COMMUNITY BASED

RESEARCH PROJECT

Amber, Chelsea, Ryan, Leah.

The Organization

Founded in 1998

Located in Little Village (largest Latino community in the

Midwest)

Over 80% Latino population

Community Leader

Services:

Low-cost legal services

Leadership development programs

Youth theater program

The Issue

Deferred Action

Announced on June 15, 2012

Entered the U.S. as a child

Relieved from removal

proceedings for a 2 year period

Must meet five criteria

Eligibility

Must meet five criteria:

1. Have come to the United States under the age of 16

2. Have continuously resided in the United States for at least 5 years preceding the date of this memorandum and are present in the United States on the date of this memorandum

3. Are currently in school, have graduated high school, have obtained a general education development certificate, or are honorably discharged veterans of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States

4. Have not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, multiple misdemeanor offenses, or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety

5. Are not above the age of 30

Solving the Issue

Many questions

Inaccurate information & filing

Putting clients at risk

So what is Latinos Progresando

doing?

Providing legal services at a low

cost

Providing accurate information to

those seeking an application

RESEARCH QUESTION

AND DATA

COLLECTION

Research Question

Goal

Advocate work of LP to communities similar to

Little Village and Pilsen

Specifically Latinos eligible for deferred action

Question

Where are there Latinos in the Chicagoland area

who will benefit from obtaining knowledge and

potentially legal help concerning deferred action?

Data Collection

Pinpoint large populations of Latino communities

Demographic Charts that list high percentages

of Latino populations in the cities of Illinois

http://zipatlas.com/us/il/city-comparison/percentage-hispanic-

population.htm

Data Collection

High Schools with large percentages of Latino

students, no less than 10%

Data Collection

Find Churches and Community Centers

Google search. Then scan website.

Methodology

Find a contact through each institution. Social worker, guidance counselor, secretary, program

coordinator, pastor, ect…

Take down contact info from each institution in an excel spreadsheet Name of institution

Address of institution

Name of direct contact

Phone number

Email address

Methodology

1. Send general Email template adapted for

each individual organization

2. Gather responses

3. Send follow up email

4. Send informational email regarding Latinos

Progresando and deferred action.

Email Template

Dear __________,

Hello! My name is ________, and I am part of a small group of students at Loyola University Chicago who have partnered with Latinos Progresando to construct a network of resources for individuals considering applying for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. As you may already be aware, many questions and misconceptions have arisen about the policy, and, with the approaching election, even more questions, concerns, and anxieties are being raised by prospective applicants. Our goal in constructing this network is to provide those considering applying with a list of resources that they can contact to give them information about the policy, and we have selected your school as a potentiaresource.

As an organization accredited by the US Board of Immigration Appeals, Latinos Progresandohas an intense focus and expertise in immigration legal services, and has extensively researched the potential risks and benefits of applying for Deferred Action. We are also committed to fostering positive community development, and believe that this project for Deferred Action is an integral aspect in doing so for Latino communities.

Should you choose to act as a resource in our network, we will provide your organization with all the information you may need to distribute to prospective Deferred Action applicants, and are available and willing to communicate actively and personally with your organization to determine what information or resources you may need, including fact sheets, our newsletter, our knowledgeable staff, casework, and the potential to host presentations. Acting as a resource is entirely free, as our goal in this project is simply to spread accurate knowledge about Deferred Action to as many people as possible.

Please feel free to contact us by replying to this email if you, or anyone in your school, are interested in becoming a part of our network or if you have any questions regarding our project and would like to receive more information.

We look forward to hearing from you and working together to help inform and empower the Latino community.

Thank you for your time!Chelsea McClellan, Amber Durkin, Ryan Hamman, Leah Turner

PRESENTATION AND

ANALYSIS OF THE

DATA

Presentation of the Data

We sent emails to a total of 147 recipients:

• 101 high schools

• 21 community centers

• 25 churches

From these emails, we received 12 responses:

• 11 from high schools

• 1 from a community center

• 0 from Churches

We experienced some difficulties with having emails fail to reach their intended contact. We experienced this with 10 churches, 9 high schools and 2 community centers.

Observed Trends: Contact

Interaction

Contacts generally asked for more information,

but did not have specific requests.

When presented with the opt-out option for

being included on the interactive map, no

contacts chose to opt-out. However, only one

explicitly stated that they would like to be

included on the map.

Several of our contacts were referred to us by

other members of their school or organization

of whom we had originally sent our emails to.

Observed Trends: Job Titles of

Contacts The job titles of resources

may be helpful when determining who to contact in future outreach efforts.

From our list of definitive contacts:• 6 were from high school

guidance/counseling departments

• 3 were high school social workers

• 1 was a high school Latino outreach coordinator

• 1 was the executive director of a community center

Guidance Department,

6Social

Worker, 3

Latino Outreach

Coordinator,1

Executive Director, 1

Contact Job Titles

Observed Trends: Contact

Location Most of our contacts were located

in the North/Northwest areas of

the city.

All of the contacts were located in

the greater Chicago area, with

some within the city limits and

some from suburbs.

From our list of definitive

contacts:

• 6 were from within the city

limits

• 1 was from West Chicago

• 1 was from Wheeling

• 1 was from Addison

• 1 was from Glenview

Chicago, 6

West Chicago, 1

Addison , 1

Wheeling, 1

Glenview, 1

Contact Locations

Final Results

At the end of our outreach effort, we sent a total of

147 emails to various high schools, community

centers, and churches and received 12

responses.

However, one of our contacts is unavailable until

January and two contacts were from the same

high school. Additionally, the 11th high school to

contact us did so so late in the project that we

directly turned interacting with them over to

Latinos Progresando.

• For these reasons, our map currently displays only

ten contacts on nine points.

IMPLICATIONS AND

CONCLUSIONS

Implications

Location and response

Receivedresponses from schools in Latino areas

Especially in the North

The south and west were vastly underrepresented, especially since they are largely Latino areas.

Why?

1. Research method could be revised.

2. Availability of time and resources

3. Already have ample amount of resources

Responses and Census Data

Resource Responses Census Data: Latino populations

Implications

Organization type and responses

Schools: 10/100

Churches: 0

Community Centers: 1

Why/What this means

Alter research methods

Websites for these orgs are outdated/inaccurate

Not contacting the right person

Started off on the right track for schools

Spam

Suggestions for Further

Research

Alter outreach method

Phone calls instead of emails

Contact those who did not respond initially with

another form of communication.

Ask for referrals

Look into community colleges as another

resource

Conclusions

With further research, there is potential for a large resource network.

This research can help LP to build bonds with the community

There is a need for information regarding Deferred Action

LP has demonstrated that there is a demand for information.

Accreditation is very important

Sensitive process, and a large immigrant population

Conclusions

Its just a matter of dissemination and contacting the right individual.

There is a large Latino population in Chicago

Our research has helped to locate some of the areas with a high Latino population

Continued research could identify even more organizations

We seem to be on the right track. We have identified a substantial list of contacts, though not exhaustive, but this would be a good launching point for further research.

Works Referenced

(1)"Our Story." Latinos Progresando Our Story Comments. Latinos Progresando, n.d. Web. 19 Nov.

2012. <http://latinospro.org/our-story/>.

(2)Rodriguez, Michael D. "Little Village." Enlace Chicago, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.

<http://www.ilga.gov/senate/Committees/Redistricting/EnlanceChicago.pdf>.

(3)Little Village (South Lawndale)." About the Community. LISC Chicago's New Communities

Program, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

<http://www.newcommunities.org/communities/littlevillage/about.asp>.

(4) "Homeland Security." Deferred Action. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, n.d. Web. 27 Nov.

2012. <http://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action>.