Promising practices in integration

The Public Policy Forum, an independent policy think tank, has released a report: From Immigration to Participation: Promising Practices in Integration.
The report examined six priority areas as important factors in integration. They are:

  1. Employment programs and services
  2. Access to information
  3. Language acquisition
  4. Acceptance and understanding
  5. Role of the school system (K-12)
  6. Social support

The report identifies 4 major gaps and challenges:

Integration needs to move beyond settlement and be more proactive around “empowering newcomers”.
Programs must “promote interactions among newcomers”.
Innovation is important, but community-based initiatives need to demonstrate positive outcomes to alternative approaches.
Human resources in community-based agencies needs strengthening.   

Recommendations from the report:

“Promote the relevance and value of integration in order to foster mutual responsibility
“Offer more opportunities for two-way interaction
“Allocate adequate funding to encourage innovation”.