Students in our class have experience working with organizations that address various social issues including poverty, homelessness, incarceration, mental health, access to educational opportunities, and literacy (just to name a few). With such a wide range of interests, I thought it would be difficult to define the problem our foundation would address. We began our brainstorming by writing all potential topics on the board, which largely reflected the list of social issues listed above. We narrowed our target population to children, youth, and adults in immigrant communities in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area (DMV). We then narrowed the focus of our foundation’s work to improving access to educational achievement, extracurricular, and professional development programming for people living in low-income immigrant communities in the DMV.
According to a report by the Urban Institute in 2009, there are around 533 nonprofits the serve immigrant communities in the DMV, which has increased in the past two decades.1Many of the students in our class have worked with some of these nonprofits, including the Latino Student Fund, Edu-Futuro, Temple Micah Sukkat Shalom, TASSC, among others. Working with the Latino Student Fund’s (LSF) high school tutoring program between 2014 and 2016, which served youth who recently arrived in the US, I saw the incredible determination, perseverance and hardships these adolescents faced. While most of the time we focused on homework tutoring, we would occasionally talk about the beauty and richness of the countries they immigrated from and other times about the realities of gang violence and separated families. It was frustrating to see such determined and talented youth be faced with systemic obstacles that limited their opportunities. However, the LSF helped to open doors and support the youth as they broke down barriers. The number of students at LSF grew in 2014, for the reasons that will be discussed below. Schools in DC have also tried to implement new programs and adapt to the needs of these youth. For example, Cardozo Education Campus started an International Academy with a focus on integrating ESL into high school classes.
The expanding number of these nonprofits reflects the increase of the immigrant community. In 1970 there were around 130,000 immigrants residing in the DMV area, which represented 4% of the total population. Today, nearly 1.3 million immigrants call the DMV area home, making up nearly 15% of the population2. Additionally, some 74,814 people in the DMV who are native-born have at least one immigrant parent3. While Latinos make up the majority of immigrants, since the 2000’s immigrants there has also been an increase in people from parts of Africa, Asia, and South America. Countries of origin include El Salvador (15.3%), China (4.9%), Ethiopia (4.7%), Mexico (4%), and India (3.9%).4 Unaccompanied refugee youth in DC marks a new trend, caused by youth fleeing violence and economic hardship starting in 2014. Some 10% of unaccompanied youth, or 13,000 teens, were released to sponsor families in the DMV in 2014.5
Through our work at NGO sites in the city, we know that many organizations provide many services to these communities, including English-learning classes. Interestingly, I learned that around 85.7% of immigrants reported speaking English “well” or “very well” in the DMV area.6Although this appears high, it also means some 13,600 immigrants reported speaking little or no English. Additionally, the Urban Institute reports: “almost one-fifth immigrant households in DC live in what the US Census Bureau terms ‘linguistically isolated households.’ These are households in which no one age 14 or older speaks English at least very well at home.”7I believe that organizations such as the LSF provide important services to increase access to opportunities for talented and hardworking individuals. I think it was important, specifically with the current environment and the publicized misconceptions of immigrant communities, that we chose to support NGOs working with these communities.
--Rachel
Responses from our class
I enjoyed reading your post! What a great flashback of the beginning of the semester or brainstorming! By chance do you have a screenshot of the board? I remember how our process or brainstorming almost took an entire class!
It was also interesting reading the statistics of the general make up of immigrants in DC and the non-profit organizations that serve them. As a native of the DMV area, I did not realize there were sooo many, and I find that wonderful that although many overlap with the common goal of helping this specific special population, each caters their services differently to various age groups.
Doing some background research, NVFS Training Futures provides motivated Northern Virginia Adults with the skills, knowledge, and resources to obtain professional, living-wage jobs. AHC Inc.'s after-School programs focus on improving literacy for elementary students. Staff and volunteers build reading, writing and vocabulary skills through a variety of educational and cultural activities. The Dream Project empowers students whose immigration status creates barriers to higher education, starting in high school, through college graduation and into professional life. Students are supported through mentoring, scholarships, family engagement and a strong network.
Additionally, thank you for sharing that insight on LSF! I also agree that these organizations are vital to ensuring the proper resources are being allocated to communities that are often overlooked for various reasons.
--Ashley
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your poignant and intriguing post that presented concrete data and caused me to really reflect on the work we do with Students for Students. Your discussion on 'linguistically isolated households' particularly piqued my interest; it is a term that I had not heard previously, but think it is a great phrase to contextualize differing circumstances of English language ability. It is challenging to learn a new language and there is a different urgency when you have family members to consider and or may be enrolled in a school where (almost) all of your classes are taught in English. Programs like the International Academy at Cardozo, from what I understand, are great examples of programs that could be integrated in other schools in the DCPS system. The Latino Student Fund within Cardozo school seems to offer rich additional resources, and it sounds like your experience with the organization ranged in activities and acted as a strong support for students. I too volunteered with LSF during a similar time frame and agree that, while tutoring was the main focus, there was space for greater conversations and a dichotomy in topics.
-Grace
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