Immigration History Week 101
Team: Tali Wojnowich, Stacey Stecko, Julio Schuback
Supervisor: Mark Johnson
Semester: Spring 2006
Mayor's Office of Immigrant AffairsImmigrant History Week and Beyond
The Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) promotes the fulland active involvement of immigrant New Yorkers in the life ofour City. In addition to facilitating an inter-agency task force on language access and other projects, MOIA is planning thethird annual Immigrant History Week celebration April 17-23. Introduced by Mayor Bloomberg in 2004, Immigrant History Week isa means of educating New Yorkers about the experiences andcontributions of immigrants. During this week, programs are sponsored by arts institutions and organizations throughout the City. For 2006, MOIA hopes to further diversify the ethnic andlogistical diversity of programs.
The Mayor's Office will assign a PIA consultant-team to work with community-based organizations (CBOs), especially in communities under-represented in last year's Immigrant History Week's. Students will assist in developing, planning and executing a program that explores the theme of immigrant history. The consultants would also strategize new partnerships by investigating and contacting additional CBOs who work with immigrant groups. This would involve meeting the organization's leaders, researching the community's particular history, developing and updating a program outline and a regular assessment of needs.
Programming will include a concentrated effort to produceinteresting and dynamic events that provide culturally specificthemes to each immigrant group. Examples include walking tours, museum installations, dances, music, theatre, photographyexhibitions, cultural center open houses, new and creativeinitiatives (Information & Technology: DIALelbarrio and AfricaReMix are two examples). Consultants should be able to suggest new creative ideas.
Consultants will help the organization determine the type of program, create a timeline and checklist to bring components together, project needs and work with MOIA to meet those needs, identify promotion strategies and bring visibility (or another outcome) to the organization, and do outreach to the New York Times and other local and ethnic newspapers.
Working with an immigrant community organization that is building its infrastructure, consultants would further offer perspectives on planning and management, and help coordinate meetings with other city agencies, such as the Cultural Affairs and Education departments.
As a final product, the consultant-team may produce an analytical monitoring and evaluation report on the challenges immigrant CBOs face and measures taken to overcome those challenges. Consultants could conduct a series of data collection on the number of participants at events, quality of the event, on-site interviews, and follow-up meetings with all IHW participating groups before and after the week of events.This would provide context for the CBOs on how their participation was reflected in the overall program.
This is an opportunity to learn about immigrant communities and challenges for community-based organizations in a city of 2.9 million immigrants. Interested students should have strong communication skills and an interest in immigrant issues.
Core Documents
Terms of Reference
Timeline
Final Presentation
Additional Documents
2006 Spring - Mayor's Office for Immigrant Affairs - Immigrant History Week 101.pdf
Navigate: All Spring 2006 practicums