Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Laura Praglin

Abstract

The United States is the world's largest refugee host, welcoming almost 3 million people in the last 30 years, according to the January 16th, 2007 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. In addition to refugees, the United States accepted 1,266,264 immigrants in 2006, as stated in the Office of Immigration Statistics 2006 Yearbook of Statistics. Furthermore, the Kids Count Data Center reports that one out of every five children lives in an immigrant family. Clearly, these numbers show that immigrants compose a significant part of our communities.

While the US strives to welcome newcomers, many immigrants are left in the dark with the challenges of living in a new community. When immigrants and/or refugees come to the United States, there are many things they are supposed to automatically know. While there are numerous books that are meant to help immigrants, many immigrants do not know about these resources, do not have access to them, or simply cannot read, thus they are often left in the dark, unless someone-is there to assist them. The responsibility and privilege of helping a newcomer navigate the challenges of a new environment and community is often left up to volunteers. Unfortunately, while there is an abundance of resources about immigration and the various problems immigrants face, there is not a comprehensive guide for people wishing to help immigrants along the way. This paper will address many facets that in the future could be addressed in a simple brochure or web-page that would help volunteers gain a basic knowledge of issues, challenges, and concerns facing immigrants so they can best help them adapt to their new community. This research paper can serve as the beginning step to such a brochure and/or website for communities across the United States.

Year of Submission

2008

Department

Department of Social Work

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

5-2008

Object Description

1 PDF file (75 pages)

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