National Immigrant Communities Project
The Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management
Baruch College School of Public Affairs, CUNY
New York, NY
November 11, 2014
National Immigrant Communities Project
 What is the National Immigrant Communities Project (NICP)?
 The need
 The three phases
 What is the current status of NICP?
 NCCS list of immigrant organizations
 Proof-of-concept beta website
 What are the challenges facing NICP?
 Identifying and classifying immigrant organizations
 Limitations of NCCS
 Funding
 How can you be part of NICP?
The Need
 Immigrant organizations “play a central role during all parts of the immigration
process and in the social, cultural, political, and economic” integration of
immigrants (Cordero-Guzman 2005, 889).
 Immigration specialists, researchers, scholars, and advocates:
 voice the need for information on the capacity of immigrant organizations; and
 recommend that data should be collected, shared, and mapped according to the
types and levels of service provided by different organizations (Riosmena 2013).
 Immigration initiatives and reaching immigrants.
 A full picture of the infrastructure supporting immigrant integration is called for.
 This includes immigrant organizations, community-based nonprofits, public
agencies , businesses, public-private partnerships, private funders, and other
community entities.
The Need
The Three Phases
 A joint project of Urban’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy and
Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
 Phase 1: Identify and map immigrant organizations in the U.S.
 Phase 2: Develop an interactive online platform and resource for key
stakeholders:
 Immigrant communities and organizations
 Advocates, researchers, and other interested parties
 Government agencies and funders
 Phase 3: Survey organizations to gather detailed, systematic information on:
 Immigrant communities
 Immigrant organizations
 Immigrant integration
Phase 1: Identifying & Mapping Organizations
Immigrant organizations are those with a mission and/or activities that address
the aspirations, issues and needs of people with similar national/ethnic origins
and/or immigrant communities in general (adapted from Gleeson and Bloemraad
2012).
These include:
 Congregations
 Human Services
 Arts and Culture
 Education
 Civil Rights/Advocacy
 Other
Phase 1: Identifying & Mapping Organizations
 Identify immigrant organizations in the National Center for Charitable Statistics
(NCCS) database
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NTEE code P84 (Ethnic and Immigrant Centers)
List of countries of origin of foreign-born population
List of identifiers by country (e.g., Philippine, Filipino, Pilipino)
Focus on top ten countries of origin
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List identifiers by region/province (e.g., Kapampangan, Ilocano, Visayan)
List other possible identifiers (e.g., Couples for Christ, Kababayan, Mutya)
 Classify by regions and sub-regions
 Africa (Sub-Saharan)
 Asia
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Central and South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands
Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean
Middle East and North Africa
Europe
Other (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand)
Phases 2 & 3: Developing Platform & Surveying
Organizations
 Phase 2: Develop an interactive online platform and resource for various
stakeholders
 View maps of immigrant organizations and other immigrant-serving institutions
and resources
 Upload organizational, institutional, and resource information
 Pull external data
 Search for organizations and other institutions
 Find community resources:
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Directories, calendars, libraries
 Phase 3: Survey organizations and gather information on:
 Immigrant communities
 Immigrant organizations and immigrant-serving institutions
What is NICP?
What is NICP?
What is NICP?
Project Status
 Identified 7,272 immigrant organizations:
 4,874 classified
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African: 177
Asian and Pacific Islander: 2,525
Latino: 1,594
Middle Eastern and North African: 207
 2,398 to be classified
 In NYS, 825 classified
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African: 27
Latino: 242
Asian and Pacific Islander: 325
TBD: 186
 Concerns about gross undercounting and classification:
 For example, only 56 Filipino organizations nationwide are identified
 Continued cleaning and searching
 Proof-of-concept interactive website under development
 Ward 1, Washington, DC
Project Status
Immigrant Organizations in the U.S.
Project Status
Immigrant Organizations in NYS
Project Status
African Organizations
Asian & Pacific Islander
Organizations
Latino Organizations
Project Status
Challenges & How You Can Help
 Limitations of keyword searches:
 Identifying organization names based on language/dialect, region, religion, etc.
 Extracting data using SQL
 Limited knowledge of racial/ethnic and immigrant communities
 Limitations of NCCS and similar databases:
 Immigrant organizations are often undercounted, precluded due to size and
unincorporated status (Gleeson and Bloemraad 2012; Grønbjerg 2002; Toepler
2003).
 Limited project resources.
An excellent solution:
 Join the project:
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Share lists
Provide expertise and resources
Collaborate in project development
Get the word out
National Immigrant Communities Project
Salamat, gracias, thank you!
For more information:
Erwin de Leon
(202) 261-5421
edeleon@urban.org