Executive Summary Excerpts from the Immigrant Integration in Los Angeles: Strategic Directions for Funders report
With vibrant passion and strong language, the debate about immigration policy in the United States has often generated more heat than light. Lost in the flurry has been the recognition that in some regions, including metropolitan Los Angeles, the immigrant presence is more a fact than a talking point, and as much an opportunity as a challenge.
While Washington may focus on flows and borders, Los Angeles is marked by stocks and passages: one third of our residents are immigrants, nearly half of our workforce is foreign-born, and two-thirds of those under 18 are the children of immigrants. The fates of these immigrant workers, families, and their children, 90 percent of whom are U.S.-born, are not just their concern. How they fare will determine how we all fare in Southern California.
Earlier in American history, the task
of effectively integrating immigrants
was taken up by institutions such as
settlement houses, unions, and urban
political machines – and integration was
helped by a thriving industrial sector
that provided good and secure jobs to
workers with modest skills. But many
of these institutions have been weakened
in subsequent years even as globalization
has curtailed wage growth for those with
a high school education or less.
