Promoting Immigrant and Human Rights at the Local Level: A Case Study of the Welcome Dayton Initiative (abstract)

Hazelton, Pennsylvania and Dayton, Ohio represent contrasting examples of community reactions to increases in immigrants. Both cities have experienced de-manufacturing in recent decades. In reaction to an influx of Latinos, Hazelton enacted the 2006 Illegal Immigration Relief Act (IIRA) which placed severe restrictions on the rights of undocumenteds. In contrast, the Dayton City Commission passed the Welcome Dayton: Immigrant-Friendly City initiative in 2011 with the goal of facilitating the integration of immigrant residents. Hazelton’s developers used tax incentives to establish warehouses, distribution centers, and a meatpacking plant, resulting in a significant demographic change. However, in adopting a neoliberal approach, the developers failed to provide support for emerging Latina/o-owned small businesses. The results have implications for economic justice and the protection of the rights of immigrant laborers. Also, Hazelton illustrates the limitations of legal challenges to restrictive legislation. Although the law was challenged and subsequently ruled unconstitutional, a local White-Latina/o organization attempting to \u27build a bridge\u27 between recent immigrants and local residents/institutions has been constrained from raising issues like race and immigrant rights. Consequently, the dominant narrative goes unchallenged and core factors — racial and economic inequality — remain in place. In contrast, the Welcome Dayton initiative was resulted from ongoing efforts by numerous local organizations, including those of immigrants and refugees themselves, to assist recent immigrants and protect their rights. When the City’s Human Relations Council initiated community conversations on immigrant issues, there were many participants with experience to guide the writing of a comprehensive report with extensive recommendations for institutional change. Once begun, Welcome Dayton’s initiatives have partnered with local organizations. Whether intentional or not, Dayton and cities with similar initiatives are acting in accord with the U.N.’s 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, especially the articles specifying equal access to educational, vocational and social services and equality of living and working conditions and employment contracts. These two cases reflect the contrast between citizen rights, which often stress individual rights and sometimes pit groups against each other, and human rights based on principles of social justice and the well-being of the human person

Impacts of the Trump Administration’s Policies on Immigrants and Refugees in Dayton

The Trump administration’s executive orders and policy changes regarding refugee resettlement and stepped-up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions are likely to create serious human rights and humanitarian impacts. These include separation of children from their parents, denial of due process in immigration courts, lengthy incarceration in detention centers, denial or loss of employment, denial of visas to citizens of some predominantly Muslim countries, denial of entry to previously vetted refugees scheduled for resettlement, and return (refoulment) of persons with well-founded fears of persecution or torture. These actions will potentially impact key human rights areas and concerns, such as nondiscrimination, equality before the law, equal protection of the law, protection against arbitrary punishment, the right to asylum, and the special protections accorded to families. They involve the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and refugee and torture conventions protecting rights to asylum and protection from deportation when that is likely to result in persecution, torture, or death. In this presentation, we will share the results of a study examining impacts of the administration’s actions on immigrant and refugee populations in the Dayton, Ohio, area. Impacts may include increased fear and stress and changes in daily routines; detention or deportation; family separation; economic hardships; increased instances of discrimination and harassment; difficulty accessing institutional services; and restrictions on mobility or visits from family. The research involves interviews with leaders of local immigrant and refugee communities and focus groups conducted with members of these communities during spring, summer, and early fall 2017. Staff of human service agencies who work with these communities will also be interviewed to examine the role of local institutions as intermediaries. The research team includes faculty and undergraduate students from the University of Dayton

Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Becoming Welcoming: Organizational Collaboration and Immigrant Integration in Dayton, Ohio

Coinciding with a national trend toward the localization of immigration law and policy, the city of Dayton, Ohio, passed the “Welcome Dayton—Immigrant Friendly City” resolution in 2011. This article focuses on the central role played by a coalition of local organizations, staffed by or advocating on behalf of immigrants and refugees, that led up to the initiative’s passage and during its implementation. Characterized by collaboration, such efforts laid the groundwork for a policy that is attentive to the needs of immigrants and refugees. When they subsequently worked alongside city officials, local organizations also managed to affect meaningful local-level institutional changes. Dayton, as a result, became a leader in regional and national efforts to create more welcoming cities. Drawing mostly on several years of participant observation, the article adds to the literature on immigrant integration a rich description of the role local organizations play in the process of becoming welcoming. It also shows how an approach rooted in the humanitarian concerns of immigrants/refugees and their allies can pose a meaningful challenge to the exclusionary rhetoric and inaction that currently plague immigration law and policy

Diverse Pedagogical Approaches to EL: Multidisciplinary Case Studies, Reflections, and Strategies

Kennedy Union 222 This session will be a hands-on workshop with faculty and staff authors of a forthcoming volume about experiential learning at UD edited by Karen Velasquez, director of experiential learning. Participants will engage in concept-mapping of their educational journeys, including memorable experiential learning experiences in their lives. These will provide background for conversation about experiential learning themes in the edited collection, Diverse Pedagogical Approaches to EL: Multidisciplinary Case Studies, Reflections, and Strategies. Authors will create their own roadmaps about their EL chapters to share and discuss with the group. Presentation includes dialogue about doing and teaching EL with UD students

Cohesiveness Within a Heterogeneous Urban Neighborhood: Implications for Community in a Diverse Setting

Four measures of community were used to analyze the extent of community in a relatively small, heterogeneous urban neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio: membership in formal organizations, informal “neighboring,” close ties within the neighborhood and commitment to continued residence in the neighborhood. Results were compared with those of similar but more homogeneous neighborhood, and the heterogeneous neighborhood was found overall to have at least the equivalent indications of community. Two sets of variables account for the high level of neighborhood community in the heterogeneous neighborhood. One set is associated with traditional bases of neighborhood cohesiveness: active neighborhood-based organizations and institutions (schools and churches) and networks of friends and kin. Another set indicates the presence of a “critical mass” of college-educated liberals who appreciate the diversity of the neighborhood and its central location

Residents\u27 Efforts at Neighborhood Stabilization: Facing the Challenges of Inner-City Neighborhoods

This paper examines the response of residents in one inner-city, racially, and economically diverse neighborhood to a sudden increase in crime, drugs and disorder. Rather than withdrawing, residents in this neighborhood responded by organizing a major collective effort to develop a stabilization plan for the neighborhood. Factors useful in understanding this atypical response include a citywide structure that encourages citizen participation, the city government\u27s commitment to the neighborhood, a history of neighborhood activism, and residents\u27 commitment to the neighborhood. A social movement perspective that examines the nature of successful social movement organizations, the political context of movement activities, and micromovement processes is useful in analyzing cases of neighborhood activism

Change, Cohesion, and Commitment in a Diverse Urban Neighborhood

This study examines neighborhood cohesion in a racially and economically integrated neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio. The authors compare results of surveys conducted in 1984 and 1990. This was a period when the neighborhood witnessed a number of significant changes, including a marked increase in African-American residents, a decrease in home ownership and an increase in vacant units, and an increase in crime. Neighborhood cohesion appeared to remain strong in 1990, although not as strong as in 1984. Despite these changes, appreciation for racial diversity increased significantly during the period, most markedly among new white residents of the area