Linking Civic Engagement and Immigrant Professional Success

Posted by Corporation for National & Community Service on June 5, 2017

Linking Civic Engagement and Immigrant Professional Success: Opportunities, Barriers, and Contexts
RSVP for the second Research and Evidence Webinar

Research and Evidence Webinar Series

The Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) would like to invite you to join our new Research and Evidence webinar series. This webinar series is one of several ways ORE is striving to share current research on civic engagement, volunteering, and national service.

This month we are pleased to welcome Professors Amy Best and John Dale and a few of their team members, Katie Kerstetter and Samantha Retrosi, from George Mason University (GMU). This team is also one of our 2015 National Service and Civic Engagement Research Competition awardees. Professors Best and Dale and their team will present their research on the dynamic relationship between professional success and civic engagement among educated immigrant professionals residing in both small and large U.S. cities.

Date and Time: This webinar will be held on Wednesday, June 7th from 12-1 PM ET.

Please RSVP to attend.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GGHVPSC

If you have any questions, contact the CNCS Office of Research and Evaluation at evaluation@cns.gov.

Study Abstract

The complex and dynamic relationship between professional success and civic engagement among educated immigrant professionals is examined in a mixed-methods project that combines survey data on college- educated immigrants in seven cities in the United States with qualitative interviews with survey participants. In this webinar we report on findings from 70 in-depth interviews with immigrant professionals employed in a diverse range of occupational fields and residing in both small and large U.S. cities.

We highlight the strengths of our qualitative research for building conceptual scaffolding to understand the dynamic processes through which civic involvement and professional achievement intersect and to deepen understanding of the cultural and institutional mechanisms linking civic participation and professional success. We find immigrant professionals are variously engaged civically; civic engagement among this population is overwhelmingly tied to professional and vocational interests and skills; and professional networks and community ties play an instrumental role in facilitating both professional advancement and civic involvement. Immigrant professionals participate in both formal and informal community-based organizations and groups, and many are transnational in scope, though none of the 70 interviewed report involvement in national service. Immigrant professionals who reported having few community networks, also reported greater professional obstacles.