The scientific approach that focused on the challenge of voter mobilization debuted in the first edition of Get Out the Vote! and influenced U.S. political campaign operations. This second edition includes data from more than 100 new studies plus two new chapters.
Becoming a U.S. citizen has been long regarded as a significant indicator of the integration of newcomers into U.S. civic and political life. This spotlight examines naturalization numbers from 2006 as well as historical trends.
The Immigration Advocates Network is a project of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), Pro Bono Net (PBN), and their partners that seeks to represent organizations around the country committed to impacting immigration policy, advocacy, and legal services. This informational publication describes the scope of IAN's work and its goals to increase capacity of organizations serving immigrants, enhance information sharing, and advance communication between organizations.
The foreign-born population in the United States has nearly tripled over the last four decades, and by 2010, an estimated one in seven people will be an immigrant. Responding to the dramatic growth of the foreign-born population, immigrant organizations are implementing strategies to engage newcomers in community life. This report introduces the concept of integrated voter engagement, elaborates on lessons learned and best practices, highlights the work of five immigrant organizations working to engage newcomers in civic and political life, and offers funders a set of concrete recommendations to expand immigrant civic engagement and leverage the impact of grant dollars through funding coordination and economies of scale.
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A More Perfect Union: A National Citizenship Plan sets forth the resources, activities, and partnerships that would be required to naturalize as many eligible immigrants as possible. It calls for a national mobilization in support of citizenship, identifying the roles of government, immigrant service agencies, and other sectors of society in a coordinated plan. It describes a program that could serve as the linchpin of an emerging U.S. immigrant integration strategy.
The proportion of all legal foreign-born residents who have become naturalized U.S. citizens rose to 52% in 2005, the highest level in a quarter of a century and a 14 percentage point increase since 1990, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center. This report examines the trends of naturalization in the United States by country and region of origin and length of time spent in the country, among other factors. It finds that legal immigrants are becoming citizens in shorter periods of time than previous groups of immigrants, and the proportion of those who naturalize may rise higher than past levels.
"Immigrants come along, they create their institutions of faith, they engage in their kids' education, they focus on their economic advancement, they create care and feeding service institutions. Then there comes a point where you cannot resolve the problems of your community without getting serious about civic engagement. It has become clearer with the ferocity of the anti-immigrant backlash that you are going to have to do that or your communities are going to be badly hurt.
This comprehensive, 346-page handbook explains the new N-400 and contains up-to-date legal analysis of citizenship eligibility, requirements, and benefits. The handbook also includes 12 study units on U.S. history and civics with historic photos, time lines, vocabulary, and sample tests. Written by best-selling author Aliza Becker, it is geared for immigrants, community leaders, social service providers, and other non-attorneys, using simplified English without legal terminology.
Immigrant-Led Organizers in Their Own Voices: Local Realities and Shared Visions demonstrates that community organizing increases civic engagement and integration of immigrant communities. This report attempts to give voice to immigrants as they struggle in their migration and integration experiences. As a result, it contains numerous quotes from community organizers, particularly on why and how they organize.
This book examines how the dramatic increase in economic inequality since the 1970s may have stalled or reversed gains toward the U.S. ideal of participatory, responsive democracy. Scholars marshal evidence that economic inequality has diminished the voice of middle and working classes in politics, and reduced support for inclusive public policies, like the G.I. Bill and Social Security, that opened opportunities in the middle of the twentieth century.
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