Project Overview

A recent study of the information needs and use patterns of 120 immigrant advocacy and service organizations around the country highlights demographic information as a priority need for these groups.  In Networking the Networks: Improving Information Flows in the Immigration Field (New School University, 2001), ICMEC Senior Fellow Suzette Brooks Masters, with the assistance of Ted Perlmutter, identifies the gap between the demographic information non-profit organizations need and the information they are actually accessing and using. Since there are more demographic resources available today than ever before, this finding suggests that the connection between available resources and the data interests and skills of organizations needs to be strengthened. This is especially true with regard to access, training, and building a broader understanding of the kinds of data that are available and their appropriate uses.

To address these specific data challenges, Ms. Brooks Masters partnered with Kimberly Hamilton, Managing Editor of the Migration Information Source and Director of External Relations at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC, to co-found Numbers in the Public Interest (NITPI).  NITPI’s purpose is to help non-profit organizations unlock the power of demographic proficiency in order to succeed in promoting their missions.  Data about immigrants – where they are from, where they live, how they fare – tell organizations where their services are needed and what issues merit attention.  Data also help organizations mobilize public support with facts rather than rhetoric and attract resources with persuasive grant proposals and testimony before government officials.

With this in mind, NITPI concentrated its efforts on a well-defined geographic area, the Washington DC metropolitan area.  The DC metro area was chosen for a variety of reasons -- its status as a recent immigrant gateway area, with a burgeoning but still new organizational infrastructure to serve and advocate on behalf of immigrants, the size of its immigrant population, now ranking 7th among U.S. metro areas, and the presence of the US Census Bureau and think tanks with demographic expertise, including Migration Policy Institute, the Urban Institute, the Brookings Institution, and the Population Reference Bureau.  This regional focus also allowed us to understand local dynamics and needs and to identify with great specificity useful resources.

Over twelve months and with the help of Jill Wilson, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, we analyzed the data needs of immigrant service and advocacy organizations and examined potential resources and services that could fill the gap.  We interviewed a variety of organizations in the region, convened a focus group discussion with local immigrant service providers, met with local foundations involved in immigration work, consulted with demographers and other researchers, participated in a private training workshop on demographic analysis and spoke with trainers from the US Census Bureau’s Community Liaison Office and Marketing Services Office, and interviewed staff at US Census Bureau headquarters, local State Data Centers and Census Information Centers.

Putting Data to Work for Immigrants and Communities:  Tools for the Washington DC Metro Area and Beyond (Migration Policy Institute, March 2004) is the fruit of these efforts.  Featuring a compact data users’ pullout guide, this report surveys the most commonly used migration data sources in the field and discusses budget-conscious ways to commission customized analysis and obtain training for staff.  Using Putting Data to Work as a template for action, we encourage other communities to think about the power of good data in the work that they do on behalf of immigrants.

To read Putting Data to Work, please click on the link below:

    Putting Data to Work (PDF)

    Putting Data to Work Map (PDF)

Hard copies of the publication and pullout poster can be ordered by contacting the Migration Policy Institute at (202) 266-1940.