Washington, DC 20036

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www.migrationpolicy.orgwww.migrationinformation.org

This Insight is the latest publication from the Migration PolicyInstitute. Other recent publications on development or immigrantintegration include:

• “Los Angeles on the Leading Edge: Immigrant Integration Indicatorsand Their Policy Implications” by Michael Fix, Margie McHugh,Aaron Matteo Terrazas, and Laureen Laglagaron, April 2008.

• “Protecting Overseas Workers: Lessons and Cautions from thePhilippines” by Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias and Neil G. Ruiz,September 2007.

• “Language Policies and Practices for Helping Immigrants andSecond-Generation Students Succeed” by Gayle Christensen andPetra Stanat, September 2007.

• “Circular Migration and Development: Trends, Policy Routes, andWays Forward” by Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias and KathleenNewland, April 2007.

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