Assessment of Needs and Barriers to Accessing Social Services in Immigrant Communities:  
South Asian, Chinese/Taiwanese and Hispanic Immigrants in Middlesex County, New Jersey

Primary Authors:

Maneesha Kelkar, MA, Needs Assessment Project Manager
Melanie Trimble, MA/RDT, September 11th Project Director
Jennifer Chu & Alejandra Gochez, Research Team

Murat Paker, Ph.D., Statistical Analyst

Completed August 2003

Conducted by: The International Institute of New Jersey’s 
Immigrant Education and Community Outreach Program

Nicholas V. Montalto, Ph.D., Executive Director
International Institute of New Jersey
880 Bergen Avenue
Jersey City, NJ 07306
201-653-3888
www.iinj.org

Funded by: The United Way of Central Jersey, Milltown, NJ

Acknowledgements/Special Thanks:
Gladys Malibiran, Irene Dominguez, Avaloy Lanning, 
Sara Kahn, Jane Dee, Scott Wasmuth, Marianne Bischoff

Table of Contents

Executive Summary…………………………….3
•	Context/Background
•	Summary of Findings
•	Brief Conclusions and Recommendations

Background and Objectives……………………9
•	New Jersey
•	The International Institute of New Jersey
•	Current Climate and Literature
•	Funding
•	Choice of Ethnic Groups
•	Immigration and Social Services
•	Cultural Considerations

Methodology……………………………………15
•	Preparing a Culturally Appropriate Model
o	General Approach
o	Instrument for Data Collection
o	Phases of the Project
•	Executing the Model
o	Sample Selection
o	Recruiting Process
o	Notes on Reading the Tables

Summary of Findings………………….……….18

Findings…………………………………………20
•	Findings by Ethnic Community
o	Main Problems in the Community (Open-Ended)
o	Main Problems in the Community (Prompted)
o	Barriers to Service Access
o	Effects of September 11th
o	Where Agencies Should Advertise
•	Findings by Other Demographic Categories
•	Summary of Demographics and Additional Information

Focus Groups…………………………………..46

Conclusions/Recommendations……………….52

Works Cited……………………………………58

Appendices
Additional Tables and Graphs
      Statistical Data Tables
Additional Anecdotal Comments from Interviewers
Coding and Data Collection Instrument 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Context/Background

Ranking third in the nation in percentage of foreign-born residents, New Jersey is a rich cultural mix of races, religions, cuisines, dress, and lifestyles, and – all too often – a breeding ground for fear, cultural misperceptions, bias, and hatred. September 11th and the war in Iraq have intensified underlying prejudices resulting in conflicts between ethnic communities and the society-at-large. 

As an 85-year old agency providing services to new immigrants, the International Institute of New Jersey has a unique perspective into the adjustment difficulties facing families from various regions and situations and the challenges faced by their American-born neighbors as they struggle to integrate newcomers.  We have substantial knowledge concerning the range of needs of the recently arrived, and how those needs change over time and according to the structure and history of the particular group and those immigrants already here. In addition, the IINJ has a long history of advising policymakers and human service organizations in working with newcomer populations.

In conducting the research for this report, as well as during its preparation, the Institute tried to construct valid samples, respect the evidence and produce findings that were consistent with the evidence. The organization serves as an advocate for, and provides a variety of services to, the immigrant population in New Jersey, but has made every attempt to filter any biases and report solely on the statistical and anecdotal data collected. 

Although the Institute could conceivably play some role in implementing these recommendations, if they are considered valid and practical, our on-going participation is not essential to any implementation phase. In interpreting the findings, we have occasionally referenced outside sources and tapped into our own experience as an organization. Our rationale for doing this was to provide contextual information that might prove useful in analyzing the results.

Recognizing that the specifics of needs and barriers to service for the three major immigrant newcomer communities in New Jersey should be studied in detail, the United Way of Central Jersey (UWCJ) commissioned the IINJ to conduct this study. The target area is Middlesex County and its surroundings, with special attention to Chinese/Taiwanese, Hispanic (focusing on undocumented) and South Asian communities. 

In preparing the methodology for the study, cultural considerations, linguistic concerns and the current political climate were taken into account. One of the first concerns was how to present the concept of a needs assessment to the various communities. Methods of building trust and accessing individuals in a manner comfortable to that community were also important structural considerations. Finally, the natural tendency of each community to wish to appear as a model minority had to be taken into consideration as  outreach methodology was chosen.

Consistent contact and a thorough explanation of the methods and goals of the needs assessment were required to get the support of community leaders. The use of interviewers of similar ethnic backgrounds and fluent in languages of target groups proved vitally important. The survey instrument included as much information as possible without becoming cumbersome. Some participants were interviewed using the survey directly, while others agreed to general conversations during which interviewers attempted to get answers to all questions. Even with offers of referral and direct service assistance for community members, some were reluctant to participate. Special efforts were made to reach those who were unlikely to have participated in a recent county wide random phone survey, and to reach a combination of community leaders and members.

Substantial time investment was needed up front to get information. Efforts included time to research official and unofficial “key informants” and community leaders; contact and introduce the concept by telephone; visit leaders and neighborhoods; and to attend community events and meetings in order to build trust with communities. Even after such efforts to locate and engage immigrant communities over time, and even as representatives of an immigrant assistance agency, only about one out of four individuals were willing to be interviewed. 

Over a period of six months, between January and June 2003, a total of 80 interviews were conducted among Chinese/Taiwanese (n=33), Hispanic (n=23) and South Asian (n=24) immigrants in Middlesex county, New Jersey. Interviews were conducted in geographic areas with  high concentrations of immigrants, and were a mix of “street” interviews and “key informant” interviews. Six focus groups were also conducted with various ethnic organizations. Respondents were mainly asked to talk about the main problems or needs in their communities and the barriers to service access.

Summary of Findings

Trust and open conversation with immigrants and ethnic organizations only come after consistent and useful in-language contact. 
Findings were not the result of quick, brief or random surveys, but of a sustained and thorough outreach campaign to both leaders and the general immigrant population. Each interview (30-60 minutes) was the result of a combination of time-consuming, repetitive efforts. Interviewers frequently encountered a high degree of anxiety and suspicion, despite their similar ethnic origins and ability to speak primary languages.

When discussing problems in their community without prompting, immigrants most often mention language.
Although the problem mentioned most frequently by immigrants is language (27% immigrants mentioned language difficulties when asked about the main problems in the community), Chinese/Taiwanese immigrants mention it significantly more often (52%) than Hispanic (13%) or South Asian immigrants (13%). The South Asian immigrant community as a whole does have some English speaking skills; the existence of substantial bilingual (Spanish/English) capability in New Jersey might mitigate the problem for Hispanic immigrants somewhat. 

‘No problem’ is a popular response when initially asked open-ended questions.
A fifth (21%) of all immigrants claimed that there were no problems in the community, suggesting an unwillingness to showcase community problems and perhaps undermine the ‘model minority’ image. This trend was significantly greater among Hispanic (30%) and South Asian (33%) respondents than Chinese/Taiwanese respondents (9%).

Adapting to life in America and immigration issues are viewed as important problems too.
In open-ended questioning, almost a fifth (19%) of all respondents reported problems with adapting to the US and with immigration. Difficulties with adapting were reported significantly more by Chinese/Taiwanese (27%) and South Asian (25%) respondents, while immigration issues were stressed largely by Hispanic (29%) respondents.

When prompted with specific problems, the unanimous response across ethnic groups was financial hardship, followed by immigration status and employment, in close succession.
A staggering 84% of all immigrants reported financial hardship and 80% reported employment as problems in the community and the level did not vary much across ethnicity. A similarly large number (80%) mentioned immigration status, although the Hispanic response, at 95%, outnumbered that of the Chinese/Taiwanese (79%) and South Asian (68%) communities.

Lack of knowledge, language and transportation were the most highly reported barriers to service access.
Close to two thirds (63%) of all respondents claimed that they “don’t know what’s available”, half (50%) mentioned language difficulties and over a third (36%) reported transportation issues. Lack of knowledge about services was the most highly reported barrier among each ethnic community. 

September 11, 2001 was thought to affect primarily the economy, but fear and security issues were raised too.
Almost two thirds (64%) of all respondents bemoaned the economic slowdown following the September 11 attacks and the response was generally high across all communities. However, the fear factor was brought up significantly more by South Asian (42%) than Chinese/Taiwanese (24%) and Hispanic (17%) respondents. 

Problems with religion, mixed gender services and embarrassment rated far lower than lack of information and trust as barriers to accessing service.
 It would seem that, in the ethnic groups surveyed, concerns about immigration status, reporting and government agendas prevent far more immigrants from seeking help than differences of religion and culture.

Ethnic print media, flyers and ethnic broadcast media, in that order, were considered the most effective forms of advertising for agencies.
When asked where agencies should advertise their services, 42% of all respondents recommended print media, 28% suggested displaying flyers at public places and 22% mentioned broadcast media. The Chinese/Taiwanese community overwhelmingly chose print media (70%), significantly more than the South Asian (42%) and Hispanic (4%) communities. Of South Asians, 21% suggested other methods, significantly more than the Hispanic and Chinese/Taiwanese response, which was less than 5%.

College educated individuals were significantly more likely to point to immigrants rights education as a need in the community and were more likely to talk about problems relating to September 11.
While 76% of college-educated respondents mentioned this need, only half (50%) of the less educated did. Three fourths (75%) of those with a college degree talked about the problems created due to the September 11 attacks, while half (50%) of the high school or less educated did.

Married, college educated, older people, longtime residents of the US, homeowners and the relatively well off, were significantly more likely to have heard of the United Way.
35% of married, 40% of college educated, 46% of those over 40 years of age, 35% of those who have lived in the US longer than five years, 63% of homeowners, 46% of those making over $20,000 a year and 56% of ‘key persons’ had heard of United Way.

Despite some universality of experience and hardship, differences in priorities were found between the three communities investigated, primarily in ranking. 
There seemed to be no areas in which a community simply had no experience dealing with an issue or barrier – but some discrepancies in which problems or barriers were deemed most significant. 

Among the three communities, responses regarding barriers were far more consistent across ethnicity than prompted responses about problems. 
Five problem prompts that elicited the greatest disparity between communities were ESL, vocational/professional education for adults, children’s education, inadequate housing and domestic violence.

Language difficulties were a consistent and significant problem for the Chinese/Taiwanese community
Far more Chinese/Taiwanese respondents listed language difficulties as significant in both the open-ended and prompted questioning. 52% of Chinese/Taiwanese respondents gave this as a problem in the open-ended question, while 90% listed language as a significant issue in the prompted portion. In addition, lack of materials in Chinese was repeated as part of the barriers to accessing services section. 

Being undocumented and lack of time were more frequently cited as a problem by Hispanic immigrants than the other two groups. 
“Lack of time” was mentioned in conjunction with comments about many other issues, and seemed to have a specific bearing on ESL.

The South Asian community was more willing than the other two communities to participate in focus groups. In the Chinese/Taiwanese community, individuals opted to do individual interviews rather than participate in a focus group. 

Brief Conclusions and Recommendations 

The methodology of this study is as important to the findings as the statistical analysis. Major findings are listed below, beginning with those of the highest priority.  Refer to the “findings” section, the anecdotal appendices, and the “methodology” sections for details. 

Conclusion #1
There is a major communication gap between agencies and immigrant communities. Immigrants overall (63%) identified “don’t know what is available” as the number one barrier to accessing social services. Language difficulties were identified as a significant problem in both the “problems” and “barriers” sections - including lack of translated flyers and materials, inability to call and ask about services, lack of advertising in ethnic media in addition to ESL needs. “Don’t believe help is available” (20%) and “don’t trust agency” (20%) were also well documented across communities.

These findings, when taken together, point to a broad and very basic chasm between service agencies and immigrant communities regarding information. Despite mainstream beliefs about information overload and internet access, even highly educated immigrants who lack language skills in English, often have no idea that help may be available.

Recommendation
Improve interface between agencies and immigrant communities.

Approaching immigrant communities involves a comprehensive and consistent plan of relationship building. A combination of representatives on the ground, internal language and information capacity, concrete service provision and appropriate advertising materials is necessary to build trust and encourage communities to approach and return. To bring immigrants to services, agencies must address all four areas: outreach and networking by immigrant or linguistically appropriate staff at events, committee meetings, visiting ethnic organizations, religious institutions and neighborhoods; materials and advertising must be culturally and linguistically translated for specific immigrant markets, then placed at community hubs, distributed to individuals in person, and placed in ethnic media outlets; internal information and referral process must take into consideration language needs and restrictions based on immigration status – both in provision of direct services and in referring immigrants to other sites; public and private hotlines/helplines must be sure to include immigrant specific immigration regarding referral sites’ linguistic capacity and ability to work with a variety of immigration statuses, as well as have an easy multi-lingual point of entry. 

Conclusion #2
Trust and open conversation with immigrants and ethnic organizations only come after consistent and useful in-language contact. Findings were not the result of quick, brief or random surveys, but of a sustained and thorough outreach campaign to both leaders and the general immigrant population. Each interview (up to an hour) was the result of a combination of time-consuming, repetitive efforts. Interviewers frequently encountered a high degree of anxiety and suspicion, despite their similar ethnic origins and ability to speak primary languages. 

Recommendation
Plan to foster trust by proving consistent and positive interest.  Prepare to devote substantial time and frequency of contact, to attend community events, to listen to changing needs from all levels of community member and to explain expected results and benefits to the community. Make operational changes and assist other organizations to do so: hire qualified immigrants into staff positions, seek and offer funding to other organizations for interpreting/translating.

Conclusion #3
Direct service priorities vary by immigrant community; while major problems and barriers are similar across communities, there are significant enough discrepancies to suggest that services should be tailored to each group. (See Table of Community Findings in Appendix I)

It is important not to view immigrants as a homogenous group, despite some general similarities in need. The “melting pot” concept is inadvisable on both ends of the immigration experience – immigrants neither arrive nor end up as a uniform entity.

Recommendation
Prioritize service needs for each immigrant community by communicating with both key persons and the general immigrant population. Consider barriers and be flexible when designing services.

Look for opportunities to partner with grassroots ethnic organizations and volunteer community workers – and to provide training, information and technical assistance as needed. They may provide very useful points-of-entry and referral to more mainstream programs and agencies, and should be included on advisory committees, agency boards and other cooperative arrangements. 

Conclusion #4
Accurate, efficient and sensitive delivery of in-language information and concrete services was rated as a much higher priority at this time than cultural considerations, e.g gender or religion specific services. 

Once the obstacles of communication, outreach and language are overcome and more immigrants attempt to access services, culture-specific issues may become more prevalent as a barrier. At this time, interviews indicated that immigrants are far more concerned about knowing where to get help and actually receiving it than who delivers the service. 

Recommendation
While addressing communication, language and service considerations, continue cultural competency training in preparation for greater immigrant service requests, and to prepare for collaboration with ethnic community organizations. 

Conclusion #5
There may be a serious shortage of concrete services to immigrants in four key areas, especially to those with documentation problems. Aside from the general areas of financial hardship, separation from family and adapting to the US, all immigrant groups identified immigration law, employment services, healthcare and community-based ESL as top priorities.

Recommendation
Consider funding specialized services geared towards immigrants, while assessing in what way services currently provided are restrictive. Encourage programs to increase accessibility to immigrants. 

Conclusion #6
Severe personal or family problems (mental health, domestic violence) were noted as problems by fewer of the respondents than economic or language needs. Lack of community education on the topic of stigma or shame, and reluctance to acknowledge the problems probably both contributed to the resultant low rating. Also, when these problems strike, they make up in intensity of need what they lack in breadth.

Recommendation
Do not minimize the importance of any service area, even though it may not have ranked high in either the open-ended or prompted responses – services for domestic violence, mental health and legal assistance should be made more available and accessible. 

Conclusion #7
While many public and private agencies as well as ethnic organizations express a desire to improve communication and networking among themselves, no single entity has the resources to support the depth and breadth of the work. 

Individual small agencies do not have sufficient resources to hire staff representing all immigrant ethnicities and languages. Larger organizations seem to focus on issue-specific or service-specific outreach and are usually attempting to reach the largest population with the fewest dollars (English and sometimes Spanish-language outreach as primary).  

Recommendation
Cooperation between public and private agencies, including ethnic organizations and grassroots networks may provide the answer. Regular contact in multiple directions (agency to agency networks, agency to ethnic organization partnering, organizations meeting with the public) and cooperative referral efforts may be the answer to improving communication and service to immigrants. Crossing geographic boundaries and service area categories into a system of grassroots community outreach organized by language and culture may be the answer to the concerns of limited resources and duplication of efforts. 

Further Recommendation
This study has indicated several interesting areas of further research of interest to the agency and region, Middlesex County, studied here and to other providers and regions of the state of New Jersey. 
•	Comparison studies of more and less urban counties.
•	Further investigation into the specific links between problems and barriers to service.
•	Further investigation into each immigrant community.

BACKGROUND and OBJECTIVES

New Jersey

Ranking third in the nation in percentage of foreign-born residents, New Jersey is a rich cultural mix of races, religions, and lifestyles, and – all too often – a breeding ground for fear, cultural misperceptions, bias, and hatred. September 11th and the war in Iraq have intensified underlying prejudices resulting in conflicts between ethnic communities and the society-at-large. 

•	According to the 2000 Census data, New Jersey ranks 3rd in the nation in percentage of foreign-born residents with 1,476,327 (making up a total of 17.55% of the state’s population). This could be an undercount, due to the difficulties in including recently arrived immigrants, those with language difficulties and those of uncertain or undocumented status.
•	The Census Bureau gives the 2000 number of foreign-born residents in the US as 31.1 million, or 11.05% of the total population. The definition of “foreign-born” for the purposes of the census is, simply, not US citizens at birth. “Natives” are those born in the US or a US Island Area such as Puerto Rico, or born abroad with at least one parent a US citizen. 
•	New Jersey has an increasingly diverse population. For the last ten years, BCIS data indicates that each year 35-65,000 legal immigrants have been approved to resettle into the state, with a peak in 1996 of 63,000 legal immigrants settling in New Jersey. A large percentage settles in the eastern industrial corridor – a combination of urban counties and adjoining suburban counties in the northern and central part of the state. 
•	The BCIS data is supported by census figures, as seen when comparing the 1990 census estimate of the foreign born population (966,610) of New Jersey with the 2000 estimate. The difference in those figures represents an average of 50,971 new immigrants per year for the ten-year period – at the maximum end of the BCIS data.
•	Estimates of the undocumented immigrant population vary. The official national estimate of “unauthorized” people living in the US in 2000 is set at 7 million. This is a substantial revision upwards since the first thorough estimates in the early 1990s. New Jersey is among the top ten states for increase in this population since 1990 with an estimated figure in 2000 of 228,000.  

The International Institute of New Jersey (IINJ)

As an 85-year old agency providing services to new immigrants, the IINJ has a unique perspective into the adjustment difficulties facing families from various regions and situations and the challenges faced by their American-born neighbors as they struggle to integrate newcomers.  We have substantial knowledge concerning the range of needs of the recently arrived, and how those needs change over time and according to the structure and history of the particular group and those immigrants already here. In addition, the IINJ has a long history of advising policymakers and human service organizations in working with newcomer populations. 

In conducting the research for this report, as well as during its preparation, the Institute tried to construct valid samples, respect the evidence and produce findings that were consistent with the evidence. The organization serves as an advocate for, and provides a variety of services to, the immigrant population in New Jersey, but has made every attempt to report conclusions that are valid despite this bias. 

Although the Institute could conceivably play some role in implementing these recommendations, if they are considered valid and practical, our on-going participation is not essential to any implementation phase. In interpreting the findings, we have occasionally referenced outside sources and tapped into our own experience as an organization. Our rationale for doing this was to provide contextual information that might prove useful in analyzing the results.

Over the years, the IINJ has conducted needs assessments of newly arrived groups. The most recent needs assessment by IINJ targeted newly arrived West Africans in 2001. This assessment relied primarily on interview material gathered by indigenous members of the community from three main groups – recently arrived individuals, those whose time in the US was slightly longer, and a caregiver group of more mixed ethnicity. Data came primarily from Sierra Leonians and Liberians. Lessons learned from this report provided a framework for this more comprehensive effort – especially in devising a methodology that would work across cultures and choosing to base findings on face-to-face interviews through a network of people rather than a more randomized, paper-based survey. 

Current Climate and Literature

Efforts to locate information regarding numbers and needs of immigrants in order to assist after the events of September 11th highlighted the need for a comprehensive investigation of immigrant needs. The attacks led to an increased presence of the IINJ in immigrant communities beyond Hudson and surrounding urban counties. An unprecedented effort was made to reach immigrants affected by the attack who were the most vulnerable (most difficult to find, least likely to understand English, unfamiliar with the social service and charity structure in the US) and to direct them to appropriate mental health and other social service resources. While engaged in this effort it seemed important to gather data directly from immigrant communities in the same basic form as our previous needs assessment with West Africans.

In surveying available literature, there are few studies that compare data between both 1) a variety of immigrant communities and 2) a variety of service or need categories. “Management of social services for refugees and immigrants is an area which has not received much attention in the social work literature. The literature on these populations focused primarily on micro level issues related to culturally appropriate treatment approaches and barriers to social service delivery.”  

Efforts to find comparable research yielded disappointing results. Due largely to the scale of the proposal, our study included the minimum numbers required for a statistical analysis. We believe the large scale is the reason for a lack of such wide-ranging research. It seems most studies narrow their scope to either a single ethnic population or a single service issue (health care access for Asian Americans, general service needs of Vietnamese refugees, etc). While these studies have larger samples and offer more detailed information in a specific research frame, they lack relevant comparative data. On the other hand, data on the needs of immigrants in other states is far more available than data on New Jersey immigrant needs.

Combined with an increase in requests for specific information on immigrant needs and appropriate outreach by state and private agencies, the IINJ decided to attempt a needs assessment targeting three major populations and several secondary groups. Demonstrated interest from the United Way of Central Jersey (UWCJ) led to a cooperative arrangement for a pilot study. While our study sample is presently small, its purpose is to establish the usefulness and need for such a broad investigation to be completed with many more respondents.

Funding

Recognizing that the needs and barriers to service for major immigrant newcomer communities in New Jersey should be studied in detail, the UWCJ commissioned the IINJ to conduct this study. The target area is Middlesex County and its surroundings, with attention to Chinese/Taiwanese, Hispanic and South Asian communities. 

The UWCJ requested information about: 
•	Specific needs that could be potentially addressed by their funded agencies in the area.
•	Detailed reasons why immigrants are not seeking services when available.
•	Differences in needs and preferences between the three identified groups.
•	Numbers of potential population to be served.
•	Sources of information accessed by the communities.

The IINJ proposed conducting a relationship based, interview model investigation along the same lines as the West African needs assessment completed the year before. Much of the useful data, it was thought, would be anecdotal in nature but as much quantifiable data as possible would be collected. In light of the barriers to trust listed below, it was clear that a sustained effort to build trust and to convince the respondents of the usefulness of the study would be the only way to persuade community leaders to participate. Previous experience taught us that only detailed interviews, arranged as a result of multiple contacts and appearances in the community, would bring to the surface unknown and important data. The work would clearly be labor intensive and the report would have to be a mix of statistical and anecdotal information.

Choice of Ethnic Groups 

The three largest groups of legal immigrants entering the US come from Mexico, China and India. Of the 737,000 individuals granted permanent residence (not including student visas, work permits, etc), 130,661 came from Mexico, 41,034 from China, 34,288 from India. Also in the top ten countries of origin were the Dominican Republic at 20,267, Cuba at 15,415 and El Salvador at 14,329.

Of all New Jersey counties, Middlesex County ranks third in the absolute number of foreign-born (181,761), and fifth in the percentage of foreign-born to total population (24.23%). The three largest nationalities among the foreign born in Middlesex are Indian (22.4%), Chinese and Taiwanese (7.26%), and Dominican (6.62%). Mexicans make up 5.99% of the foreign-born.

The UWCJ’s initial priorities (based on local assumptions and observation) coincided with the data. A decision was made to organize target groups by region and language, with the specific assumption that the largest immigrant groups to be studied in the Middlesex county area were South Asian, Chinese/Taiwanese, and Hispanic. The process of researching and interviewing during the study classified these groups into: South Asian - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh; China region – China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia; and Spanish-speaking from the Americas – Ecuador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic.  

The data collection instrument remained broad in focus and consistent across ethnic groups, regardless of anecdotal information or assumptions pointing to specific needs or barriers related to one group or another. The scope of questions remained the same, regardless of immigration status or ethnicity of the respondent. It was determined during the study that any question directly focusing on immigration status might result in termination of interview, so interviewers were instructed to note “status” when offered or implied during the conversation. 

Immigration and Social Services

While the majority of new permanent residents arrive through a system that intends to screen out any that might become a “public charge”, there are general social service needs in any population. Laws regarding public benefits access and current immigration status are complicated and have many restrictions. The social service system became more restrictive in 1996, when legislation was enacted barring many immigrants from seeking help for their first five years in the country – a time that has been shown to be the most difficult for many families. 

“Most legal immigrants admitted to the United States after 1996 are ineligible for welfare, public health insurance, and other major federal benefits” (Reardon-Anderson, Capps and Fix). There is a strict time-frame for receiving public benefits for specific categories of immigrant (refugee and political asylee) despite sometimes severe mental and medical health concerns related to their reasons for migration. Obviously, services for undocumented immigrants are limited to certain emergencies and to private charities. 

The above figures and facts from the Census Bureau and BCIS do not adequately address the substantial number of undocumented immigrants who come every year and obviously have social service needs that go unmet due to fears of deportation, as well as lack of private and public resources to assist. It is believed that the populations in this study have significant numbers of undocumented immigrants –including those entering illegally and also those who enter legally and stay after their temporary visa (tourist, student, work) expired. This highly skilled and trained group of “undocumented” immigrants is often ignored in discussions of immigrant needs – due in part to lack of quantifiable data. 

According to The Urban Institute, while children of immigrants tend to be in poorer health than children of natives, even when controlled for the greater likelihood of family poverty, they also have greater indicators of well-being (especially regarding school engagement and fewer behavior problems). “At the same time, though, our results reveal that, with a few exceptions, the families of immigrant children appear less able to draw on community resources than natives. Children of immigrants participate in fewer extracurricular activities, and they are less likely to work after school. Their parents are less involved in community activities, and their families are less able to draw on food, health, mental health, and housing assistance in times of need. These unmet needs are particularly pronounced among the foreign-born who are the most likely to remain ineligible for public benefits – in part as a result of the immigrant exclusions that are now being debated as part of welfare reform’s reauthorization”.

The climate for English as a second language (ESL) programs and employment services for immigrants has been changing rapidly as well. New efforts to promote accountability in K-12 education have spilled over into the world of adult education. The development of the National Literacy Reporting System (NLRS) has had a profound impact on the field. At the same time, passage of the Workforce Investment Act has produced a still-evolving system of one-stop career centers. Within New Jersey, a process of consolidation began several years ago that has drastically reduced the number of state-funded ESL programs. State administrative shifts will occur soon, placing the ABE program, the major source of funding for ESL classes, under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Labor instead of Education. One cannot be confident that the interests of ESL and low level literacy students will be safeguarded in the process. 

Cultural considerations

•	Trust

Immigrant communities vary in their level of trust with representatives of the larger community or of social service agencies. This mistrust, related to counselors, case managers and outreach workers stems from a multitude of sources including dictatorial systems in the home country, bad experiences with BCIS, being taken advantage of by individuals in the community and general mistrust in relating to wholly unfamiliar surroundings. This mistrust can create difficulties in getting individuals to describe problems in the community, to reveal personal information (especially regarding immigration status or economic level) or to acknowledge social service needs. 

In this particular effort, it is impossible to ignore the effects of the events of September 11th on communication between immigrants and even the most trusted professionals or agencies. Immigrants faced a number of extreme reactions – both criminal and governmentally sanctioned. These included physical attacks on the street, shouted insults and outright discrimination. Governmental attempts to “round-up” terrorists and discussions about turning immigrant “helpers” into enforcement agents increased mistrust. Fear of service agencies and non-profits were heightened due to: efforts to have local and state police enforce complex and changing immigration rules; threats to deputize English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers; and especially the successful move of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) into the Department of Homeland Security. Immigrants with or without legal status became far more reluctant to trust interviewers, agencies and caregivers. Building enough trust to get truthful and detailed data would require an unusual strategy involving a great deal of interaction over time – far different from most survey-based studies. 

•	Style of accessing individuals

Randomized and impersonal methods do not typically capture the perspective of the recently arrived. Immigrants are frequently missed altogether due to inconsistencies of address and telephone access. When actually reached through telephone or direct mail - language barriers lead to either inability to communicate at all or over-simplification of responses. Translated surveys are difficult to keep consistent in use and are also subject to misinterpretation. Literacy and education levels can be a factor when considering a written instrument. 
	
•	Model Minority
	
Immigrants are often reluctant to go on record about needs, due to fear of confirming already negative stereotypes or outright hostility. There is also a great deal of pressure on some immigrant communities to live up to a “model minority” reputation and downplay any problems. This is true of professionals and leaders in self-identified ethnic groups, as they are frequently asked to oversimplify their community’s needs in order to present a packaged ethnic group or cultural identity to mainstream colleagues. There is reluctance at times to speak about problems in communities with individuals of other background – even within ethnic groups. 

•	Concept

For some immigrant groups, the idea of gathering information about individuals or groups for a purpose other than surveillance is not immediately clear and requires detailed explanation. Randomized surveys simply do not exist as a phenomenon in many of the respondents’ countries of origin and can be seen as a trick of the authorities to find information that will be used for other purposes. Some immigrants come from countries with highly complex information gathering and restrictive governments. It is not unusual for data to be collected and used without permission and for helping professionals to be instrumental in the gathering process. Since social services do not consistently exist around the world and many immigrants lack an understanding of formalized or highly structured networks of assistance, even the purpose of the information gathering must sometimes be explained. 

METHODOLOGY

Preparing a Culturally Appropriate Model

General Approach

It is our experience that accurate data regarding immigrant communities is difficult to collect – (due to language, trust and cultural expectations) – and the establishment of a functional relationship with benefits to all participants is essential. Keeping in mind the cultural considerations listed above, the use of a relationship-based model involving the gathering of information through interviews was chosen as the best framework for this needs assessment, especially in the New York and New Jersey area following the events of September 11th, 2001. 

Substantial time investment was needed up front, to research official and unofficial “key informants” and community leaders; contact and introduce the concept by telephone; visit leaders and neighborhoods; and to attend community events and meetings in order to build trust with communities. Even after such efforts to locate and engage immigrant communities over time, and even as representatives of an immigrant assistance agency, only about one out of four or five individuals were willing to be interviewed.

The aim was to reach people, establish trust and talk to them face-to-face and in-depth about the problems and needs facing their communities. The use of ethnically appropriate interviewers made it possible to meet the objective of establishing trust with the respondent, especially in the case of the “street interviews”. Often, the interview was preceded by a conversation about general issues, in order to reach a level of comfort between the interviewer and the respondent. The interviewer also offered referrals and information about services, whenever required.

Instrument for Data Collection

The survey instrument/questionnaire was designed to:
•	Cover as much material as possible, yet not be too cumbersome to use.
•	Provide as much hard data as possible along with the more likely anecdotal information. 
•	Be used across cultures with as much similarity of language and structure as possible.
•	Include questions that would help in implementation of our findings (questions to discover the primary sources of information for the community for example). 
•	Include veiled questions that would seek out information that is often not willingly disclosed (e.g. The renter/homeowner question provided an assessment of financial level, where annual income was not disclosed).
•	Include properly balanced open-ended as well as prompted questions to ascertain all community problems in an unbiased fashion.
A few attempts were made initially, to have the questionnaire self-administered; however, since the self-administered format does not allow for probing by the interviewer, the results were very inadequate and had to be abandoned.    

Phases of the Project

Phase One: Research, Materials Preparation and Basic Outreach
•	Research major centers of immigrant life in Middlesex County, geographically and organizationally. 
•	Speak with contact people at all known New York and New Jersey immigrant organizations to discover additional contacts in Middlesex County.
•	Prepare and translate data collection instrument.
•	Train workers in public presentations and group management.
•	Research locations for focus groups and for community meetings or open house events. 
•	Make appointments with identified community leaders and professionals in order to conduct interview and to receive advice and additional contacts. 

Phase Two: Data Collection, Advanced Outreach, Public Events and Groups. 
•	Plan and conduct focus groups in appropriate locations.
•	Attend general community events and conduct interviews at sites comfortable to the respondent.
•	Conduct interviews at heavily immigrant populated public areas and large community events.
•	Follow up with initial contacts in Middlesex County to conduct interviews.
•	Begin preparations for data input and analysis. 

Phase Three: Data Analysis, Follow-up Interviews, Additional Data Collection, Report.
•	Complete final interviews and focus groups.
•	Contact respondents as possible for any necessary clarifications.
•	Review interviews for clarity and input data in preparation for statistical analysis.
•	Complete written report. 
•	Maintain contact with community leaders with relevant useful information for their communities. 

Executing the Model:

The aim of the project was to reach immigrants most likely missed in a previously conducted county-wide telephone survey commissioned by UWCJ to assess the population of Middlesex County at large. 

Sample selection
•	Interviewers targeted those who lacked fluency in English, might not have telephone service, those who would be most likely underserved, and those who might be isolated for other reasons.
•	Interviews included a mix of “key informant interviews” (individuals recognized in positions of leadership or with extensive knowledge of their community) and “street interviews” (randomly solicited immigrants at ethnic population centers). 
•	Since the majority of the “street” interviews were conducted in ethnically concentrated commercial areas during business hours – (stores, hairdressers, restaurants, etc.), certain sections of the population such as retired people, homemakers, unemployed and upper income people - are underrepresented. 
•	Interviews were conducted in Edison, Iselin, Piscataway, East Brunswick, North Brunswick, New Brunswick, South Brunswick, Franklin Park, Kendal Park, Metuchen, Plainsboro and Perth Amboy.
•	Focus groups were conducted in Piscataway, Cranbury, North Brunswick, New Brunswick and Freehold.

Recruiting process
•	Recruiting respondents was not easy due to suspicion, lack of time, and unwillingness on the part of respondents to ‘tarnish’ the image of the community.
•	Recruiting respondents was labor-intensive and difficult. The investment of time to set up appointments to interview community leaders was often greater than the time taken to complete the actual interview.

A total of n=80 interviews were conducted in the Chinese/Taiwanese (n=33), Hispanic (n=23) and South Asian (n=24) communities. Besides, n=6 focus groups were also conducted.

Notes on reading the tables

•	Statistically significant differences between analytic subgroups are indicated by either one or two asterisks.  
•	One asterisk indicates that the percentage recorded is significantly different from one or more of the subgroups, at the 95% confidence level.
•	Two asterisks indicate that the percentage recorded is significantly different from one or more of the subgroups, at the 99% confidence level.
•	Since all three subgroups (Chinese/Taiwanese, Hispanic and South Asian) are less than n = 50, caution should be exercised in interpreting data and generating conclusions. Rather, data should be considered directional in nature.

 

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Trust and open conversation with immigrants and ethnic organizations only come after consistent and useful in-language contact. 
Findings were not the result of quick, brief or random surveys, but of a sustained and thorough outreach campaign to both leaders and the general immigrant population. Each interview (30-120 minutes) was the result of a combination of time-consuming, repetitive efforts. Interviewers frequently encountered a high degree of anxiety and suspicion, despite their similar ethnic origins and ability to speak primary languages.

When discussing problems in their community without prompting, immigrants by far mention language.
Although the problem mentioned most frequently by immigrants is language (27% immigrants mentioned language difficulties when asked about the main problems in the community), Chinese/Taiwanese immigrants mention it significantly more often (52%) than Hispanic (13%) or South Asian immigrants (13%). The South Asian immigrant community as a whole does have some English speaking skills; the existence of substantial bilingual (Spanish/English) capability in New Jersey might mitigate the problem for Hispanic immigrants somewhat. 

‘No problem’ is a popular response when initially asked open-ended questions.
A fifth (21%) of all immigrants claimed that there were no problems in the community, suggesting an unwillingness to showcase community problems and perhaps undermine the ‘model minority’ image. This trend was significantly greater among Hispanic (30%) and South Asian (33%) respondents than Chinese/Taiwanese respondents (9%).

Adapting to life in America and immigration issues are viewed as important problems too.
In open-ended questioning, almost a fifth (19%) of all respondents reported problems with adapting to the US and with immigration. Difficulties with adapting were reported significantly more by Chinese/Taiwanese (27%) and South Asian (25%) respondents, while immigration issues were stressed largely by Hispanic (29%) respondents.

When prompted with specific problems, the unanimous response across ethnic groups was financial hardship, followed by immigration status and employment, in close succession.
A staggering 84% of all immigrants reported financial hardship and 80% reported employment as problems in the community and the level did not vary much across ethnicity. A similarly large number (80%) mentioned immigration status, although the Hispanic response, at 95%, outnumbered that of the Chinese/Taiwanese (79%) and South Asian (68%) communities.

Lack of knowledge, language and transportation were the most highly reported barriers to service access.
Close to two thirds (63%) of all respondents claimed that they “don’t know what’s available”, half (50%) mentioned language difficulties and over a third (36%) reported transportation issues. Lack of knowledge about services was the most highly reported barrier among each ethnic community. 

September 11th was thought to affect primarily the economy, but fear and security issues were raised too.
Almost two thirds (64%) of all respondents bemoaned the economic slowdown following the September 11 attacks and the response was generally high across all communities. However, the fear factor was brought up significantly more by South Asian (42%) than Chinese/Taiwanese (24%) and Hispanic (17%) respondents. 

Problems with religion, mixed gender services and embarrassment rated far lower than lack of information and trust as barriers to accessing service.
In the ethnic groups surveyed, concerns about immigration status, reporting and government agendas seemed to prevent far more immigrants from seeking help than differences of religion and culture.

Ethnic print media, flyers and ethnic broadcast media, in that order, were considered the most effective forms of advertising for agencies.
When asked where agencies should advertise their services, 42% of all respondents recommended print media, 28% suggested displaying flyers at public places and 22% mentioned broadcast media. The Chinese/Taiwanese community overwhelmingly chose print media (70%), significantly more than the South Asian (42%) and Hispanic (4%) communities. Of South Asians, 21% suggested other methods, significantly more than the Hispanic and Chinese/Taiwanese response, which was less than 5%.

College educated individuals were significantly more likely to point to immigrants rights education as a need in the community and were more likely to talk about problems relating to September 11.
While 76% of college-educated respondents mentioned this need, only half (50%) of the less educated did. Three fourths (75%) of those with a college degree talked about the problems created due to the September 11 attacks, while half (50%) of the high school or less educated did.

Married, college educated, older people, longtime residents of the US, homeowners and the relatively well off, were significantly more likely to have heard of the United Way.
35% of married, 40% of college educated, 46% of those over 40 years of age, 35% of those who have lived in the US longer than five years, 63% of homeowners, 46% of those making over $20,000 a year and 56% of ‘key persons’ had heard of United Way.

Despite some universality of experience and hardship, differences in priorities were found between the three communities investigated, primarily in ranking. 
There seemed to be no areas in which a community simply had no experience dealing with an issue or barrier – but some discrepancies in which problems or barriers were deemed most significant. 

Among the three communities, responses regarding barriers were far more consistent across ethnicity than prompted responses about problems. 
Five problem prompts that elicited the greatest disparity between communities were ESL, vocational/professional education for adults, children’s education, inadequate housing and domestic violence.

Language difficulties were a consistent and significant problem for the Chinese/Taiwanese community
Far more Chinese/Taiwanese respondents listed language difficulties as significant in both the open-ended and prompted questioning. 52% of Chinese/Taiwanese respondents gave this as a problem in the open-ended question, while 90% listed language as a significant issue in the prompted portion. In addition, lack of materials in Chinese/Taiwanese was repeated as part of the barriers to accessing services section. 

Being undocumented and lack of time were more frequently cited as a problem by Hispanic immigrants than the other two groups. 
“Lack of time” was mentioned in conjunction with comments about many other issues, and seemed to have a specific bearing on ESL.

The South Asian community was more willing than the other two communities to participate in focus groups. In the Chinese/Taiwanese community, individuals opted to do individual interviews rather than participate in a focus group.

FINDINGS

Data collected through administering the survey was cross tabulated a number of different ways, in order to examine various inter-relationships and explore patterns among: 
1.	Ethnic communities 
2.	Other demographic groups

Statistics listed in this section do not reflect information from the focus groups. Data was only analyzed from the individual interviews. Focus group findings are located in a separate section.

Findings by Ethnic Community

Main Problems in the Community (Open-Ended)

Respondents were first asked an open-ended question about the problems/needs in their community (Q.1.“What are the main problems in your community?”). The answers were then categorized. The open-ended format is relatively bias free, and often brings forth a ‘gut reaction’ type of response. The same question was asked later in the survey (Q.5. “To what extent do the needs or problems described below pertain to your community?”), but this time, the respondent was prompted with possible problem areas. The difference in the response patterns to both questions captures some of the diffidence that immigrants feel in showcasing the problems of their communities in public – as described below, a large number of respondents declined from outlining any problems in Q.1, choosing to say “none” or “no problem”, but when pressed further in Q.5, often admitted to problems.

All respondents	

The responses to Q.1.showed that the top three problems indicated by immigrants in Middlesex county are “Language difficulties” (27% of total respondents said that), “none” (21% of total respondents answered that) followed by “Adapting to the US” and “Immigration issues”(19% total respondents suggested that). 

“Language difficulties”

It is important that language difficulties shows up as the most frequent open-ended problem issue for immigrants overall. A recent study focusing on newly arrived seniors from a wide variety of countries of origin also found that “the most serious problems confronted by newcomer seniors were related to language issues …Without language skills in English or French, many newcomer seniors were unable to access services, such as consulting a doctor, and they were reportedly hesitant to explore the community by themselves (McDonald, et all, p. 14)”. A separate study on Hispanic immigrants’ access to health care noted, “Rather then trying to communicate with a physician in English, some participants with limited English choose not to see one at all (Perry, M. and Kannel, S. 2000, p.18).” Many workers in low-paid jobs felt that their ability to get better jobs was limited by their lack of knowledge of, or fluency in English. Although people want English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, they are unable to attend them since, said one store worker, “I work long hours and seven day a week, I do not have time.” 

“None”

The overwhelming response of “None” in this open-ended question clearly indicates unwillingness among immigrants to openly discuss their problems as well as some confusion as to the purpose of the question. Many people did not know what was meant by this question.  They wanted more concrete and specific questions in order to understand the point of the interview. Also, some people said they did not see any problems in the community. Community leaders were willing to report much more.

“Adapting to the US”

Respondents pointed to cultural differences, difficulties with integration into American society and insularity of immigrant communities, resulting in lack of community involvement with the mainstream society.

“Immigration issues”

Issues discussed in this category were problems related to lack of documentation, difficulties with accessing legal advice and information on procedures such as applying for visas.

Other Issues

Several items surfaced during the initial open-ended questions that were not reflected in the prompted responses. “Cohesion and unity within the community”, “senior citizen issues”, “working conditions”, “knowledge of the social service system”, “lack of community organizations” and “youth issues (other than education)” are therefore not rated here but seem to be of importance to the communities interviewed.

“The language barrier causes individuals to refrain from talking to others besides other Chinese, thus they do not know about or better understand the US systems.”

- Chinese school principal

Ethnic communities

Chinese/Taiwanese Community

The top three problems indicated by the Chinese/Taiwanese community are, “Language difficulties”(52%), “Knowledge of US systems”(36%) and “Adapting to the US”(27%).

Respondents felt that many problems stem from the language barrier, such as making it more difficult to access services and adapt to US life. There is no New Jersey “Chinatown” where individuals can get centralized services in their native language. Chinese/Taiwanese residents of New Jersey are required to interface with non-Chinese/Taiwanese organizations and service providers, many of which can only provide information and services in English.  As one respondent stated: “If Chinese/Taiwanese individuals try to call locally to access help, there is a language and access barrier especially for new immigrants” (local Chinese newspaper reporter). 

Recent immigrants and senior citizens are known to be especially disadvantaged by language. However, this needs assessment has also demonstrated that there some who have been here for 10-15 years still find language difficulties a significant barrier. 

Recent immigrants, and some who have already become citizens often hesitate and fear involvement in US society. They often see no need to have contact with outsiders or social and political structures. Many individuals stated that adapting to US life was a problem, especially for first generation immigrants, due to the lack of a safety and support network. 

Many Chinese/Taiwanese immigrants feel like they have lost their identity because they are no longer part of the homeland, but also not a part of the US. Respondents frequently described the difficulty in raising their children due to a cultural gap between parents and children. 

“Most Mexicans are here without immigration documents. They are forced to work long hours for very little pay. They often work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, for $250 per week!”

- Mexican hairstylist, documented.

 Hispanic Community

The top three open-ended responses for the Hispanic community are, “None”(30%), Employment/Working Conditions” (26%)and “Other”(26%). 

People talked about working long hours at low wage jobs and about the difficulties of finding better employment without work permits or any legal documents.  As a result, many people have a low quality of life - coping with immigration fears and working long hours to subsist.  The category ‘other’ included childcare, housing, low education levels on arrival in the US.

South Asian Community

“We are very insular; we reach out to our own community but we do not go beyond it. This is not a good way of integrating with the mainstream. Kids get isolated. Our perspective is very narrow.”
- South Asian community worker who runs a Sunday program for children 

For the South Asian community, the top three open-ended responses are, “None”(33%), followed by “Immigration Issues”(29%) and then “Adapting to the US”(25%) and “Other”(25%).  

Respondents were unwilling to outline problems in the community; fully one third of South Asian respondents answered “none” - even after considerable coaxing, many insisted that there were no problems. Often, respondents took offence to the question, asking what caused the interviewer to believe the community had problems.  

Respondents also spoke about the need for legal advice and information on procedures for applying for visas. 

 
Variation in responses by ethnic group

Looking closer, however, shows interesting differences between ethnic groups. Over half (52%) of Chinese/Taiwanese respondents indicate language issues as a major problem in the community, while only 13% of Hispanic and South Asian people do so. The Chinese/Taiwanese response is significantly higher than that of the other two communities. The explanation may be found in the fact that the South Asian immigrant community as a whole does have some English speaking capability and although Hispanic immigrants often do not, there is substantial bilingual (Spanish/English) capability in New Jersey, for language to not be as much of a problem for Hispanic as Chinese/Taiwanese immigrants.

Hispanic and South Asian people tended to treat the “problems” question with suspicion, suggesting that there are no problems in the community (30% of Hispanic and 33% of South Asians answered “none”). The Chinese/Taiwanese community was more forthcoming, with only 9% answering “none”. 

While 29% South Asians pointed to “Immigration Issues” as a problem, fewer Hispanics (17%) and Chinese/Taiwanese (12%) indicated that. “Immigration Issues” possibly includes the effects of the recent special registration program that affected immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh. 
 
Though senior citizen issues did not rank among the top three, this issue surfaced more in the Chinese/Taiwanese and South Asian community. The problems and needs within the overall Chinese/Taiwanese and South Asian community seem to be magnified within the senior citizen population. Often senior citizens come to the US to live with their children; these seniors have a language barrier or are at home during the daytime with no transportation. Thus, there are feelings of loneliness and difficulties in adapting to the American way of life. In addition, seniors often have no medical coverage.

Main problems in the community (prompted)

All respondents

The numbers for Q.5 (“To what extent do the needs or problems described below pertain to your community?”), tell a different story. Respondents were asked to rate each problem on a scale of 3 (A: Important need, B: Somewhat of a need, C: Not much of a need). The statistics reported below reflect the percentage of respondents who chose ratings A or B. 	

“Immigrants lead double lives. We are responsible for our families and our finances here and we have to help our families back home. We must send money home. We are always thinking of ways to put money aside to send to our families.” 
- Honduran woman, owner of a corner store

For the immigrant community as a whole, “Financial Hardship” ranked highest, with 84% of total respondents rating it as an important or somewhat important need. “Immigration Status” was close behind, with 82% of total respondents rating it as important or somewhat important, followed by “Employment”, selected by 80% of total respondents. 

“Financial Hardship”
Each ethnic group (80% of Chinese/Taiwanese, 86% each of Hispanic and South Asian respondents) selected “Financial Hardship” as a problem in overwhelming numbers. Respondents mentioned low wages, downturn in the economy and monetary problems due to job loss.

“Immigration Status”

Many immigrants spoke about the difficulties in obtaining documentation and problems associated with lack of documentation. The issues ranged from life as an undocumented immigrant to problems in the visa application process. Several respondents spoke about the loss of their H-1 visa status as a result of the general economic slowdown.

“Employment”

In the matter of “Employment”, although 85% of Chinese/Taiwanese respondents indicated “Employment” as an important or somewhat important problem, fewer Hispanic (76%) and South Asian (79%) respondents indicated the same. 

Ethnic Communities

“Vocational training is especially important for newly arrived immigrants who have good training from home, but need training or re-licensing in the US.”
- Chinese church member

Chinese/Taiwanese Community

The top three (prompted) problems in the Chinese/Taiwanese community are, “Vocational/Professional Education for Adults” (91%), ESL (90%) and Employment (85%). 

Most Chinese/Taiwanese individuals have stated that they have limited knowledge about vocational programs or about transferring or acquiring professional accreditation. Many individuals were not very clear on what this vocational/professional education would entail but after some explanation rated it as important.

Education in English as a Second Language was consistently rated as something greatly needed in the Chinese/Taiwanese community. This result parallels the high rating given to language difficulties in the open-ended question.

The majority of individuals mentioned employment as a big problem in the community. This is possibly related to the economic impact and job loss already discussed. Many individuals in the community work in the computer/tech industry, which was heavily impacted by the economic downturn. Within one church, about 10-15% of the congregation was unemployed during the past year. In fact, according to a Taiwanese pastor, last year, for a two week period, a third of the entire congregation was unemployed. Immigrants with H-1 have been laid off and are forced to work for less at a Chinese/Taiwanese company, or lose their H-1 visa status and become undocumented, forcing them to return to a country they no longer regard as home. Retail establishments have also been affected greatly by the economy. One of the bookstores in which an interview was conducted was forced to close soon after.

“You can have your rights violated and feel unable to do anything about it. I feel that I cannot go to the police because of fear of deportation. Also, because we don’t speak English, the authorities do not take us seriously.”
- Mexican restaurant worker

Hispanic Community

The top three prompted responses for the Hispanic community are “Immigration Status” (95%), “Domestic Violence” (92%) followed by “Separation from family” (86%), “Financial Hardship” (86%) and “Inadequate Housing” (86%).  

The scale of the survey cannot capture the significance of the problems related to lack of documentation. Every other issue is affected, including: employment – pressure to accept labor rights violations and low wage jobs; domestic violence – increased fear of reporting to the police; transportation – cannot legally acquire a driver’s license; housing - fear of reporting landlord violations and inability to sign a lease; health care – less likely to have employer provided health insurance, ineligible for certain government programs.

“My husband and I work from 10am to 9pm six days a week. We do not speak English, so it is very hard to get well-paid jobs, although we have a lot of experience. I ran my own small business in a small village in Gujarat and now I work at very low wages. We moved to the US only to give our daughter a better life. Now I wonder if we did the right thing. We are not afraid of hard work, but despite hard work, despite a green card, we cannot make ends meet.”
- Indian beauty salon worker

South Asian Community

The top three prompted responses for the South Asian Community are “Financial Hardship” (86%), Employment (79%) and “Adapting to the US” (78%).

“Financial problems” and “employment” were both linked by respondents to September 11 and the economic downturn following the event. Respondents spoke about company layoffs, losing H-1 status and the resulting financial problems.

Regarding “adapting to the US”, respondents felt that the pace of life in the US is very hectic and since everyone is busy trying to make money, there is no time to understand American culture and adapt. One woman tied adapting to language problems, saying, “Adjustment is very difficult, because English is a problem, especially spoken English.”

 

Variations

“Two to three families live in one house. University student housing drives up the cost in this area. There is not much rental assistance, section 8 or public housing in this area.”
- Hispanic community worker

The five problems with the most differential in ratings were: 
•	ESL (46% of Hispanic, 71% of South Asian, and 90% of Chinese/Taiwanese respondents)
•	Vocational/Professional Education for Adults (38% of South Asian, 47% of Hispanic and 91% of Chinese/Taiwanese respondents)
•	Children’s Education (6% of South Asian, 35% of Chinese/Taiwanese and 60% of Hispanic respondents)
•	Inadequate Housing (31% of Chinese/Taiwanese, 57% of South Asian and 86% of Hispanic respondents)
•	Domestic Violence (29% of Chinese/Taiwanese, 53% of South Asian and 92% of Hispanic respondents)

An overwhelming number of people in the Hispanic community (60%) selected “Children’s Education” as a major or somewhat major problem, while far fewer Chinese/Taiwanese (35%) and almost no South Asians (6%) did so, making the response of the Hispanic community significantly higher than that of the others. This is supported by findings from a 2002 needs assessment conducted with Hispanic members of two communities in Illinois. Following interviews with 172 Hispanic members of two towns, the most consistent finding seemed to be the importance of children’s education. In response to the request to rank specific issues in order of importance to their communities – education far surpassed every other topic in both communities. 

“I don’t know if [domestic violence] happens a lot because no one ever hears about it. The topic is kept private.”
- Chinese restaurant worker

The choice of “Immigration status” was not as unequivocal, with 95% of the Hispanic community selecting it, but only 79% of Chinese/Taiwanese and 68% of South Asians concurring. Substantial efforts to reach the undocumented Hispanic population rather than more mainstream Spanish speaking groups may account for this discrepancy.

The vastly divergent response to Domestic Violence among the three communities could perhaps be attributed to the more successful educational efforts of state agencies in Spanish and by Manavi in the South Asian community.

Barriers to service access

All Respondents

The barriers most frequently mentioned by respondents as a whole were, “Don’t know what is available” (63%), “Language difficulties” (50%) and “Transportation Issues”(36%).
“Don’t know what is available”

“If there was a service provider in the Mexican community it would have to reach out to the community and build trust. If an office was simply opened and no one reached out, people would not just walk in.” 
- Mexican hairstylist

Almost two thirds (63%) of total respondents identified lack of knowledge about services as the chief barrier to service access. The study of senior newcomers in Canada conducted in 2001 found that “the main problem with community services was the shortage of language specific staff and language specific informational materials” (McDonald, L. et all, 2001, p.iii) and that “lack of knowledge about services – both settlement and other services – was a serious problem.” 

“Language difficulties”

In second place as a barrier to accessing services was “Language difficulties”, selected by exactly one half (50%) of total respondents. In a Twin Cities study completed in 2001, language and communication were cited as the most frequent barriers by three main immigrant groups (Hmong, Latino and Somali communities), when seeking health care. The study elaborated on this topic, noting that providers report having insufficient funds to comply with Title VI rules. Some providers report concerns over the quality of interpreters available, community members not the lack of trained interpreters, and agencies note that translated written materials are not enough when faced with illiteracy in primary language.

“Transportation Issues”

Transportation was selected as a barrier by over a third (36%) of total respondents. This result parallels a previous United Way funded study where transportation was cited as a serious problem in Middlesex County. 

Ethnic Communities

“Half of the people’s problems are due to language. Most of those in need do not speak English, have no car and do not know where to call.  These need to be addressed first.”
- Chinese worker in bookstore

Chinese/Taiwanese Community

The ranking of barriers to service access by the Chinese/Taiwanese community mirrored that of the total immigrant population, with the top three barriers being “Don’t know what is available” (88%), followed by “Language difficulties”(73%) and then “Transportation issues” (39%).  

Chinese/Taiwanese respondents stated that a central reason that individuals do not know what is available is the severe lack of materials or advertisements in the Chinese language.

Though Chinese/Taiwanese individuals attempt to overcome their language difficulties by taking ESL classes, they encounter additional barriers while accessing ESL. Most respondents did not know about the availability of ESL classes, as most of the community ESL classes are advertised in English. Individuals also often mentioned a lack of time to take ESL classes, since the hours often conflict with their working hours or transportation takes too long. Lastly, even if individuals take ESL classes, the class was not advanced enough to obtain a job requiring fluency in English.

 The inability to speak English creates other barriers such as bad experiences with agencies and the subsequent fear and dislike of agencies.

Hispanic Community

“[The number one barrier] is immigration. If you are mojado you can not get services. If you are seco you have services available. This is the big difference.”
- Nicaraguan grocery store worker

In the Hispanic community, “Don’t know what is available”, “Transportation issues” and “Being undocumented”, shared the top position, with over a third (35%) of Hispanic respondents selecting those barriers. 

There are very limited services for undocumented people. Besides, the fear of being reported prevents people from seeking services. Undocumented people often work extremely long hours, leaving them no time to seek services, especially since agencies usually maintain regular working hours. Undocumented immigrants find it impossible to get driving licenses thus needing to depend on public transport, which is insufficient.

“I don’t know of any agencies that can help me. Even if there are agencies, we don’t speak English to make ourselves understood. I really want to learn English, but I don’t know about any classes. Besides, I work Tues-Sun, so the only day I can attend is Monday. The classes need to be either at walking distance, or include transportation.” 
- South Asian store worker

it

South Asian Community

In the South Asian community, “Don’t know what is available” ranked first (54%) followed by “Language difficulties” and Transportation issues (33% each). 

In many cases, one barrier was linked to others, as the adjacent quote demonstrates.

Variations

The interesting aspect of the barrier, “Language difficulties” was the significantly higher selection rate by the Chinese/Taiwanese (73%) as compared to the other two ethnic groups (30% and 33%), probably for the reasons discussed earlier. 

While still at the top of the list, far fewer (35%) Hispanic respondents rated “don’t know what is available” than Chinese/Taiwanese respondents (88%) as a barrier. The South Asian response was in between, at 54%. This is probably connected to the language barrier, with fewer translated materials available in Chinese than in Spanish. It could also reflect a tendency of agencies to make fewer general efforts to reach out to the Chinese-speaking population.

“Being undocumented” was rated as a barrier by 35% of Hispanic respondents, while the other two communities did not mention it at all. Partially an effect of priorities in recruiting for interviews, this may also reflect availability of private services that are not as restricted by legal status among the communities.

Similarly, “Lack of time” was mentioned by the Hispanic community significantly more (22%) than by the Chinese/Taiwanese (15%) or the South Asian (4%) communities. Interestingly, respondents from all communities mentioned it frequently when discussing other barriers, such as difficulties in making time to go to ESL classes, even when they did not rate “lack of time” as a particular barrier. 

Effects of September 11, 2001

Almost two thirds (64%) of total respondents agreed that the major effect of the September 11 attacks was economic. A third (33%) of total respondents who identified fear and emotional effects as a major effect. 
Seventeen percent (17%) felt that the attacks raised security issues. There were few differences among the three ethnic communities.  

“Economic”

All three communities overwhelmingly picked the economy as an effect of September 11 (79% of Chinese/Taiwanese, 52% of Hispanic and 68% of South Asian respondents). 

When speaking about economic effects, respondents mentioned the downturn in the economy, failing businesses as well as rising unemployment.

 “We are feeling some difference. We feel more like outsiders. The economy is down. There is a more anti-foreigner sentiment.”
- South Asian community worker

There was a general feeling among respondents that the immigrant population, especially undocumented immigrants, was especially hard hit by the economic consequences of 9/11.  Undocumented immigrants cannot rely on safety nets like unemployment benefits, or government vocational and employment programs.  Furthermore, many lost employment because of not having work permits or because they were using false papers.  This became more difficult under post-9/11 security measures.  

“Emotional Effects” 

Next in ranking, the Chinese/Taiwanese (24%), Hispanic (17%) and the South Asians (42%) picked Emotional effects, which included fear and the need to be more cautious. A few people mentioned other emotional effects, such as sadness, fear, and worry. This was especially so around the time the terror alert was raised for the first time. 

 “Since 9/11 there is fear in the community. People need a place where they can talk and learn about their legal rights – a place where they can feel safe.” 
- community worker

“Security”

Fifteen percent (15%) Chinese/Taiwanese, 17% Hispanics and 25% South Asians mentioned security as an effect of September 11. Respondents talked about increased immigration vigilance by authorities as well as increased security regulations.
 
“No effect”

Some people said that 9/11 did not affect them, that the effect was felt mostly in New York, or that the effect had passed.  The survey was conducted over a six month period starting 14 months after the attacks. Many hardships faced by immigrants relate to daily economic and emotional survival, making large events fade into the background unless there was a direct effect (loss of a family member, experience of evacuating, etc). It was not possible to interview the directly affected immigrants reached, as their counseling needs took precedence to information gathering.

Variations 

“Racial profiling of Sikhs, Muslims, continues. Family security was affected. Kids in schools are suffering, especially Sikhs. Muslim prisoners are mistreated.” 
- Indian community leader

“Discrimination”

Very few Chinese/Taiwanese (3%) and Hispanics (4%) felt that discrimination was an effect of September 11, while considerably more South Asians (17%) felt that way.  When speaking with South Asians, there was an outpouring of problems related to 9/11, described by immigrants as “Racial, verbal abuse”.  “There is a fear, especially among the Sikh community because Indian clothes are suspect. Getting a visa for my parents became especially difficult after 9/11.” “Jobs were lost, especially computer related. My husband lost his job.” Another respondent felt that, “Immigration people are harsher, they take fingerprints and check luggage”. 

Where Agencies Should Advertise

When asked where agencies should advertise their services to immigrants, ethnic print media was suggested most often (42%), followed by distributing flyers at public places (28%) and then ethnic broadcast media (22%).

Libraries, institutions of higher and vocational learning, religious centers, community centers, local businesses, grocery stores, shopping centers, public schools and transportation hubs were all mentioned as public places in which to distribute information.

In general, most immigrants appear to get information from word-of-mouth support networks of family and friends, where these exist. In the Canadian study, “Toronto respondents sought help to find out about various settlement tasks first and foremost from their support networks of families and friends, particularly for health services (i.e. finding a doctor), schools, housing and employment.” A separate study in 2001 found that respondents “gained their settlement information from informal sources first from their sponsors who were family members …, and later, from their new found friends and from their ethnic communities (McDonald, L. et all 2001, p. iv.).” 

“ Inform community leaders about services … there is a lock of information … the church gets a lot of calls unrelated to religion [social services] – even from non-church members.”
- Taiwanese pastor

Again, these findings are consistent with previous studies in other regions. Solutions to bridge gaps in service and information “offered by key informants … were to provide information and services in the requisite languages, use the ethnic media to target this information … and to engage in more community outreach (McDonald, L. et all, 2001, p. iv.).”

Variations among ethnic groups

The Chinese/Taiwanese and South Asian Communities followed the same ranking, with 70% of Chinese/Taiwanese and 42% of South Asians suggesting ethnic print media and 24% of Chinese/Taiwanese and 29% of South Asians suggesting distributing flyers. The Chinese/Taiwanese and South Asians suggested print media significantly more than the Hispanic community did. However, both these communities (15% Chinese/Taiwanese and 21% South Asians) ranked presentations at community events next. The Hispanic community, by contrast, gave an equal ranking to broadcast media and distributing flyers (30%), citing specific Spanish language television and radio stations, followed by presentations and events (9%). South Asians also suggested other advertising methods (21%) significantly more than the other two communities. For instance, one community leader suggested that in order to build trust, agencies need to hire people from the community to take the word out, as well as hire people in decision-making capacities.

Outreach and Bilingual/Bicultural Workers

Presentations at community events and visits to clubs, religious sites and businesses of immigrant communities are unusual efforts for traditional service agencies, requiring flexible staff hours, familiarity with cultural norms and research into ethnic community events and areas. This labor-intensive method is under-utilized and is noted by respondents in this study and others as an important method of outreach to immigrant populations. “Information should be available in different languages at different access points, such as doctors’ offices, ethnic food stores and settlement and community agencies (McDonald, L. et all, 2001, p. vi).”

Simply translating materials and providing operational interpreting (the use of language line services for direct interpreting for informational phone lines) is not enough. “Cultural competency [as perceived and implemented by organizations and government entities] is generally limited to language accessibility to improve access for persons of limited English proficiency through translation or interpreter services. There is generally little emphasis on bilingual/bicultural providers. Language translation of brochures and other materials, if available, are often available only in Spanish.  With the best of intentions, a few of the general “help lines” in New Jersey, intended to help the general public in accessing social services, have contracted with telephone interpreting services in order to accommodate callers in almost any language. Despite the professionalism of the interpreters and the foresight of agency management, three main difficulties arise: few of those most in need of interpreters are reached with in-language advertisements for the service, few of those reached understand the procedure for accessing the interpreting service, and those who discover the phone lines existence and how to request the interpreting services are not provided with absolutely necessary information about referrals sites. Databases of social services at the various help lines do not track such important agency information as: languages available on-site, whether or not telephone interpreters are available, whether agencies have specific limitations regarding a potential client’s immigration status, whether actual direct services can be provided in-language or through a live interpreter. 

Findings by other demographic categories 

Gender

Women and men often differed in their responses. When asked without prompting about the main problems in the community, almost a fourth (24%) of female respondents mentioned a lack of knowledge of US systems and service access, as well as immigration issues, while only 9% and 11% of male respondents respectively, mentioned those factors. On the other hand, almost a quarter (23%) of male respondents, understandably mentioned problems relating to employment or working conditions, as well as adapting to the US, as the main problems in the community, while fewer women (14% and 16% respectively) thought those were major problems. Both women (26%) and men (29%) pointed to language issues as a major problem.

When prompted about possible problems in the community, the responses differed somewhat. Adapting to the US now became an equally voiced problem (69% women and 66% men), as did a lack of community space (60% each) and inadequate housing (56% women and 57% men). 

However, women were more vocal about the lack of immigrant rights education than men (74% women as compared to 57% men) and about the need for vocational or professional education for adults (72% women as compared to 56% men), indicating perhaps a need for adult education to be redesigned to better meet the needs of women. Moreover, a significantly greater number of women voiced concern over immigration status issues (91%) than men (69%).  More women than men admitted to the problems of mental health (62% women, 43% men) and domestic violence (63% women, 53% men), possibly since these are issues that women are usually closer to. 

When speaking about barriers to service access, significantly more men (20%) than women (6%) spoke about having had bad experiences with agencies. More women (69%) than men (54%) mentioned that they don’t know what’s available, indicating that marketing and outreach might need to be done by agencies in areas that immigrant women are more likely to frequent, such as ethnic grocery stores, schools, day care centers and hairdressers. Childcare, understandably, was mentioned as a barrier by more women (18%) than men (6%). More women (55%) than men (43%) spoke about language difficulties. This finding points to a need for ESL classes to be designed appropriately for women. Significantly more women (47%) pointed to transportation as a barrier than men (20%); during anecdotal conversations, it was revealed that if there is a car in the family, typically the man uses it, consequently, the woman uses public transportation.

Marital Status

Marital status indicates the possibility of increased responsibilities involving raising children and the need for more decision-making. The responses of married and unmarried immigrants therefore are worthy of comparison. In this study, these two groups did not differ vastly, and the areas of divergence are easily explained. In the prompted and open-ended questions about community problems, a similar pattern emerged. Open-ended, married respondents (23%) were more likely to suggest adapting to the US as a problem than unmarried ones (14%) and significantly more married respondents (14%) claimed that racism and discrimination were problems for their community than unmarried respondents (2%). Immigrants are perhaps more likely to get exposed to problems with adapting, racism and discrimination as they settle down and experience life through their children who might face these issues in school or at play. Even when prompted with a battery of specific problems, more married respondents pointed to adapting (73%) than unmarried (63%); the racism and discrimination issue too was chosen more by married (68%) than unmarried (58%) respondents.

A significantly higher number of married respondents (35%) than unmarried ones (14%) had heard of United Way, suggesting that perhaps immigrants attempt to access services more when they have families to care for. Regarding the matter of where agencies should advertise, significantly more married respondents (54%) chose print media, compared to unmarried respondents (30%). 

Education

Respondents were divided into two groups – those with a High school education or less and those with more than a High School education). There were no major differences between the two groups among the open-ended “problems” question. However, on the prompted responses, the more educated respondents overwhelmingly identified immigrant rights education as a need (76%), as compared to the less educated group (50%), possibly because of greater familiarity with the concept. Inadequate housing was selected as a problem, understandably, by the less educated (72%). A significantly greater number of the more educated (75%) identified problems related to September 11 as a major issue in the community, as against the less educated (50%). That, along with the fact that less educated immigrants also expressed a greater fear of losing immigration status (25%) as compared to more educated immigrants (14%), might indicate an unwillingness on the part of less educated immigrants, with unstable jobs or lack of legal status, to speak out about terrorism for fear of jeopardizing their situation. 

Needless to say, a significantly larger number of the more educated group (40%) said they had heard of United Way, as against only 3% of the less educated group. When asked where agencies should advertise their services, half (50%) of the more educated voted for print media, as compared to 31% of the less educated. Both groups (28%) were equally approving of putting up flyers in public places.

Age

In order to examine response patterns by age, respondents were divided into two groups – younger (age under 40 years) and older (40 years or more). Not many differences were observed in their responses. In response to the prompted question on community problems, the older group identified immigrant rights education (87%) significantly more than the younger group (58%), who might be more exposed to this issue through work or children’s schools. A greater percentage of older respondents felt that vocational or professional education for adults was a need in the community (78%) than younger respondents (61%).

Transportation was named as a barrier much more by the older group (46%) than the younger group (32%). The older group tended to bring up senior citizen issues more often, one of which was transportation.

Income Level

Income is an uncomfortable topic in some immigrant cultures. Therefore, a “ghost” question was devised to measure the financial level of respondents, by way of asking them if they were homeowners or renters. Care must be taken while interpreting the responses to this question though, since being a homeowner is also tied into being married, having children, being older, etc. Many respondents, especially in the South Asian community, did indeed refuse to state their income; hence the homeownership question was used for the following analysis.
Among the open-ended question on community problems, significantly more homeowners (29%) said that adapting to the US was a problem for the community, compared to renters (8%). 

Key Informant

Two types of interviews were conducted – 
•	“Street” interviews with randomly chosen immigrants and  
•	Interviews with “Key Informants”, who were either community leaders (people holding political office, leaders of ethnic organizations, etc.) or community workers (people who volunteered their time for community work).

Interesting patterns emerged when the responses of the above two groups were compared. 

On the open-ended question about community problems, Key informants pointed to the problem of adapting to the US, far more than average immigrants (30% of Key informants and 14% of average immigrants said so).  While 19% of Key informants suggested problems in healthcare access, only 2% of average immigrants did. Key informants also pointed to a lack of knowledge of US systems (30% as compared to 12% of average immigrants), cohesion within the community (22%, as compared to 7% of average immigrants), Mental Health (15% as compared to 2% of average immigrants) and aging issues (15% as compared to 2% of average immigrants). Most of these differences were statistically significant. Also, almost a third of average respondents (31%) said their community had no problems, while none (0%) of Key Informants said so. Key Informants are clearly knowledgeable, able to articulate the problems of the community, and are not afraid to speak out. 
On the prompted question about community problems, the divergence in responses between average respondents and key informants narrowed; however, many remained significant. 

Key Informants were significantly more vocal than average immigrants about security issues raised by September 11 (33% of Key Informants said that, as against 10% of average immigrants). While a third (33%) of Key Informants recommended presentations at events as a way for agencies to advertise their services, only 10% of average immigrants did so, making the difference significant. Needless to say, over half (56%) of Key Informants were aware of United Way, while only 10% of average immigrants were.

Summary of Demographics (focus groups not included)

Overall

80	Total interviews	
59%	Female			41%	Male
31%	Key Informants		69%	“Street” interviews
78%	Full-time Employed	22%	Part-time Employed  
50%	Married			50%	Unmarried
64%	Under 40 years		36%	40 years or more
30%	High School or less	70%	More than High School
39%	Homeowners		61%	Renters
33%	5 years or less in US	67% 	more than 5 years in US

Chinese/Taiwanese community

33	Total interviews	
67%	Female			33%	Male
42%	Key Informants		58%	“Street” interviews
79%	Full-time Employed	21%	Part-time Employed
55%	Married			45%	Unmarried
54%	Under 40 years		46%	40 years or more
22%	High School or less	78%	More than High School
60%	Homeowners		40%	Renters
35%	5 years or less in US	65% 	more than 5 years in US

The Chinese/Taiwanese interviews included a higher percentage of “key informants”, more younger people than the other two, higher general education level than the Hispanic respondents and less than the South Asian, substantially more women than men and the highest rate of home ownership overall.

Hispanic community

23	Total interviews	
47%	Female			53%	Male
26%	Key Informants		74%	“Street” interviews
87%	Full-time Employed	13%	Part-time Employed
30%	Married			70%	Unmarried
73%	Under 40 years		28%	40 years or more
55%	High School or less	45%	More than High School
7%	Homeowners		93%	Renters
27%	5 years or less in US	73% 	more than 5 years in US

The effort to speak to as many undocumented immigrants as possible in the Hispanic community is reflected in the demographics. The Hispanic respondents were more often single, with less overall education, had been in the US the longest, were younger on average and were rarely homeowners.

South Asian Community

24	Total interviews	
50%	Female			50%	Male
29%	Key Informants		71%	“Street” interviews
86% 	Full-time Employed	14% 	Part-time Employed
71%	Married			29%	Unmarried
63%	Under 40 years		37%	40 years or more
15%	High School or less	85%	More than High School
43%	Homeowners		57%	Renters
43%	5 years or less in US	57% 	more than 5 years in US

The demographics in the South Asian Community most closely reflect those of the immigrants as a whole. South Asian respondents were from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

Additional Information:

Main Problems of the Community (open-ended)	
	Total  %
(n=80)	Chinese/Taiw. %  
(n=33)	Hispanic %
 (n=23)	S. Asian %
 (n=24)	
Language Difficulties	27	52	13	13	
None	21	9	30	33	
Adapting to the US	19	27	0	25	
Immigration Issues	19	12	17	29	
Employment/Working Cond	17	15	26	13	
Knowledge of US System/
Service Access	17	36	9	0	
Other	16	3	26	25	
Financial Problems	14	9	17	21	
Cohesion/Unity in the Comm	12	24	0	4	
Racism/Discrimination	8	6	4	13	
Community Space	7	6	4	8	
Healthcare	7	12	9	0	
Lack of Comm Organizations	6	12	0	4	
Mental Health	6	9	0	8	
Youth Issues	5	3	4	4	
Senior Citizens Issues	6	15	0	0	

Main Problems of Your Community (prompted)	
	Total  %
(n=80)	Chinese/Taiw. % 
(n=33)	Hispanic % 
(n=23)	S. Asian % 
(n=24)	
Financial Hardship	84	80	86	86	
Immigration Status	82	79	95	68	
Employment	80	85	76	79	
Access to Healthcare	74	75	73	71	
Separation from Family	73	70	86	67	
Adapting to the US	70	60	73	78	
ESL/Language	69	90	46	71	
Civic/Immigration Rights Education	67	73	76	53	
Vocational/Professional Education for Adults	66	91	47	38	
Problems Related to September 11th	66	65	63	75	
Racism/Discrimination	63	54	76	57	
Community Space	60	68	50	53	
Domestic Violence	59	29	92	53	
Inadequate Housing	56	31	86	57	
Mental Health	54	52	63	75	
Children’s Education	39	35	60	6	

Focus Groups 

South Asian Community

Format
Care must be taken to understand that the success of a focus group depends to a large extent on the comfort level of the members of the group with each other and with the subject matter. Focus groups are conversational in nature and often tend to veer from the prepared format. The facilitator can sometimes bring the group back on track, but must sometimes go with the flow, even if the discussion does not cover all the topics on the agenda. Persistent interference from the facilitator can adversely affect the flow of conversation, the group dynamic and therefore the results of the focus group. This strategy towards focus groups was maintained in keeping with the ‘relationship building model’ that the entire study is based on. The focus group discussion guide consisted of the same series of questions as those on the survey.

Focus Group 1
Senior Citizen’s Center, Piscataway, NJ

Demographics:

Ten Senior Citizens, residents of Piscataway, participated in this focus group, of which four are in the age range 55-69 years and six are above the age of 70; all are retired men; eight married and two widowed; four had a High School education while six had a college degree; seven are relative newcomers, having spent between 5-10 years in the US, while three had been in the US for 10-20 years; all are Gujarati speaking Indians and all of them lived with an adult child. Most had heard of the United Way, but did not know of specific programs.

Main problems in the community (open-ended responses):

The main problems identified by the group were language, transportation and healthcare. There was agreement that Indian immigrants can be classified into two groups – those who came from a metropolitan area in India and those who came from a rural area – the former usually speak English while the latter often do not. It is for this latter group that language was considered a major problem. However, even for the metropolitan group, ‘spoken English’ was a problem, since the usage and accent in the US is very different.

Transportation was identified as a big problem for the elderly. NJ Transit fares were considered too high for retired senior citizens. Service was considered poor, frequency of buses low and coverage, inadequate. One participant pointed out that factories have midnight shifts, but there are no buses at night to serve the night-shift workers. Some envied the public transport system in Jersey City; others spoke approvingly of the bus system in Parsippany. Everyone was very appreciative of the buses run by the Piscataway Senior Citizen’s Center every morning, which made it possible for them to use the services of the Center and the Library in the morning. 

Healthcare was unanimously seen as a huge problem for immigrants, especially among the elderly.
Main problems in the community (prompted responses):

Participants were prompted with a battery of problems and asked if these existed in their communities. 
There was no consensus to the problem adapting to the US. Some felt that Indians are very accommodating, flexible people and make themselves fit in or adapt. Others felt that Indians tend to isolate themselves, do not try to mainstream, hence don’t adapt. The latter group felt that training for adapting - lectures on American culture, norms, habits, thinking - would be very helpful.

Most participants felt that Indian immigrants do not know much about immigrant rights education and could use training.

Discrimination was considered somewhat of a problem in the area of employment and promotions. Some participants were convinced that quotas for Indians were observed in hiring, and that these quotas had recently been lowered, thus displacing many Indians. It was felt that Indians “don’t have a say” in hiring or promotion decisions taken by employers.

Community space was not considered a problem, nor was children’s education, which was universally appreciated as being excellent, and the existence of a school bus system made it very convenient for parents.

There was general consensus that vocational/professional education for adults was an important need. “People who come here need to learn skills that will make them employable here”, said one participant, who felt that assistance in getting job readiness skills would be very useful. ESL classes, too, were considered a great need in the community, whether to teach basic English, or more advanced classes to improve spoken fluency. 

Employment was considered a problem for people trained and educated in India. Most felt that unskilled jobs were plentiful and easy to find, but that since Indian diplomas are not recognized in the US, Indian immigrants have to retrain, which can be very expensive, or take unskilled jobs. Participants felt that financial hardship was not much of a problem for Indians, not because they were wealthy, but because they came from a “saving” culture and were used to a “simple life”. One participant said, “In American, people spend what they earn. In India, we were taught to save first and spend later. We bring these values with us, so we can make do with much less.”

All participants felt that access to healthcare was a problem mainly for the elderly, especially people who had not yet reached the age of 65, since they were not eligible for Medicaid. Immigration status was considered a problem - participants complained of long delays in bringing family members over from India.

Participants felt that housing was a very major problem; that already high rents had escalated even higher in the last three years, with two-bedroom apartments in Piscataway starting at $1000. Most had a lot to say about mental health, mentioning loneliness and depression as the chief problems. Immigrants, they said, were used to a community life in India, where problems can be shared with extended family and friends, and as such, “therapy happens informally in the community”. Going to a mental health professional was simply not seen as an option.

Problems related to September 11 were enumerated as job loss, fear of terrorism and layoffs. Families of immigrants who worked in NY have been fearful, especially when “code orange” is announced. Some lamented that the US had always been a safe place and it was hard to believe that this situation could occur here.

Most participants agreed that domestic violence certainly exists in the community, but felt that immigrants are afraid of US laws, thus curtailing the incidence of the problem somewhat. Said one participant, “Women and children have the protection of the police here”.

Barriers to service access:

Participants felt that the most important barrier to service access was the lack of a good public transport system. Other than the buses run by the Piscataway Senior Citizen’s Center every morning, their mobility is severely restricted. The other barriers outlined by participants were lack of knowledge about services and language difficulties.

Focus Group 2
Chinmaya Mission Hindu Spiritual Center, Cranbury, NJ

Demographics:

Four women, all homemakers, some part time workers, participated in this focus group at the end of a regularly scheduled prayer meeting; all lived in the neighboring towns of West Windsor, Plainsboro, or South Brunswick; all are married, with a college education and are in the age range 40-54; one had spent 5-10 years in the US, one had spent 10-20 years, one had spent over 20 years; all are from India and are bilingual, speaking either Hindi or Gujarati besides English; all are homeowners. None had heard of United Way.

Main problems in the community (open-ended responses):

Lack of unity was one of the main problems identified by the group, who felt that Indians are divided along lines of religion, language and ethnicity, which makes it difficult for the community as a whole to have a voice. It was also felt that Indians do not volunteer, which was seen as a major problem. All the participants could foresee growing old and wondered whether they would spend their lives in loneliness. Intergenerational issues were discussed, too, and concern was expressed for the children of immigrants, who are “pulverized” by the clash between the culture at home and that outside the home.
 
Main problems in the community (prompted responses):

Participants agreed that both adapting to the US and immigrant rights education are much greater problems for immigrants who came from rural areas in India, for whom the cultural changes were far greater than those experienced by urban, westernized, English speaking Indian immigrants. It was felt that senior citizens have the most difficulties with affordable healthcare. September 11, with the ensuing economic downturn and job losses, was thought to have increased mental health problems in the community. September 11 was also thought to contribute to discrimination. As one participant put it, “people look at you differently”, and worried about the loss of civil liberties following the terrorist attack. Other forms of discrimination were also detailed. One participant said, speaking about the memorial services for the astronauts who died in the shuttle disaster, that a representative from every astronaut’s religious denomination was invited to the memorial service, with the exception of a Hindu priest, although Kalpana Chawla, one of the deceased astronauts, was Hindu. 

Participants felt that domestic violence is definitely a problem, but people are afraid to speak up about it for fear of embarrassment.

Barriers to service access:

Participants agreed that most immigrants simply do not know what is available. As a response to this lack of knowledge, they expressed a need for an organization or support group for newcomers to help in the process of transitioning into a new social structure, along with a resource center and guide, for informational purposes.

The group identified transportation problems as the other major hurdle to service access, especially for seniors. In fact, a need was also felt for a survey of the ever-growing population of senior citizens in the community, in order to find out their problems in detail.

It was felt that service agencies should advertise in ethnic print and broadcast media, and post flyers in libraries, religious centers and restaurants.

Focus Group 3
Islamic Society of Central Jersey, North Brunswick, NJ

Demographics: 

Seven women and one man participated in this focus group before a regularly scheduled prayer meeting. One female participant is retired; all others are college-educated professionals and live in neighboring towns. All are in the age range 40-69 years, with the exception of the retired participant, who is over 70 years. Those who had heard about United Way felt that more payroll contributions would be forthcoming if the United Way was able to clarify the procedure to make donations.

Main problems in the community:

There was initially some talk about immigration status, the problems faced by undocumented immigrants, and the need for legal seminars among immigrants in general. The conversation then turned to youth issues – the fact that dating is a taboo in the community and there is great difficulty in getting the younger generation married in the traditional way – issues that are creating “emotionally destitute children”. Adapting to the US was generally seen as a major problem due to cultural differences. One participant spoke about the difficult time that widows have in the community, especially elderly ones – they have no social life and often no transportation if they don’t drive. Fear was expressed about the fact that America is a youth oriented society that largely ignores its elderly, and that the South Asian community is being influenced by this social phenomenon. A need was seen for more services for Senior Citizens, including housing and transport.

There was agreement that mental health problems exist and often remain undiagnosed. Domestic violence was also discussed with some fervor. Under discussion was a project that some members of the Islamic Society are undertaking, to create a shelter for Muslim women that would be close to the mosque (for social support) and would develop a job-readiness program for affected women.  Some funds have already been collected and more are being sought.

Regarding the effects of 9/11, participants said that people in the Muslim community feel persecuted. They don’t want to speak out for fear of repercussions. Profiling and changes in airline regulations were seen to be targeting Muslims. One participant spoke about her son having been picked on in school. Others reported fear among their children about being attacked in school, adding that schools should adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards any such incidents.

It was unanimously felt that the media has done an enormous disservice to Muslims since 9/11, in terms of inappropriately timed articles as well as in the words of one participant, “anti-Muslim propaganda”.

Barriers to service access:

Lack of knowledge about services was seen as a big barrier. Participants also pointed out that the community has a different mindset – people do not address social issues through agencies, since there is a lack of trust towards agencies.

Focus Group 4
Vait-Ul-Wali-Asar Religious Center, Freehold, NJ

Demographics:

Nine people participated in this focus group; all were parents whose children were attending a religious instruction class at the center; four were men and five were women; all are married, bilingual (fluent in Urdu and English) and homeowners; all are college educated except for one woman who has vocational/technical training; six work full time, two work part time and one is retired; six are in the age group 25-39, one is 40-54 and two are 55-69; except one who has lived in the US over 20 years, all others have lived in the US between 10-20 years; six immigrated from India and three from Pakistan; towns of residence are Freehold, Old Bridge, West Windsor, Robbinsville and Delran.

Main problems in the community:

The chief concern of this group was the effect of 9/11 on the Muslim population. There was unanimous agreement that discrimination against Muslims has greatly increased since the terrorist attacks and innocent Muslims are suffering. Many of the participants were victims of job discrimination and felt that having a Muslim name not only prevents them from getting a job, but could also cause them to lose their job. Age discrimination was thought to be worsened by being Muslim. It is humiliating for the community to ask for handouts. Many job discrimination stories were recounted, stories of airport security checks – that of an elderly woman in a wheelchair who was held at an airport and harassed by security personnel, and that of an engineer who travels extensively on work and has been subjected to several body checks; stories of financial discrimination where a person making a purchase was put through a financial search, and of a loan applicant who’s loan was cancelled after 9/11; stories of job discrimination where a highly qualified and experienced computer programmer lost his job after 9/11.
The result of all this has been an environment of fear, where Muslims attempt to keep a low profile for fear of being picked on.

The unanimous feeling was that people have simply no knowledge of Islam and it is this lack of knowledge that translates into discrimination. There is a tremendous need to educate local officials and the mainstream in general about Islam.

Rather than feel victimized, participants voiced a need to organize, in order to approach the general population with confidence and assurance. Immigrant rights education was thought by many to be a very useful beginning.

Focus Group 5
Vait-Ul-Wali-Asar Religious Center, Freehold, NJ

Demographics:

Eight high school students - four male and four female - and their teacher (female) at the Religious Center, participated in this focus group before religious instruction. 

Main problems in the community:

Adapting to the US was a very issue to these students, and the biggest problem that they articulated was the challenge of retaining their Muslim identity along with their American one. This struggle has been accentuated by the effect of 9/11 on the Muslim population. These teenagers spoke eloquently about the stereotypes that exist in people’s minds, of the sheer ignorance among mainstream Americans about Muslim culture. They felt a need to give people correct information and breakdown the stereotypes. One participant described how he felt “violated” when the holiest and most peaceful time of the year for Muslims (the Haj pilgrimage) was linked to terrorism by the proclamation of an “orange alert” by the administration. 

One participant put a large part of the blame on the media. Even if journalists write honest stories, he felt, they are edited to keep advertisers happy. Besides, according to him, the media focuses on Muslim terrorists, not other terrorists, thus linking the two in people’s minds. Another participant felt that it was necessary to send a message to Muslim countries around the world that “they are wrong in hating America”. 

Hispanic Community

Focus Group 1
Puerto Rican Action Board, New Brunswick, NJ

Demographics:

Four people, three women and one man, all full time staff workers at the Puerto Rican Action Board, participated in this focus group; two are married, one is single and one is divorced; two have a high school education and two are college educated; one is under the age of 25, two are between 25-39 years and one is between 40-54 years; one has lived in the US between 10-20 years, while three have lived in the US for more than 20 years; three came from Puerto Rico and one from Colombia; three are homeowners and one is a renter; all reported an annual income between $20,000 and $40,000.

Main problems in the community (open-ended):

Participants felt that being undocumented is the biggest problem in the Hispanic community. Economic problems were discussed next, and emphasis placed on the fact that children’s education is adversely affected since they have to help their parents financially. Financial stresses also prevent parents from being involved in their children’s education. Concern was expressed about the fact that children often do not have medical insurance. Participants also discussed language problems and the need for interpreting when seeking services.

The major impact of September 11 was thought to be on employment. Participants felt that many New Yorkers moved to New Jersey to look for work, thus pressuring the local employment and housing situation. It was also felt that in the post-September 11 climate, it has become harder for immigrants (for example, getting a license) and harder for agencies who serve immigrants, since more questions are being asked now.

All participants were aware of the United Way, since they receive funding from them.

Main problems in the community (prompted):

Immigrant rights education was seen as a major need. The Puerto Rican Action Board conducts workshops on rights, such as the right of parents to be involved in their children’s schooling, tenants rights, etc, and also teaches immigrants about responsibilities. One participant said,  “Some people don’t know anything about tenant’s rights and responsibilities. For example, they lose their deposit because they do not know that they must give notice before moving out”.
Participants spoke about discrimination, pointing out that employers know when people are undocumented and are therefore less likely to assert their rights. Some employers fire people without paying the previous week’s wages. PRAB helps people complain to the Department of Labor; however it is hard when people are undocumented, and do not have proof of employment. 

People are unaware of the American education system that expects parental participation; however, language and fears around immigration status are barriers to being involved. Also, parents need their children to help them out financially. Undocumented immigrants sometimes do not know that their children have the right to attend school and that they do not need to have social security numbers in order to attend school. Parents also do not know about school-based programs. Bilingual education programs are available and good, but they are often full.

Participants felt that there are ESL classes in the community like the Adult Education Center in New Brunswick and a volunteer ESL program, Pa’Lante, run by Rutgers graduate students. However, a major barrier to accessing ESL classes is the low literacy level among many immigrants, in their native language. Besides, immigrants work long hours and have young children, often with no childcare. Classes are often run by volunteers who can only teach at limited times. Participants felt that the best option was for employers to provide ESL classes.  

Employment problems mentioned by participants were related to documentation - people buying false papers and false SS numbers in order to work.  People line up at temp agencies every day and wait to get assigned a shift, maybe at a warehouse. 

Participants said that much of the anxiety and depression in this immigrant community is due to separation from family. Depression often leads to drinking and alcoholism. Even adolescents drink. Their parents work such long hours that they never see each other.  

The cost of healthcare was mentioned as a huge concern.  Participants said that there were a large number of uninsured people in the community. There are some clinics in the community, like St. Peter’s Clinic, that charge reduced fees; counseling services are available at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, but these are inadequate.

Housing, too, was mentioned as a severe problem. Often, unrelated adults live in the same dwelling, as families rent out rooms to supplement their income.  Even though apartments are not maintained, rents keep going up.  Landlords know when tenants are undocumented and therefore afraid of complaining. Rent has gone up drastically in New Brunswick, due to the proximity of Rutgers and the growth of Robert Wood Johnson Hospital.  New housing developments are for upper-class salaries.

Participants agreed that domestic violence is a problem. Many women do not know their rights.  However, they do not want to report abuse if they are undocumented, or if they are afraid of supporting themselves and their children without the father.

Immigrants find out about programs through PRAB, which holds informational workshops, participates at community fairs, and tables at events.  People often learn about services through word of mouth, especially very recent and undocumented immigrants. Participants felt that a good way for an agency to advertise was to leave posters and flyers at employment agencies and bodegas, hold workshops and hand out information and network. Using Spanish media was also recommended.

Barriers to service access:

The main barrier outlined by participants was fear –of being undocumented, or being deported, of being caught with false licenses and social security numbers. Fear causes mistrust of agencies, as is seen when clients refuse home visits for fear of being reported. Literacy was held as a big barrier and so was time - service agencies are usually open regular office hours, when clients are at work. Finally, a barrier for agencies such as PRAB is funding, since it is very difficult to find funding to help undocumented immigrants.

Conclusions/Recommendations 

The methodology of this study is as important to the findings as the statistical analysis. Major findings are listed below, beginning with those of the highest priority.  Please refer to the “findings” section, the anecdotal appendices, and the “methodology” sections for more details. 

Conclusion #1

There is a major communication gap between agencies and immigrant communities. 

•	Immigrants overall (63%) identified “don’t know what is available” as the number one barrier to accessing social services. 
•	Language difficulties were identified as a significant problem in both the “problems” and “barriers” sections - including lack of translated flyers and materials, inability to call and ask about services, lack of advertising in ethnic media in addition to ESL needs.
•	Either or both “Don’t believe help is available” (20%) and “don’t trust agency” (20%) were rated highly in responses across communities.
•	In open-ended questioning, the initial response of many immigrants (21%) to questions about community problems was “none” – despite interviews taking place in-language and with someone of the same ethnic background. This appears to be much more of a trust or privacy response than accurate, judging by the multiple problems identified in the prompted questioning. 

These findings, when taken together, point to a broad and very basic chasm between service agencies and immigrant communities regarding information. Despite mainstream beliefs about information overload and internet access, even highly educated immigrants who lack language skills in English, often have no idea that help may be available.

Recommendation

Improve interface between agencies and immigrant communities.

Approaching immigrant communities involves a comprehensive and consistent plan of relationship building. A combination of representatives on the ground, internal language and information capacity, concrete service provision and appropriate advertising materials is necessary to build trust and encourage communities to approach and return. All three areas listed below must be tackled together in order to bring immigrants to agencies.

•	Outreach/networking – Utilize or hire staff and volunteers fluent in immigrant languages out in the field: at task force and committee meetings, community events, meeting with individual community leaders and key persons, providing or coordinating educational workshops, service referrals, conducting focus groups, assisting with capacity building in ethnic communities, bringing community leaders together to tackle advocacy and service issues. 
•	Materials and advertising – Create more comprehensive materials describing services, translate materials culturally and linguistically, distribute in immigrant enclaves and to community leaders and organizations. Create and translate print and broadcast advertising, seek the advice of immigrant community leaders and workers to find appropriate media outlets. Include instructions for use of interpreting services in advertising and flyers. 
•	Internal information and referral – Update all referral information to include each referral site’s linguistic capacity, ability to provide services to undocumented immigrants, intake procedure and paperwork necessary to be served. Arrange for interpreting services in key languages in more than one way. A combination of employing diverse staff, using trained volunteers, or using a professional service (phone lines or live interpreters) is required. Interpreting must made be available for callers and appointments – by internal staff and/or professional service. 
•	For any public or private hotlines and helplines – be sure to include immigrants and their concerns in the planning and improvements along the same lines as the internal information and referral systems (detailed information about language availability and immigration status restrictions, easy multi-lingual point of entry, etc).

Conclusion #2

Trust and open conversation with immigrants and ethnic organizations only come after consistent and useful in-language contact. Findings were not the result of quick, brief or random surveys, but of a sustained and thorough outreach campaign to both leaders and the general immigrant population. Each interview (up to an hour) was the result of a combination of time-consuming, repetitive efforts.

•	Interviews were the result of either multiple in-language contacts and explanations by phone; personal referral from another respondent; walking into immigrant owned businesses as a member of the ethnic community at a time of day that allowed conversation; attendance and pro-active networking at community meetings/events; and/or the provision of a useful service. 
•	The most informative interviews and groups occurred as a result of the most “grassroots” visibility and networking. 
•	If there was no demonstrable positive outcome for the community, it was nearly impossible to get the interview.  
•	Interviewers frequently encountered a high degree of anxiety and suspicion, despite their similar ethnic origins and ability to speak primary languages. 

Recommendation

Plan to foster trust by proving consistent and positive interest. 

•	Prepare to devote substantial time and frequency of contact, to attend community events, to listen to changing needs from all levels of community member and to explain expected results and benefits to the community. 
•	Make operational changes and assist other organizations to do so: hire qualified immigrants into staff positions, seek and offer funding to other organizations for interpreting/translating.

Conclusion #3

Direct service priorities vary by immigrant community; while major problems and barriers are similar across communities, there are significant enough discrepancies to suggest that services should be tailored to each group. (See Table of Community Findings in Appendix I)

•	Top problems (prompted responses) were universally “financial hardship” (84%), “immigration concerns” (82%) and “employment” (80%) however this does not reflect the exact priorities of each community. 
•	Some issues received very different rankings between communities: “vocational/professional education”, “domestic violence”, “ESL”, “children’s education” and “inadequate housing”.

It is important not to view immigrants as a homogenous group, despite some general similarities in need. The “melting pot” concept is inadvisable on both ends of the immigration experience – immigrants neither arrive nor end up as a uniform entity.

Recommendation

Prioritize service needs for each immigrant community by communicating with both key persons and the general immigrant population. Consider barriers and be flexible when designing services. (see Table of Community Findings in Appendix I)

•	Include a demographically wide spectrum of community members when designing services for immigrant groups. The best solutions for overcoming simple and complex barriers will likely come from the community itself.
•	Consider capacity building training for community leaders to foster the growth of potential partner organizations run by immigrants for immigrants. 
•	Look for opportunities to partner with grassroots ethnic organizations and volunteer community workers – and to provide training, information and technical assistance as needed. They may provide very useful points-of-entry and referral to more mainstream helping programs and agencies, and should be included on advisory committees, agency boards and other cooperative arrangements. 

Conclusion #4

Accurate, efficient and sensitive delivery of in-language information and concrete services was rated as a much higher priority at this time than cultural considerations, e.g. gender or religiously specific services. 

•	Out of 86 total interviews, only 1 respondent (South Asian) rated “mixed gender services” and “religious issues” as a barrier to service. 
•	Even “embarrassment” as a barrier (which could stem from cultural or class considerations) was by at most 17% of a community’s respondents.
•	Interviewers were typically from the same ethnic background, effectively removing culture as a bias against being honest in the interview. 
•	It is impossible to know to what extent lack of community education, shame about issues or lack of trust with the interviewer may have contributed to the low response on subtle issues like race, gender, religion and cultural issues. 

Once the obstacles of communication, outreach and language are overcome and more immigrants attempt to access services, culture-specific issues may become more prevalent as a barrier. At this time, interviews indicated that immigrants are far more concerned about knowing where to get help and actually receiving it than who delivers the service. 

Recommendation

While addressing communication, language and service considerations, continue cultural competency training in preparation for greater immigrant service requests, and to prepare for collaboration with ethnic community organizations. 

•	Continue efforts to adequately train staff in cultural competency. Be sure to include educational workshops on Title VI regulations (rights to an interpreter), current immigration issues, immigration status and social service eligibility. 
•	Make every effort to hire staff from the immigrant communities, although it is important to be sure that staff can maintain neutrality in community disputes (community cohesion was stated as a problem in the Chinese/Taiwanese community and could be in others).

Conclusion #5

There may be a serious shortage of concrete services to immigrants in four key areas, especially to those with documentation problems. 

•	Although this study was not designed to determine the availability as opposed to the need for particular services, the prevalence of particular responses suggests a possible lack or shortage of services in critical areas important to immigrants. Aside from the general areas of financial hardship, separation from family and adapting to the US, all immigrant groups identified immigration law, employment services, healthcare and community-based ESL as top priorities.
•	In the course of outreach and referral while conducting the needs assessment, it became apparent that providers of services frequently had wait lists or eligibility restrictions designed to maintain a manageable workload. When the service was available at other sites, funding was rarely available to provide interpreters to accompany immigrants to appointments.

Recommendation

Increase privately funded services that are geared towards immigrants, while assessing what services currently provided are restrictive.  

•	Look for ways to provide social services through private funds, avoiding restrictions related to documentation (this is an intimidating barrier to legal and undocumented immigrants). 
•	Research the availability of services for immigrants in the area, taking into consideration language and documentation restrictions. Many comprehensive databases give the impression that services are widely available, but by investigating the number of non-English speaking clients served and any eligibility restrictions that would affect immigrants, it may be determined that services are truly lacking. 

Conclusion #6

Severe personal or family problems (mental health, domestic violence) were noted as problems by fewer of the respondents than economic or language needs.

Lack of community education on the topic of stigma or shame and reluctance to acknowledge the problems probably all contributed to the resultant low rating. Also, when these problems strike, they make up in intensity of need what they lack in breadth.

•	Domestic violence, racism, discrimination and mental health were not chosen as problems in the community by a majority of any community. 
•	Anecdotal comments and stories heard by interviewers suggest that when these were problems, the intensity and difficulty of getting help was very high for immigrants. For example, it took several months for a Chinese/Taiwanese parent of a 9/11 victim to receive counseling in her own language and documentation problems prevent some immigrant women from seeking escape from abusive relationships. 

Recommendation

Do not minimize the importance of any service area, even though it may not have ranked high in either the open-ended or prompted responses. 

•	Seek to make emergency services, shelters, intake procedures immigrant friendly, especially in the area of language. 
•	Conduct small conferences or task forces on such issues that involve a variety of immigrants (ethnically and demographically). Include not just “leaders” in the immigrant communities but workers and families – teachers, doctors, homemakers, etc. 

Conclusion #7

While many public and private agencies as well as ethnic organizations express a desire to improve communication and networking among themselves, no single entity has the resources to support the depth and breadth of the work. 

Individual small agencies do not have sufficient resources to hire staff representing all immigrant ethnicities and languages. Larger organizations seem to focus on issue-specific or service-specific outreach and are usually attempting to reach the largest population with the fewest dollars (English and sometimes Spanish-language outreach as primary).  

Recommendation

Cooperation between public and private agencies, including ethnic organizations and grassroots networks may provide the answer. 

Regular contact in multiple directions (agency to agency networks, agency to ethnic organization partnering, organizations meeting with the public) and cooperative referral efforts may be the answer to improving communication and service to immigrants. Crossing over geographic boundaries and service area categories into a system of grassroots community outreach organized by language and culture may be the answer to the concerns of limited resources and duplication of efforts. 

Further Recommendation

This study has indicated several interesting areas of further research of interest to the agency and region, Middlesex County, studied here and to other providers and regions of the state of New Jersey. 
•	Comparison studies of more and less urban counties.
•	Further investigation into the specific links between problems and barriers to service.
•	Further investigation into each immigrant community.

WORKS CITED

Boler, Margaret, Ulrich, Ellie, MPH, Hargreaves, Margaret, MPP. “Closing the Gap: A Public Health Report on Health Disparities – Report on Immigrant and Refugee Health of the Twin Cities Metro Minority Health Assessment Project.” Research Study. Minneapolis: Minnesota Department of Health – Office of Minority Health, 2001.

Chin, Jean Lau. “Asian American/Pacific Islanders: Assessing the Unmet Need for Mental Health Services.” Research Paper. Clinical-Educational-Organizational Services for the Center for Mental Health Services Project Contract #OM5742, 2001.

LeDoux, C. and Stephen, K.S. Refugee and Immigrant Social Service Delivery: Critical Management Issues. In A.S. Ryan (ed.), Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees (pp. 31-45). New York: Haworth, 1992.

McDonald, Lynn, George, Usha., Daciuk, Joanne, Yan, Miu Chung, Rowan, Hermione. “A Study on the Settlement Related Needs of Newly Arrived Immigrant Seniors in Ontario.” Research Study. Toronto: Centre for Applied Social Research, University of Toronto, Canada, 2002.

Michalski, Joseph H. and George, Usha. “A Snapshot of Newcomers: Final Report.” Research Study. Toronto: Centre for Applied Research, University of Toronto, 1996.

National Immigration Law Center. Guide to Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs – 4th edition. Los Angeles; National Immigration Law Center, 2002.

Norton, Jane A. “Bordering the Mainstream: A Needs Assessment of Latinos in Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois.” Research Study. Notre Dame: The Institute for Latino Studies Communication Group, University of Notre Dame, 2002.

Perry, Michael and Kannel, Susan. “Barriers to Health Coverage for Hispanic Workers: Focus Group Findings.” Research Study. New York: Lake Snell Perry & Associates for The Commonwealth Fund, 2000.

Reardon-Anderson, Jane, Capps, Randolph, Fix, Michael E. “The Health and Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families.” Washington: The Urban Institute, 2002. New Federalism: National Survey of America’s Families, No. B-52 in series. 

Sticht, Tom, "Federal Accountability System fuels the Decline of the Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States,"  Research Note, August 6, 2003, American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, National Literacy Advocacy List.

U.S. Census Bureau Home Page. American Fact finder glossary. Online. United States Census 2000, Summary File 3. 19 August 2003.

U.S. Census Bureau Home Page. American Fact finder. Online. United States Census 2000, Summary File 3. 19 August 2003.

U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Adult Education and Family Literacy Act: Program Year 2000-2001, Report to Congress on State Performance. Washington: GPO, 2003.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Office of Policy and Planning. Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1990 to 2000. Washington: GPO, 2002.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1998. Washington: GPO, 2000.

APPENDIX II - Data Tables
Data Analyses by Dr. Murat Paker – June 2003

Overall Crosstabulations

Questionnaire Items	Middlesex County
N=86
p (chi-square): *: p<.05, **: p<.01	
	Total	Chinese/Taiw.
n=33	Hispanic
n=23	S. Asian
n=24	p	
Q.1. Main Problems of community (Open-ended) (%)	%	%	%	%		
Adapting to US	19	27	0	25	*	
Community Space	7	6	4	8	ns	
Racism/Discrimination	8	6	4	13	ns	
Language Barriers	27	52	13	13	**	
Employment/Working Conditions	17	15	26	13	ns	
Financial Problems	14	9	17	21	ns	
Healthcare	7	12	9	0	ns	
Immigration Issues	19	12	17	29	ns	
Knowledge of US system/Service Access	17	36	9	0	**	
Lack of community Orgs.	6	12	0	4	ns	
Cohesion/Unity within community	12	24	0	4	*	
Mental Health	6	9	0	8	ns	
Youth Issues	5	3	4	4	ns	
Senior Citizens Issues	6	15	0	0	*	
None	21	9	30	33	*	
Other	16	3	26	25	*	
						
Q.2. Effects of 9/11 (%)						
Direct Effects	6	12	4	0	ns	
Economy	64	79	52	68	ns	
 Discrimination	8	3	4	17	ns	
Emotional Effects/Fear	33	24	17	42	*	
Security	17	15	17	25	ns	
None	12	6	17	17	ns	
Other	7	9	0	13	ns	
						
Q.3. Where should agencies advertise? (%)						
 Broadcast media	22	12	30	25	ns	
 Print media	42	70	4	42	**	
Word of Mouth	12	12	4	8	ns	
Flyering	28	24	30	29	ns	
Phone/Mail/Email	8	6	0	17	ns	
Presentations/Events	17	15	9	21	ns	
Other	7	0	4	21	*	
						
Q.4 Have you heard of United Way? (%)						
Yes	24	30	13	25	ns	
         If yes, do you know specific programs it offers	11	9	9	17	ns	
						
Q.5.(i) Main Problems of community (Prompted) (%)						
Adapting to US	70	60	73	78	ns	
Civic/Immigrant rights education	67	73	76	53	ns	
Community Space	60	68	50	53	ns	
Racism/Discrimination	63	54	76	57	ns	
Children's education	39	35	60	6	**	
Vocational/professional education for adults	66	91	47	38	**	
ESL	69	90	46	71	**	
Employment	80	85	76	79	ns	
Separation from family	73	70	86	67	ns	
Financial hardship	84	80	86	86	ns	
Access to healthcare	74	75	73	71	ns	
Immigration status	82	79	95	68	ns	
Inadequate housing	56	31	86	57	**	
Mental health	54	52	63	47	ns	
Problems relating to September 11	66	65	63	75	ns	
Domestic violence	59	29	92	53	**	
						
Q.5.(ii) Barrriers (%)						
Bad experience with agencies	12	12	21	0	ns	
Childcare	13	0	17	17	**	
Don't know what is available	63	88	35	54	**	
Don't believe help is available	20	12	30	13	ns	
Don't trust agency	20	12	30	17	ns	
Embarrassment	16	9	13	17	ns	
Fear of losing immigration status	19	12	26	17	ns	
Lack of time	17	15	22	4	**	
Language difficulties	50	73	30	33	**	
Literacy	8	3	13	8	ns	
Mixed gender services	1	0	0	4	ns	
Religious issues	2	0	0	4	ns	
Transporation issues	36	39	35	33	ns	
Being Undocumented	9	0	35	0	**	
Other	6	0	4	13	ns	
						
Q.6. Demographics						
Gender					ns	
Male	41	33	53	50		
Female	59	67	47	50		
Marital Status					*	
Married	50	55	30	71		
Not Married	50	45	70	29		
Education					*	
Less than High School	8	0	30	0		
High School	22	22	25	13		
Vocational/ Technical School	37	30	35	42		
College- Bachelors	0	0	0	0		
College- More than Bachelors	32	48	10	42		
Employment					ns	
Full time	78	79	87	86		
Part Time	22	21	13	14		
Unemployed	0	0	0	0		
Homemaker	0	0	0	0		
Retired	0	0	0	0		
Age					*	
Under 25	19	11	27	4		
25-39	45	43	46	59		
40-54	31	39	23	32		
55-69	5	7	5	5		
70 or more	0	0	0	0		
Number of years in the US					ns	
Less than 1 yr	14	12	16	17		
1-5 yrs	19	23	11	26		
5-10 yrs	18	15	16	17		
10-20 yrs	38	39	47	26		
More than 20 yrs	11	12	11	13		
Housing					*	
Homeowner	39	60	7	43		
Renter	61	40	93	57		
Annual Income					ns	
Under $20,000	49	40	47	46		
20,000-40,000	29	27	53	8		
40,000-100,000	14	27	0	23		
Over 100,000	8	7	0	23		
Key Person					ns	
Yes	31	42	26	29		
No	69	58	74	71		

Middlesex County Crosstabulations (N=86)
Note: Statistical significance based on chi-squre analyses. * : p <.05, **: p < .01

Questionairre Items	Gender	Marital Status	Education	Age	No. of yrs in US	Housing	Annual Income	‘Key Person’	
	F	M	Married	Not M	HS or less	More than HS	Under 40	40 or more	0-5	More than 5	Home owner	Renter/ Other	$20K or less	$20K or more	N	Y	
Q.1. Main Problems of community (Open-ended)	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	
Adapting to US	16	23	23	14	14	22	16	21	13	18	29	8*	12	15	14	30	
Community Space	10	3	7	7	3	10	10	4	4	10	8	5	4	15	7	7	
Racism/Discrimination	8	9	14	2*	6	10	6	14	0	14*	13	3	4	12	5	15	
Language Barriers	26	29	28	26	28	26	26	25	25	29	29	18	20	23	25	30	
Employment/Working Conditions	14	23	16	19	14	20	20	14	21	16	17	21	20	15	17	19	
Financial Problems	14	14	16	12	11	16	16	11	8	18	13	16	8	16	16	11	
Healthcare	4	11	7	7	6	8	4	11	4	6	4	5	4	8	2	19*	
Immigration Issues	24	11	19	19	11	24	22	11	25	16	13	18	20	12	15	26	
Knowledge of US system/Service Access	24	9	19	16	17	18	18	18	17	14	21	11	16	23	12	30*	
Lack of community Orgs.	4	9	7	5	8	4	4	7	0	4	12	0*	0	12	2	15*	
Cohesion/Unity within community	12	11	12	12	11	12	12	7	0	14	13	5	4	15	7	22*	
Mental Health	10	0	5	7	6	6	6	4	8	2	4	5	8	0	2	15*	
Youth Issues	4	6	5	5	3	6	6	4	0	6	8	5	0	8	3	7	
Senior Citizens Issues	6	6	9	2	6	6	4	7	0	8	8	3	4	8	2	15*	
None	22	20	21	21	28	16	20	25	38	18	8	32*	28	19	31	0**	
Other	10	26*	16	16	8	22	20	11	13	18	21	16	12	27	13	22	
																	
Q.2. Effects of 9/11																	
Direct Effects	6	6	5	7	6	6	4	7	0	8	8	5	4	4	5	7	
Economy	71	54	72	56	69	60	64	64	63	65	71	55	56	65	64	63	
Discrimination	12	3	9	7	3	12	8	11	8	8	13	8	8	12	5	15	
Emotional Effects/Fear	33	31	33	33	17	44**	36	32	33	37	46	34	44	31	32	33	
Security	18	17	19	16	8	24	18	21	17	18	29	13	12	35	10	33*	
None	12	11	12	12	17	8	8	15	25	6*	4	18	20	4	15	4	
Other	6	9	9	5	3	10	10	4	0	12	8	8	4	16	5	11	
																	
Q.3. Where should agencies advertise?																	
Broadcast media	26	17	26	19	19	24	26	21	13	33	21	32	40	4**	25	15	
Print media	45	37	54	30*	31	50	32	61*	38	43	63	32*	28	42	39	48	
Word of Mouth	14	9	12	12	11	12	10	14	8	12	17	8	4	12	12	11	
Flyering	29	26	26	30	28	28	30	25	38	25	21	37	36	27	29	26	
Phone/Mail/Email	8	9	14	2	3	12	8	11	13	8	17	8	8	8	7	11	
Presentations/Events	18	17	16	19	8	24	18	18	8	25	25	21	16	27	10	33*	
Other	8	6	12	2	6	8	8	4	4	10	21	3	0	15	5	11	
																	
Q.4 Have you heard of United Way? Yes	24	26	35	14*	3	40**	14	46**	0	35**	63	11**	0	46**	10	56**	
																	
Q.5.(i) Main Problems of community (Prompted)																	
Adapting to US	69	66	73	63	63	71	67	74	58	72	79	63	63	81	61	83*	
Civic/Immigrant rights education	74	57	73	60	50	76*	58	87*	67	68	83	63	62	77	53	96**	
Community Space	60	60	70	49	50	66	59	70	53	62	82	48*	52	78	60	59	
Racism/Discrimination	66	59	68	58	61	65	65	64	50	72	78	57	71	76	57	78	
Children's education	35	44	41	36	30	45	41	40	8	48**	48	32	35	52	32	41	
Vocational/professional education for adults	72	56	68	63	60	69	61	78	63	68	74	64	68	72	67	62	
ESL	71	65	72	66	67	70	65	76	79	62	72	61	64	80	67	74	
Employment	81	72	85	73	72	84	83	82	83	78	88	75	76	76	83	75	
Separation from family	79	63	69	77	85	65	74	71	74	70	67	73	82	71	79	59	
Financial hardship	86	79	82	85	81	85	89	76	79	83	74	86	83	84	86	77	
Access to healthcare	81	65	80	67	78	72	77	76	71	73	83	76	78	81	75	71	
Immigration status	91	69*	76	89	85	81	89	80	84	83	73	88	86	80	83	82	
Inadequate housing	56	57	54	58	72	46	60	48	62	49	46	60	74	48	62	44	
Mental health	62	43	53	55	39	62	55	57	53	52	61	50	47	63	46	71*	
Problems relating to September 11	71	59	73	59	50	75*	64	74	73	61	65	68	64	65	62	75	
Domestic violence	63	53	60	56	63	57	58	63	46	66	61	60	61	69	52	73	
																	
Q.5.(ii) Barrriers																	
Bad experience with agencies	6	20*	7	16	17	8	10	14	4	16	13	11	8	27	12	15	
Childcare	18	6	7	19	14	12	16	11	8	16	13	13	16	15	14	11	
Don't know what is available	69	54	63	63	61	64	60	64	58	65	71	58	60	58	61	67	
Don't believe help is available	20	20	14	26	19	20	24	18	13	27	17	26	24	27	22	15	
Don't trust agency	20	20	12	28	22	18	22	21	8	29*	17	24	24	27	20	19	
Embarrassment	17	14	12	21	17	16	16	18	8	22	25	18	20	15	15	19	
Fear of losing immigration status	22	14	16	21	25	14	20	21	17	25	17	21	16	19	22	11	
Lack of time	14	23	16	19	25	12	22	11	4	25	17	21	16	15	24	4*	
Language difficulties	55	43	51	49	50	50	52	54	54	57	63	50	56	50	46	59	
Literacy	8	9	5	12	8	8	10	7	4	12	8	5	4	23	9	7	
Mixed gender services	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	4	4	0	4	0	0	0	2	0	
Religious issues	2	3	0	5	3	2	4	0	0	4	0	5	4	0	2	4	
Transporation issues	47	20*	33	40	36	36	32	46	29	37	42	32	24	50	34	41	
Being Undocumented	8	11	5	14	8	10	14	4	13	6	0	18*	12	12	9	11	
Other	4	9	7	5	3	8	4	11	0	8	13	3	4	12	2	15*	

APPENDIX III 
Anecdotal Comments from Interviewers

Chinese/Taiwanese Community

Individuals in the Chinese and Taiwanese community in New Jersey were interviewed, targeting the area of Middlesex County.

A mix of both men and women were interviewed whose country of origin ranged from Mainland China, Canton/Guangdong/Hong Kong region, Malaysia, to Taiwan. The majority of the individuals were accessed during working hours at their place of business. Community workers/leaders were reached primarily by calling community organizations/individuals and presenting at community meetings. Thus, the individuals reached tend to be working individuals, and our results exclude non-working individuals. In addition, not many senior citizens are included in this study because of the difficulty in securing participation or the lack of willingness to be interviewed. In one case, a senior citizen group was not interested because they wanted to spend their limited group time dancing or socializing. In addition, senior citizens who live in senior housing or participate in senior groups at community centers are not able be accessed directly. Instead, approval must be obtained from the senior center directors in order to interview individuals; and in this case, approval was not always given.  

The willingness to talk depended on the individual. Some individuals were willing to be interviewed, but revealed very little through their answers. Other individuals were unwilling or declined to be interviewed or to complete both sections of the interview. Individuals cited the lack of time, fear of getting in trouble with their boss, and also lack of understanding of the point of the interview. In some cases, an individual would refuse to be interviewed but would be very willing to engage in a seemingly casual conversation about the same topics. There were also many individuals, often community workers or leaders, who were very willing and spent up to 2 hours on the needs assessment. 

The recruiting process was definitely not an easy one. For every one survey completed, there were probably 4 rejections. Many times, individuals were busy since we often approached individuals at work. Understandably, many individuals often thought that the needs assessment was one of the surveys that telemarketers often ask individuals to complete, and thus were weary being interviewed. In addition, the lead time for setting up appointments to interview community leaders often took more time than the actual needs assessment, taking up to 10 phone calls to set up an appointment. 
	
The needs assessment of the Chinese and Taiwanese community focused on individuals within Middlesex County. In some cases, individuals did not physically live in Middlesex County, but worked there or else felt apart of the community in Middlesex. There were several areas/streets which had a high concentration of Chinese/Taiwanese businesses and residents, such as Route 1 in Edison and Route 18 in East Brunswick, where supermarkets, restaurants, cell phone stores, bookstores, travel agencies, and music stores often cater to the Chinese and Taiwanese population. As mentioned above, individuals were also reached by calling or networking with community organizations such as Chinese schools, churches, reporters and cultural organizations. 
	
Individuals were reached during their work hours or during their lunch hour. In addition, appointments were set up to meet with community leaders in both the daytime and after hours. Both face-to-face contact and phone calls were methods used to both set up and conduct the needs assessments. 
	 
 Main problems in community (open-ended)

▪ Language Barrier
	One problem that seemed to be mentioned consistently and before any other problem was the language barrier. Other problems often stem from the language barrier. For example, if an individual does not speak English, it becomes more difficult to access services. There is no Chinatown such as NYC where individuals can get centralized services in their native language. In order to access services in NJ, the Chinese and Taiwanese community in NJ will be required to interface with non-Chinese organizations and service providers, many of which can only provide information and services in English.  As one respondent stated: “If Chinese individuals try to call locally to access help, there is a language and access barrier especially for new immigrants; because of this additional hassle, people have often given up their search for services/help.” (Chinese newspaper reporter) 
	In addition, lack of fluency makes it even more difficult to adapt to life in the US and integrate into society. Individuals refrain from talking to others besides other Chinese, thus they do not better understand the US system (Chinese school principal), “there is a large Chinese circle, but no community interaction outside of the circle” (Chinese supermarket worker).
	Though the language problem affects recent immigrants and senior citizens the most, there are individuals who have been here for 10-15 years that still have language difficulties. 
	
▪ No community and no central place to go.
	Many individuals, especially community leaders and workers, have mentioned that there is a lack of both unity and centrality within the Chinese community. 
	Chinese individuals live throughout NJ in different part of the state. Thus, as mentioned above, there is no centralized source of information and if individuals are not apart of Chinese schools or churches, which are the central mechanisms for community, there is nowhere to go. Often individuals feel as if they are alone, fighting by themselves. (Chinese bookstore) 
	There are many divisions even within the Chinese community.  Many Taiwanese/Chinese historical tensions are reflected in the immigrants here in the US. There is political conflict and tension between individuals from Taiwan and Chinese. Even individuals within China or within Taiwan do not feel as if they belong to the same community. (Chinese community leader)

▪ Adapting to US life
 	Many individuals stated that adapting to US life was a problem, especially for 1st generation immigrants. Individuals are hit hard fast with pressures faced here (Chinese church member, Somerset). They have relatives in their homeland with a safety and support network that no longer exists here. Many Chinese immigrants feel like they have lost their identity because they are no longer part of the homeland, but also not a part of the US. It is also difficult for individuals to raise their 2nd generation children, as there seems to be a cultural gap between parents and children (Chinese community leader)
	Both recent immigrants those who are already citizens often possess the same mentality of hesitation and fear of involvement in US society: “Many individuals still live in isolation, thinking that they are successful if they have a good job, read the Chinese newspaper, watch Chinese TV, eat Chinese food, and their kids have high SAT scores and go to a good college. There is a need to educate the community and encourage involvement, especially when compared to other ethnic communities, like the Hispanic community, Chinese have not integrated all that much into US society (especially considering amount of time in the US already). Often, individuals carry baggage from homeland and hold a traditional perspective. (Chinese community leader). 
	Adjustment to a different culture can be difficult especially in figuring out the new systems (insurance, driver’s license, immigration issues, taxes); individuals often need guidance and advice (Chinese graduate student).

▪ Employment/Economy
	Many individuals in the community have been affected by the worsening economy. Most know of friends, family, or have themselves been laid off. Individuals cannot find work at all especially those in the computer/technology field. Those who find work are forced to accept lower paying positions that they are overqualified for. Along with unemployment comes the problem of financial hardship, health insurance, and also immigration status. Some individuals lose their H-1 status and become undocumented, forcing them to go back to their homeland that they no longer regard as their home. Others have to relocate because they can no longer afford their mortgages.  Restaurants, bookstores and supermarkets have also been affected greatly by the economy. Since the economy has been less stable, individuals are spending less, causing many businesses to lose money or else close down. One of the bookstores where an employee was interviewed was forced to close last month.  

▪ Senior citizens		
		Many of the problems and needs within the overall Chinese community seem to be magnified within the senior citizen population. Often senior citizens come to the US to live with their children; these seniors do not speak English and are often left at home during the daytime with no transportation. Thus, there are feelings of loneliness and difficulties in adjusting to life in the US. In addition, because they accompany their children, seniors often have no medical coverage (Chinese community leader). 

Effects of 9/11

	The most common answer was the downturn of the economy and indirect loss of jobs due to 9/11. Individuals spoke about legal and emotional effects, such as stricter immigration policies, only when further prompted about legal and emotional effects. 
”Even if people are affected, save face because think it is shameful (losing job) and don’t ask for help. It was the teaching in Chinese culture not to show when you are in need/going through rough times” (Chinese bookstore)

Where should agencies advertise

	A consistent answer to this question was to post information in the Chinese supermarkets and free Chinese newspapers. One of the Chinese schools even has its own section in one of the free Chinese newspapers. In addition, word of mouth to community leaders/workers seems to be quite effective. Several community leaders and workers have mentioned that they get bombarded with questions unrelated to their work, questions related to finding information or accessing services. One community leader says that his community would never pick up the yellow pages to find help. Instead, the mode of information gathering is always word of mouth (Taiwanese pastor). 

Needs/problems of community (prompted)

	In the ratings section of the needs/problems answers, most individuals answered A and B for a majority of the categories. Thus, it is harder to capture the meanings or depths of opinion from the individuals, as opposed to the open-ended section. However, provided below is a summary of the comments following each rating.

▪ Adapting to the US
	This was something that was brought up on page 1, without prompting. Thus, overall, it was seen as a big problem within the community.
	Also, the degree that the community has adapted to the US has been discussed. Many mentioned that adapting is not a problem if speaking purely about survival; however, it is a problem if adapting means being fully integrated into US life (Taiwanese pastor).

▪ Civics/immigrant right education
	Most respondents stated that they have limited knowledge about both the existence of such rights and about the existence of civics education programs. For individuals coming from Asia, especially China, it is not the cultural norm to hear about ‘rights’. However, after this premise, most individuals felt that this type of education was very important. Others said that immigrant rights should be an important issue with the community, and that Chinese individuals SHOULD care, but that they do not (Taiwanese pastor). One leader thought that even if individuals learned their rights, they might not act upon them. 

▪ Community Space
		Individuals mentioned community space much more frequently in the open-ended section of the questionnaire. Most of the Chinese community centers or schools have to rent public school space on the weekends. Several individuals stressed the need to build a Chinese community center. However, since NJ is such a large state, finding a centralized place and creating a united community center could be difficult. In addition, it would be very difficult to form a fully integrated Chinese community center for the entire Chinese community. The Taiwanese community would not be willing to share a community center with the other Chinese communities (Taiwanese pastor)
	This issue was most passionately discussed when community leaders and workers were interviewed. 
	
▪ Discrimination
	Individuals said that they have experienced discrimination at one point while being in the US though they did not rank discrimination as a huge problem.
	Some individuals did not know the definition or understand what constitutes discrimination in the US. Other instances, individuals did not know where to report it. However, even if individuals DID know where to report it, language barrier and fear of possible negative repercussions caused them not to report it. (Chinese newspaper reporter)
	Furthermore, discrimination can be subtle, making it difficult to deal with it as it cannot be reported. 

▪ Children’s Education
	Chinese individuals report that children’s education is not a problem since the school systems are usually quite good in the areas that many Chinese live. In addition, most Chinese kids seem to be doing fairly well in school. However, one problem mentioned is the lack of parental participation in children’s education. 

▪ Vocational/Professional education
	Individuals stated that they have limited knowledge on these programs. Many individuals were not very clear on what this vocational/professional education would entail. Thus, most individuals did not regard this as a huge need initially. However, with further discussion, individuals mentioned that it is important for immigrants to receive training and re-licensing in the US. 

▪ ESL
		ESL was consistently rated as a very big problem, or greatly needed in the community. However, there are numerous barriers for accessing ESL. First, many do not know what is available, as most of the community ESL classes are advertised in English. Second, individuals who work long hours often do not have time to take ESL classes. Lastly, even if individuals take ESL classes, the level of English taught would not be high enough to obtain a job in an American company (Chinese bookstore).

▪ Employment
	The majority of individuals mentioned employment as a big problem in the community. This relates to the economic impact and job loss already discussed on page 1. Many individuals in the community work in the computer/tech industry, which was heavily impacted by the economic downturn. Even within one church, about 10-15% of the congregation was unemployed during the past year (Chinese church). Last year for a 2-week period, 1/3 of the entire congregation was unemployed (Taiwanese pastor). 
	Individuals also cite problems in finding sponsorship; these problems exist not only for those looking to come to the US but also for people who have been here since grad school. Immigrants with H-1 have gotten laid off and thus become undocumented, or being forced to work for a Chinese American company and get paid less. 

▪ Separation from Family
		Most individuals did not have much to comment on this. Individuals see this as a necessary part of the process to come to the US. One woman stated that this is a huge problem in her eyes, “many individuals separated from their family. The process is very slow and hard. People should be admitted into the US on equal basis instead of a waiting list from each country” (Chinese restaurant worker)

▪ Financial Hardship 
	Financial hardship was always discussed in conjunction with employment issues. Most likely if individuals felt that employment was a problem, then they would also feel that financial hardship was a problem.
	The financial hardship mentioned by international students involved the difficulty in getting scholarship or financial aid. 

▪ Access to Healthcare
	Many individuals do not have health insurance, especially the individuals working in restaurants and supermarkets. It is impossible to find cheap doctors. Also, with the rise in unemployment, many individuals are losing their healthcare. 
	Senior citizens do not have healthcare (no green card) and have a hard time understanding the US Medicare/medical system. 

▪ Immigration Status
		Individuals often do not know where to get information on immigration issues. Respondents mentioned that the elderly tend to get scammed by paying immigration lawyers whose advertisements they find in Chinese newspapers; in the end, they often do not receive adequate services. There is also a severe lack of immigration material and information that is in Chinese. One individual who worked at a bookstore stated that customers constantly come into the store for information and books on immigration, particularly new changes in immigration law. However, most of the immigration books they possess are outdated.
	When asked about documentation within the Chinese/Taiwanese community, many individuals said that there are definitely undocumented immigrants living within the community, but that no one knows who they are because the topic is not openly talked about. 

▪ Mental health
	The recurrent theme was that there is no way of assessing whether mental health is a problem or not because there is no dialogue regarding this issue in the Chinese community. First of all, the concept of the mental health is still very new and strange to the Chinese community (Chinese community leader). Culturally, most Chinese individuals are too private to talk about such issues or to seek help. If problems are spoken about at all, it is traditional that family members or seniors back home handle these problems. Secondly, even if members of the community need counseling or mental health assistance they would be unwilling to seek help from mental health professionals, “Chinese rely on their own community here, new immigrants do not consult healthcare professionals for emotional problems, but instead go to liaoxiang (best friends from homeland/village). Many live together closely and support each other, separate from mainstream society. We need to break down cultural barriers since many individuals have issues but don’t recognize it (Chinese community leader)”. For most situations then, members of the Chinese community will most go to their friends or pastor. Only in the event of a severe situation (many Chinese still think they need to display psychotic symptoms in order to go to a psychologist) will an individual seek further assistance from a counselor. Even in this case, the individual will want to go to someone like them, who spoke their language, whether it is Taiwanese, Mandarin or Cantonese (Taiwanese pastor). At the moment, most individuals who need this type of assistance would most likely go to NY Chinatown because they do not know of places to go in NJ (Chinese bookstore). Thus, in NJ, since there is a lack of Chinese and Taiwanese clinicians to refer out to, severe cases go to pastoral staff that often do not have enough clinical expertise (Taiwanese pastor). 
	Many individuals suggested that the Chinese/Taiwanese community would benefit from psycho-education on concept of counseling. 
	Younger individuals are more willing to seek help because the concept of mental health is more acceptable in younger generations who grow up in the US. 

▪ 9/11 Problems
	Problems mentioned were already covered on page 1 for the most part. 

▪ Domestic Violence 
	Similarly to the question on mental health, most respondents stated that domestic violence is a taboo issue. Thus, no one knows whether this occurs frequently in the community, because no one ever hears about it. If people have problems, it never leaves the house and is kept secret (Chinese pastor)
	
2. Barriers

The central barriers mentioned by respondents are ‘language barrier’ and ‘do not know what is available’. The language barrier causes individuals to have experiences that create general dislike/distrust of agencies that hinders future service access. For example, the language barrier might cause an individual to be treated badly or rudely in their initial experience with an agency. A central reason that individuals do not know what is available is the severe lack of materials or advertisements in Chinese. 

 Transportation seems to be a problem for mainly seniors. Churches often offer free buses, but have limited number of destinations. 

Possible Biases

As with any interview style study, possible biases exist. For example, respondents might want to maintain a certain ‘presentation’ in front of the interviewer. Individuals might not want to seem as if that they have many problems or ‘issues’. Thus, individuals might portray themselves and the community in a more positive light than is true. In addition, there is the general bias of asking individuals to assess or give opinions on the general community rather than themselves as an individual. As seen in general psychological literature, individuals tend to rate things more extreme or towards the negative side (in this case, the issue would be rated as being a big problem) when generalizing to the community at large. This bias might be more prevalent in community leaders and workers who felt more compelled to comment on the community at large because of the nature of their work as opposed to restaurant workers, who often only wanted to comment on their personal community of family and friends and not the community at large. 

 
Hispanic Community

The Hispanic interviews were mostly held on the street in commercial parts of town and in businesses such as food stores, clothing boutiques, restaurants, beauty salons, etc, during regular business hours.  This means that people who are not likely to be in those places at that time -- mothers at home with children, students, those working in office buildings, those working in agriculture, or the unemployed -- were not likely to be interviewed

In New Brunswick, undocumented and documented people from Mexico as well as South and Central American countries such as Peru, Costa Rica, and Honduras were reached.  In Perth Amboy, those interviewed were mostly Dominicans who have been in the country for many years, have adapted to the U.S. and have immigration documents.   

Few individuals over 60 were interviewed which may reflect the demographics of the Mexican undocumented population in the county. It has been suggested that it is more difficult to bring elders from the home country to join families without legal family reunification. The journey across the border may be too arduous for the senior age group, and they may be less willing to venture out if they do arrive in the US. The difficult life of undocumented people in the U.S (living in cramped conditions, working long hours) may also contribute to a smaller number of seniors in undocumented communities.  Several respondents commented that parents often leave young children with grandparents in order to come to the United States and send money back to them.  Sometimes they have the intention of bringing family here once established. Other times, they plan to return once they have saved enough money to, for example, buy a house or start a small business in the home country.  Another reason for a smaller elderly pool of respondents could be the focus on areas of business for soliciting interviews.

Most Hispanic respondents reported incomes of less than $20,000 per year working in factories, warehouses, restaurants, etc – types of employment often available to undocumented immigrants. Many of those respondents with legal status were also in low paying jobs.  Although, this may partially reflect the difficulty in transferring professional degrees and learning English, it is mostly related to methods of recruiting respondents. Storefront outreach is unlikely to reach a significant number of office workers or professionals.  Furthermore, the shops and streets where outreach was done were not in close proximity to areas where people with higher incomes live.  

About one in four people approached was willing to talk.  Those with legal immigration documents were much more willing to participate.  In order to find information about undocumented immigrants, those with legal status who had once been undocumented or knew undocumented people in their community were interviewed.  People who did not want to talk were either mistrustful of the interviewer, concern that their employer would be upset, or felt that they did not have much to say about the topics on the survey. 

With more time to build relationships in the community (at least a year) it might have been possible to interview people at home or in community centers.  With more time to build long-term relationships with community leaders, they may have been inclined to speak with their members about the Needs Assessments and encourage them to participate.  Interviewing people at home or at community centers, would have allowed access to other parts of the population.  Also, people would have been more comfortable, would have had more privacy to speak, and would not have been rushed and interrupted as they often were in the workplace.  

Main Problems in the Community (open-ended responses):

The most often mentioned problems have to do economic and immigration issues, or frequently a combination of the two.  People talked about working long hours at low wage jobs and about the difficulties of finding better employment without a work permit.  As a result, many people live with a high level of stress -- coping with immigration fears and working long hours to subsist.

Other difficulties frequently named were the need to learn English, lack of access to adequate public transportation, lack of affordable childcare, need for more understanding of U.S. laws/legal rights.

There were several factors keeping people from offering an answer.  Some respondents did not know what was meant by this initial question.  They wanted more concrete and specific questions in order to understand the purpose of the interview. Furthermore, it seems a few responded, “I don’t know”, in an attempt to keep the interview short and/or because of discomfort.  Also, some people said they did not see any problems in the community (this may be their true impression or a product of the aforementioned factors).

It also appears that some respondents closed up after hearing the content of the interview, feeling that is was condescending.

It is important to note that many people, open-ended, stated the strengths of their community.  They described community members as hard-working individuals, as people who are making great sacrifices to help family in their native country, who are extremely resourceful in finding ways to establish themselves in the U.S.  Some respondents said that they felt at home in the U.S.  Others spoke about feeling hopeful that they could learn English, study, find better employment, and one day acquire documented status.  Often these people had family who had accomplished this.  Many immigrants focused on their hopes and goals and were not as intent on discussing problems.

Effects of 9/11:

By far, the strongest effects named were related to job loss and the economic slowdown – people lost jobs, small business owners suffered.  It appears, after talking with respondents, that the immigrant population, especially undocumented immigrants, was especially hard hit by the economic consequences of 9/11.  Undocumented immigrants cannot rely on safety nets like unemployment benefits, or government vocational and employment programs.  Furthermore, many lost employment because of not having work permits or because they were using false papers.  This became more difficult under post-9/11security fears and talk of stricter INS enforcement.  

Few people mentioned emotional effects, such as sadness, fear, and worry. This was especially so around the time the terror alert was raised for the first time.

Some people said that 9/11 did not affect them, that the effect was felt mostly in New York, or that they had passed.  Others noted that other problems were more urgent, for example employment and financial pressures.  A few people talked about having lived through wars and natural disasters in their home country, and feeling that in comparison 9/11 did not have a profound impact on them emotionally.

Modes for Reaching the Community:

The most frequently named mediums were Spanish television (especially Univision), free Spanish newspapers, and flyers in the street or at ethnic shops.  A few people suggested that information about programs should be given out through schools and churches.  Also, a couple of people noted that recently arrived or undocumented immigrants mostly learn about programs through word of mouth.

Main Problems in the Community (prompted responses):

Immigration issues -- such as not having Legal Permanent Residency, and especially being undocumented -- pose the largest concern.  The A-C scale used to measure problems cannot capture the significance of this issue.  There would need to be a category beyond “A” to capture this.  Not having documents is an issue that touches every other issue on the survey:  

•	Employment – pressured to accept labor rights violations and low wage jobs.
•	Domestic violence – fear of reporting to the police.
•	Transportation – cannot legally acquire a license.
•	Housing -- fear of reporting landlord violations.  Cannot get a lease, so must live in shares or rooms.
•	Health care – less likely to have employment that provides health insurance. Do not qualify for certain government programs, fear of applying to other programs.

The list could go on. 

Furthermore, being undocumented has a large impact on people’s psychological state.  Immigrants spoke about feeling as if they do not count, as if they do not exist because they do not have any form of official I.D. Undocumented immigrants spoke of the constant fear of being discovered, of always having to look behind their back.  Some resented having to live like second class citizens.  They asserted that they pay taxes, work hard doing the jobs that others did not want, followed the law, YET did not access benefits like legal protection and access to common social benefits (social security, unemployment benefits, etc.). 

Secondly, a problem that was not explored sufficiently in the needs assessment, but that was brought up several times by community members, is gang activity.  In New Brunswick, several people mentioned that gangs have a strong and growing presence in the community.  

The problem of gangs connects to another problem that the community spoke of -- teenagers’ difficulty in adapting to life in the U.S.  Respondents said that some young Hispanic males join gangs because they are looking for a support system in this country.  Many Mexican adolescents come to the New Brunswick area alone at around the age of 16 to work and help their family in Mexico.  Some find themselves isolated and in very difficult economic and social conditions and consequently join gangs. 

There are other problems that may contribute to gang membership, or affect youth in other ways.  Several parents spoke about the following issues:

•	Children and adolescents do not have supervision because parents must work long hours.
•	Parents feel cut-off from the schools, cannot help children with homework, etc.
•	Undocumented teenagers do not see opportunity in their future. They feel that they will not be able to find rewarding employment without a work permit or attend a university (would have to pay out-of state tuition).
•	Some adolescents were brought here by their parents against their will, want to return to their home country, and resist adapting to the U.S.

Finally, a third problem that was mentioned, by community members is alcoholism.  This could fall under the category of mental health, but most community members did not readily categorize it as a mental health problem.  Yet, if asked directly about alcoholism many commented that it was a prevalent problem.  Some also linked it to domestic violence.  

Mental health also played a role when people were asked about separation from family.  Respondents said that most members of the community suffer do to separation from family, people are depressed, marriages dissolve, and children are separated from parents.  Separation from family is also an immigration law and policy issue.  Currently it is very difficult for people to bring over family, and in the case of undocumented immigrants it is impossible to do so legally.

Many respondents said that domestic violence was a problem in the community.  They said community members were not familiar with laws that protect survivors of domestic violence or social services available to them.  Also undocumented immigrants may not call the police to report an abusive partner, because of fear of being deported. Others said people did not call the police because of fear of having their partner --who’s salary the family depends on – arrested and thus losing economic stability.

Schooling for children was an often discussed problem, mainly in New Brunswick.   People said that schools in Hispanic neighborhoods did not have the same economic resources as schools with a U.S. born population.  Some reported putting their children in private and parochial schools or moving to other neighborhoods, such as East Brunswick.

Barriers:  

It seems that the greatest barrier among undocumented immigrants is twofold: (A) the belief that services are not available to them and (B) a lack of knowledge about the social service system. 

In reality, there is a lack of services for undocumented immigrants, thus this belief is not so much a barrier as a reality.  Community workers at social service agencies also spoke about the difficulties in finding funding to serve undocumented immigrants.  Many programs, specifically those funded by the government, exclude undocumented immigrants.  

The second point – lack of understanding about existing social services available in the U.S. — is not simply an issue of not knowing that projects exist, but of understanding how to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles to getting assistance and understanding how to demonstrate eligibility.  In order to qualify for programs immigrants are often asked for papers that they do not have, such as pay stubs, proof of address or social security numbers.  

Time was not a great barrier, except in the case of ESL classes.  Many people said that there were ESL classes taught in the area, but they worked such long hours that they could not attend.  Another barrier mentioned mostly in conjunction with ESL was childcare.  

Other

Biases:  
Every respondent has a bias.  Each person speaks most about the problem affecting him/her and rates this as the gravest issues in the community.  In other words, those who are ill see healthcare as the greatest problem, those with small children see childcare as the biggest issues, and those who have felt personally discriminated see discrimination as a large problem.  

Some immigrants were hesitant to speak about problems in the community or de-emphasized problems, because they did not want their community to be seen negatively.  They were protective of the image of immigrants and immigrant communities.  These people were careful not to reinforce the idea that immigrants communities have high crime, are poor, and that immigrants use social services more than others. 
 
Community workers/leaders are more able to see the broad picture and not over emphasize personal obstacles when commenting on the community in general.  However, community workers/ leaders are susceptible to other types of bias. Most employees of social service agencies feel that they are representing their agency and try to do so in a positive light.  Furthermore, it is possible that social service agencies, which depend on needs in the community to request funding, may overemphasize problems to justify the existence of programs.  

Finally, many respondents were not alone when interviewed and it is possible that presence of co-workers, family, etc. may have influenced their answers.

South Asian Community

The majority of the South Asian “street” interviews were conducted in ethnically concentrated commercial areas – stores, hairdressers, restaurants, etc, with the result that certain sections of the population, such as retired people, homemakers, unemployed and upper income people, are underrepresented. Homemakers, although accessible in shopping areas, were unwilling to take an hour out of their limited time to participate in interviews. Retired people, accessed in Senior Citizens’ Centers, tended to flock together to answer questions. The views of these groups, therefore, have been accessed through focus groups, the findings of which have been presented in another section of the report.

In light of recent hostility towards South Asian immigrants after September 11th, it is not surprising that recruiting respondents was not easy, since the interviewer was usually viewed with suspicion, and cross-questioned thoroughly about the motives of the study, despite her multilingual capability. Suspicion was also aimed at the potential use of the findings of the study – whether they would be used to ‘tarnish’ the image of the community.

Having established an ethnic commonality and a measure of trust, people were quite willing to talk. There were, however, interesting patterns. When asked about the main problems in the community, the majority of South Asians were unable (or unwilling) to volunteer information. However, when prompted with possible problems, there was often an outpouring of information. This may indicate some hesitation on the part of respondents to ‘mar’ the image of a community that sees itself largely as a ‘model minority’. 

As mentioned above, respondents were unwilling to outline problems in the community; fully one third of South Asian respondents answered “none” - even after considerable coaxing, many insisted that there were no problems. Often, respondents took offence to the question, asking what caused the interviewer to believe the community had problems. Community leaders and workers, however, were willing to report much more. Intergenerational conflict was listed as an important problem, and so were a fear of “Indian values” in the younger generation being replaced by “American” ones. Besides, since immigrant parents are often not comfortable with American culture, children take on the role of go-betweens, interpreting the culture for their parents. Children thus find themselves in a position of control, thus skewing the traditional parent-child equation and leading to substantial family conflict. 

Some community leaders claimed that successful members of the community are not interested in working for the community, and that as a result, there is a polarization within the community along lines of wealth and “marginalized members become invisible”. This also leads to a shortage of community leaders. “There is a need to give before we can get”. “More involvement (from the community) is needed”.

Insularity and isolation were mentioned by some respondents. “We do not mix in the mainstream, we stay aloof”. “Our perspective is very narrow. We have a false image of ourselves. We are above everything.” With isolation comes loneliness and depression.
South Asians in general were criticized by a community leader for not being “politically involved”. “We do not exercise our rights”. “Voter registration in the community is very low.”

Also mentioned was a lack of unity or cohesiveness in the community, with divisions running down lines of nationality, religion or language, since the South Asian community has a broad spectrum of diversity within itself. Domestic Violence and Mental Health were also mentioned as problems afflicting the community.

One respondent simply looked wistfully into the distance and said, (there is) “ no time to get together and talk and eat and enjoy”. Once the question was phrased differently, and specific problems were outlined, respondents seemed more willing to admit that problems existed in the community.

An overwhelming majority of South Asian respondents (86%) rated “financial hardship” as a major problem in the community, followed by “employment” (79%). An ethnic grocery store worker described it as follows, “My husband and I work long hours (10am to 9pm) six days a week. We have green cards, but do not speak English, so it is very hard to get well-paid jobs, although we have a lot of experience. I owned and ran my own small business in a small village in Gujarat and now I work for someone else at very low wages. We moved to the US only to give our daughter a better life. Now I wonder if we did the right thing. We were financially comfortable in India, but here we find it hard to make ends meet. We are not afraid of hard work, but despite hard work, despite a green card, we cannot make ends meet.” 

Seventy eight percent (78%) of South Asian respondents rated “adapting to the US” as a problem in their community, making it the third highest ranked problem. A community worker who runs a Sunday program for children put it eloquently, “We are very insular, we reach out to our own community but we do not go beyond it. This is not a good way of integrating with the mainstream. Kids get isolated. Our perspective is very narrow.” Others felt that the pace of life in the US is very hectic and since everyone is busy trying to make money, there is no time to understand American culture and adapt. One woman said, “Adjustment is very difficult, English is a problem, especially spoken English.” One newly arrived male grocery store worker said, “Indians don’t have as much community life as other immigrants.”

Immigrant Rights education: 
“People do not know their political rights.”

Healthcare access: 
Unavailable. Not enough coverage all over the US.

ESL: 
Many workers in low-paid jobs felt that their ability to get better jobs was limited by their lack of knowledge of, or fluency  in English. “Language is a big barrier”. Although people want ESL classes, they are unsure about being able to avail of them since, said one store worker, “I work long hours and seven day a week, I do not have time.” On the other hand, one restaurant cashier said, “My English is very poor. I want to learn to speak fluently. I have never heard of English classes. I would like to know if there are any nearby (I have no car) and if they are free.

Community space: 
“We need festivals, bazaars, cultural programs, music shows.” 
People felt that “For festivals we have to rent out spaces and pay a lot.” “The temple is too far. Large hall (is needed) for meetings, exercise, kids activities, family events, weddings, etc”.

Discrimination
Undocumented immigrants, understandably, feel the most discriminated against, as is reflected in the voice of one undocumented worker, “We are treated differently in court. If I go to court for a traffic violation, the judge won’t listen to me, won’t give me a chance.”

Other types of discrimination were also voiced as in the words of a community worker who runs a Sunday program for children, “Kids face discrimination in schools. There is some name calling; vegetarian food is looked at strangely. We don’t train our kids to defend their values. This comes from home. Schools also don’t do anything after elementary school for multicultural issues. That’s when kids form opinions, that’s when prejudice begins.”

A different opinion was expressed by a restaurant worker, who felt that South Asians do not face much discrimination because, “We don’t create trouble.”

Employment
“We don’t know how to find jobs, we don’t know the system.”
Said a computer programmer who now holds a job in a restaurant, “Employment was not a problem a few years ago in the high tech boom, but it is only bad now because of the economy.”

Separation from family
One woman simply said, “I miss home.”

Mental Health
Respondents admitted to suffering from mental health problems only rarely, if ever. “I suffer from depression, life seems meaningless.” Said a woman who had suffered domestic violence.

A worker in a clothing store said, “Mental health is an unrecognized problem, people don’t believe that they may be depressed. Loss of job can cause it, but they don’t go to a doctor. A close relative must take responsibility for such a person and take then to a doctor, like I did for my husband.” Others felt that, “Depression is caused by lack of social life.” Another woman said,  “Maika’ is a system in India for stress relief for women, it doesn’t exist here”, referring to an old Indian custom in which every woman visits her mother’s house (called ‘maika’ in Hindi) once every year, for an extended period of time. This is traditionally sanctioned as a ‘recuperative’ time for a woman.

Problems relating to 9/11
There was an outpouring of problems related to 9/11, described by immigrants as “Racial, verbal abuse”.  “There is a fear, especially among the Sikh community because Indian clothes are suspect. Getting a visa for my parents became especially difficult after 9/11.” One respondent described an incident her husband faced soon after 9/11. “My husband was accosted in the train after 9/11 by a few men who shouted ‘go back where you came from’. He was afraid and got off at the next stop and went home.” “Jobs were lost, especially computer related. My husband lost his job.” Another respondent felt that, “Immigration people are harsher, they take fingerprints and check luggage”and “We are feeling some difference. We feel more like outsiders. The economy is down. There is a more anti-foreigner sentiment.” A community leader pointed out “Racial profiling of Sikhs, Muslims, continues. Family security was affected. Kids in schools are suffering, especially Sikhs. Muslim prisoners are mistreated.”

The other effect of 9/11, outlined by respondents was “A lot of jobs have gone since 9/11 – Immigration H-1 visas, especially computer industry workers (software) have returned or are looking for work. It is very hard.”

Domestic Violence
Said one woman, “We don’t talk about it. There is pressure to keep the family together. We perpetuate the myth of having happy families. Community pressure.”

Barriers

Transportation: “Driving license should be given in our language.”

Don’t know what is available
 “I don’t know of any agencies that can help me. Even if there are agencies, we don’t speak English to make ourselves understood. I really want to learn English, but I don’t know about any classes. Besides, I work Tues-Sun, so the only day I can attend is Monday. The classes need to be either at walking distance, or include transportation

APPENDIX IV
Coding and Data Collection Instrument

Q.1.What are the main problems in your community?
•	None
•	Immigrant issues/documentation/status
o	Being undocumented
o	Need legal advice/information, how to apply for visa
•	Financial problems/employment/ Working Conditions
o	Low income
o	Unemployment/Laid off	
o	Poor employment conditions
o	Hours too long
o	Over qualify for positions/Degrees don’t transfer
•	Language difficulties
o	Difficult to learn English
o	Quality of ESL classes is bad
•	Healthcare
o	Access
o	Information
o	Insurance
•	Racism/discrimination
o	Wage differentials 
•	Knowledge/understanding of US systems/service access
o	Service hours are inconvenient
o	Lack of info and how to navigate
o	In language resources needed
o	Lack of trust in agencies/suspicion
o	NJ spread out, no centralized location to seek services
o	Transportation
•	Lack of ethnic community organizations 
o	Need immigrant/ethnic social workers that work within communities
•	Adapting to US
o	Cultural Differences
o	Integration in US society
o	Lack of Community involvement
o	Insularity of community-do not interact outside of community
•	Community Space
o	Lack of comm. Space for immigrant pop
•	Cohesion/Unity within Community
o	Lack of it
•	Mental health
o	No support systems/loneliness
o	Issues of depression/suicide
•	Domestic Violence/women’s issues
•	Youth Issues
o	Juvenile delinquency, drugs, gangs
o	2nd generation issues
•	Value system
•	Parent/child relationship
•	Identity
•	Problems for senior citizens
o	Cultural Differences
o	Community Space
•	Other
o	Low education levels when come
o	Human Suffering
o	Lack of financial aid for international college students
o	SARS
o	False Image
o	Childcare
o	Housing

Q.2. How did 9/11 affect people in your community?
•	No effect
•	Economy
o	Business went down
o	Failing economy
o	Unemployment
•	Discrimination/racism
•	Emotional effects
o	Short term
o	Fear
o	More careful
•	Security
o	Immigration 
•	Undocumented under more scrutiny
•	Slowdown
o	Increased security regulations
•	Direct effects – families lost
•	Other
o	More useful 1 year ago
o	Clients not interested anymore
o	No info for getting help
o	Increased patriotism

Q.3. How/where should agencies advertise their services to you?
•	Broadcast media
	Ethnic news channels
	-ethnic radio station
	-TV
•	Print media
	-newspapers
	-ethnic newspapers
	-free newspapers
	-ethnic magazines
	-local newspapers
•	Word of mouth
	-political leaders
	-community members
	-comm leaders
•	Flyering
	-supermarkets
	-train stations
	-ethnic stores
	-malls
	-community centers
•	Phone/Mail/E-mail
•	Presentations/Events
	-community centers/meetings
-college campuses
-religious centers

Community Needs Assessment Questionnaire (3 pages total)

1.	What are the main problems in your community?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

2.	How did 9/11 affect people in your community (financial, legal, emotional, etc.)?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

3.	How / where should agencies advertise their services to you?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

4.	Have you ever heard of the United Way?  
Do you know of any United Way programs in this county / town?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Somewhat

Describe the problem

Why don’t people get help? 
(Barriers listed below)

Not much

Important

A) Important need/problem	
B) Somewhat of a need/problem
C) Not much of a need/problem

5. To what extent do the needs or problems described below pertain to your community? 
Please rate each need or problem according to the following scale.  

Adapting to U.S.			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Civics/immigrant right education	A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Community space			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Discrimination				A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Children’s education			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Vocational/professional 
        education for adults  		A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
ESL                 			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Employment				A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Separation from family		A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Financial hardship			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Access to healthcare			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Immigration status			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Inadequate housing			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Mental health				A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Problems related to September 11	A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Domestic Violence			A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________
Other____________________	A	B	C	_______________________        _____________________________

Barriers: 1. Bad experience with agencies 2.Childcare 3.Don’t know what’s available 4. Don’t believe help is available 
5.Don’t trust agency 6.Embarrassment 7. Fear of losing immigration status 8.Lack of time 9.Language difficulties 10.Literacy problems 11.Mixed gender services 12.Religious issues 13.Transportation issues 14. Other

6. Demographics

a.	Gender:
Male	 Female

b.	Marital Status:
 Married	 Single 	 Separated		 Divorced		 Widowed

c.	Education:	
 Less than High School		 High School		 Vocational/Technical School
 College (Bachelors)		 College (More than Bachelors)

d.	Employment:
 Full time		 Part Time		 Unemployed	 Homemaker         Retired

e.	Age:
 Under 25		 25-39	 40-54	 55-69	 70 or more

f.	Number of years in the US:
 Less than 1 year 		 1-5 years		 5-10 years		
 10-20 years	 More than 20 years

g.	Country of Origin 	 ________________________ 

h.	Preferred Language	 ________________________	

i.	Housing: 
 Homeowner	 Renter	 Other ________________________

j.	County / Town of residence   	________________________

k.	Annual Income (OPTIONAL)	
 Under $20,000	 20,000-40,000	 40,000-100,000		 Over $100,000

APPENDIX I – Additional Tables and Graphs

Table of Responses for Total Immigrant Community 
Problems: % of respondents who rated the issue as a “significant” or “somewhat of a problem” for their community. 
Barriers: % of respondents who answered “yes” when topic was listed as a barrier for their community to access services.

Problems for the community (prompted)
1	Financial Hardship (84%)
2	Immigration Status  (82%)
3	Employment (80%)
4	Access to Healthcare (74%)
5	Separation from Family (73%)
6	Adapting to the US (70%)
7	ESL/language (69%)
8	Civic/Immigration Rights Education (67%)
9	Problems related to September 11th (66%)
9	Vocational/Prof Education for Adults (66%)
11	Racism/Discrimination (63%)
12	Community Space (60%)
13	Domestic Violence (59%)
14	Inadequate Housing (56%)
15	Mental Health  (54%)
16	Children’s Education (39%)

Barriers
1	Don’t Know What is Available (63%)
2	Language Difficulties (50%)
3	Transportation (36%)
4	Don’t Believe Help is Available (20%)
4	Don’t Trust Agency (20%)
6	Fear of Losing Immigration Status (19%)
7	Lack of Time (17%)
8	Embarrassment (16%)
9	Childcare (13%)
10	Bad Experience with Agencies (12%)
11	Being Undocumented (9%)
12	Literacy (8%)
13	Other (6%)
14	Religious Issues (2%)
15	Mixed Gender Services (1%)

Table of Community Findings 
Problems: % of respondents who rated the issue as a “significant” or “somewhat of a problem” for their community. 
Barriers: % of respondents who answered “yes” when topic was listed as a barrier for their community to access services.

South Asian Community

Problems for the community (prompted)
1	Financial Hardship (86%)
2	Employment (79%)
3	Adapting to the US (78%)
4	Mental Health  (75%)
4	Problems related to September 11th (75%)
6	Access to Healthcare (71%)
6	ESL/language (71%)
8	Immigration Status  (68%)
9	Separation from Family (67%)
10	Racism/Discrimination (57%)
10	Inadequate Housing (57%)
12	Civic/Immigration Rights Education (53%)
12	Community Space (53%)
12	Domestic Violence (53%)
15	Vocational/Prof Education for Adults (38%)
16	Children’s Education (6%)

Barriers
1	Don’t Know What is Available (54%)
2	Language Difficulties (33%)
2	Transportation (33%)
4	Childcare (17%)
4	Don’t Trust Agency (17%)
4	Embarrassment (17%)
4	Fear of Losing Immigration Status (17%)
8	Don’t Believe Help is Available (13%)
8	Other (13%)
10	Literacy (8%)
11	Lack of Time (4%)
11	Mixed Gender Services (4%)
11	Religious Issues (4%)
14	Being Undocumented (0%)
14	Bad Experience with Agencies (0%)
Chinese Community

Problems for the community (prompted)
1	Vocational/Prof Education for Adults (91%)
2	ESL/Language (90%)
3 	Employment (85%)
4	Financial Hardship (80%)
5	Immigration Status (79%)
6	Access to Healthcare (75%)
7	Civic/Immigration Rights Education (73%)
8 	Separation from Family (70%)
9	Community Space (68%)
10	Problems Related to September 11th (65%)
11	Adapting to the US (60%)
12	Racism/Discrimination (54%)
13	Mental Health (52%)
14	Children’s Education (35%)
15	Inadequate Housing (31%)
16	Domestic Violence (29%)

Barriers
1	Don’t Know What is Available (88%)
2	Language Difficulties (73%)
3	Transportation (39%)
4 	Lack of Time (15%)
5	Bad Experience with Agencies (12%)
5	Don’t Believe Help is Available (12%)
5	Don’t Trust Agency  (12%)
5	Fear of Losing Immigration Status (12%)
9	Embarrassment (9%)
10	Literacy (3%)
11	Childcare (0%)
11	Mixed Gender Services (0%)
11	Religious Issues (0%)
11	Being Undocumented (0%)
11	Other (0%)
Hispanic Community

Problems for the community (prompted)
1	Financial Hardship (95%)
2	Domestic Violence (92%)
3	Immigration Status (86%)
3	Separation from Family (86%)
3	Inadequate Housing (86%)
6	Employment (76%)
6	Racism/Discrimination (76%)
6	Civic/Immigration Rights Education (76%)
9	Access to Healthcare (73%)
9	Adapting to the US (73%)
11	Problems Related to September 11th (63%)
11	Mental Health (63%)
13	Children’s Education (60%)
14	Community Space (50%)
15	Vocational/Prof Education for Adults  (47%)
16	ESL/Language (46%)

Barriers
1	Don’t Know What is Available (35%)
1	Transportation (35%)
1	Being Undocumented (35%)
4	Don’t Believe Help is Available (30%)
4	Don’t Trust Agency  (30%)
4	Language Difficulties (30%)
7	Fear of Losing Immigration Status (26%)
8 	Lack of Time (22%)
9	Bad Experience with Agencies (21%)
10	Childcare (17%)
11	Embarrassment (13%)
11	Literacy (13%)
13	Other (4%)
14	Mixed Gender Services (0%)
14	Religious Issues (0%)