Immigration Community of Practice

Main Topics of discussion: Introductions

• Get to know one another and connect about what we are doing in our respective work and communities.
• Co-create a plan for gathering data, sharing immigration resources and supports with our communities, and identify possible immigration task forces or affinity groups.
• Make a plan for our future meetings and how we can support one another and collaborate in meaningful ways.

Main Topics:
Discuss each of the following -

• What concerns do you (or the organization that you represent) have with respect to the health and wellbeing of members of local immigrant communities?
• What relevant resources do you know about that promote health and wellbeing?
• What current or future initiatives are you a part of (or would you like to be a part of)? Are you interested in collaborating with other folx from this group? If so, in what particular area(s) and/or capacities?

Main topics of discussion:

• Comment on Biden Administration’s draft regulations to govern the DACA program
• School opening & lack of advocacy for immigrants i.e. interpreters, liaisons, bilingual teachers and staff
  • Pressure at the School Board level
  • Need for a key report that shows the inequity of accessibility 
    • Stanford Children study data
  • School Leadership’s generalization of how to support English Language Learners (ELL) 
    • Taking time to identify who the kids are and different compositions of each school
  • Puyallup Public Schools is building a Dual Language Program this year
    • Interested in connecting with and hosting dual language student teachers
    • Increase in diversity at Puyallup Public Schools
      • Over 70 languages in their ELL program
    • Would like to invite someone to speak to the Diversity Committee
    • Building pipeline of teachers
      • UW Tacoma School of Education’s new Education major and new Latino minor. 
      • Making connections with the school that’s producing these future teachers
      • Internships, volunteering, para educators
      • Julie Aguirre, Ph.D. Faculty Director of the Teacher Certification Programs & Professor
      • TLAX 298

Topics of discussion:

• Detention (NWDC)
• Some of us are immigrants; lived experience
• Language access (perhaps reaching out to WASCLA--Washington State Coalition for Language Access)
• General health and wellbeing of immigrant communities in the South Sound
• COVID health inequities
• Exploitative labor practices
• Encouraging Latinx civic engagement
• City of Tacoma and internships/career focus (especially for BIPOC students/alumni)
• Building leadership capacity for the community/communities and university’s role in creating positive relationships/connections with the local community
• Leadership development/civic engagement (Safe Streets, Catherine Place, College Success Foundation, Proyecto MoLe, LUSS)
• Ensuring the incorporation of voices of various local  immigrant/refugee communities (beyond just the Latinx population)
• The notion of Tacoma as a “welcoming city” and how to create a context in which immigrant communities can thrive
• Policing and respecting rights 
• Utilizing and understanding appropriate data (e.g., Latinx community as 11% of Tacoma [?])

This Month’s Focus: Language Access

• Develop specific strategies and action items to address the ongoing need for advocacy and support of students and families whose primary language is not English within our local school districts AND elsewhere 
• Discuss potential collaborations among members of this group for initiatives like documenting what services and resources are currently available at local schools or other organizations, which services and resources are lacking, and collecting data regarding inequities related to linguistic accessibility
• Discuss ideas for actionable recommendations related to developing--and communicating to school districts and other relevant organizations--best practices for supporting English Language Learners and their families individually and institutionally

This Month’s Focus: Language Access, continued

• Guest speakers: Emily Fung and Moisés Pérez from Open Doors for Multicultural Families about Washington State House Bill 1153 (Increasing Language Access in Public Schools), their journey to get the legislation passed, where they and their collaborators are going from here, and how we could potentially get involved to extend and enhance their work. 
• Presentations: Language Justice Speaker Series

Key points of discussion

• House Bill 1153 (access Open Doors for Multicultural Families) presentation here: Language Access Workgroup | OSPI
• 2021 Language Access Workgroup Report.pdf
• Designing Language Access consulting group, 
  • Designing Language Access is a cross-institutional and community-based research and consulting group who work to improve language access in the Puget Sound for communities who speak languages other than English. Using methods from user-centered design, we are creating tools and resources for organizations working towards language justice. 

This Month’s Focus: Detention & Deportation

• Guest Speaker: Phil Neff, Project Coordinator for the UW Center for Human Rights, shared updates about a variety of UWCHR’s recent work on the human rights implications of contemporary immigration enforcement in Washington state. Neff also discussed projects related to the Keep Washington Working and Courts Open to All Acts, as well as various investigations about conditions at the NW ICE Processing Center (formally NWDC).
• Presentation: UW Tacoma - Immigration Community of Practice.pptx

Key Points of Discussion: 

• Q&A regarding UWCHR’s projects and discussion of meaningful ways to contribute to ongoing and/or new local efforts related to the protection of immigrants’ human rights.