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Fieldstone Alliance

Nexus Project Bibliography

Alliance for Non-Profit Management. 2002. Regional meetings, Chicago and West Palm Beach.
In this report on the Alliance's 2002 Regional Meetings, Jennifer Henderson makes a number of suggestions about how to develop the quality relationship that is essential for quality capacity building, within four dimensions: assessment, technical assistance/consultation, skills transfer/development and coaching/peer-to-peer.

Brooks Masters, Suzette and Ted Perlmutter. 2001. Networking the networks: Improving information flows in the immigration field. New York: The International Center for Migration, Ethnicity and Citizenship at new School University.
Suzette Brooks Masters and Ted Perlmutter address the importance of information flow in capacity-building in the immigration field. The focus on the adequacy of networks, relevance of content, ease of access, and organizational capacity.

Dyer-Ives Foundation. 2003. New neighbors, new opportunities: Immigrants and refugees in Grand Rapids.
This short publication addresses the importance of strengthening immigrant and refugee communities' systems of support: organizations and programs, leadership development, and capacity development.

DeLucca, Alison. 2002. Rising with the tide: Capacity building strategies for small, emerging minority organizations. Los Angeles Immigrant Funders' Collaborative.
Summarizes DeLucca's research among immigrant community organizations, conducted with four goals in mind:

  • To assess the capacity issues facing immigrant-based and immigrant-led organizations, including immigrant health organizations;
  • To identify the barriers that prevent these organizations from accessing the existing resources;
  • To explore more effective ways to respond to their capacity needs; and
  • To determine which actions would be most strategic for the LA Immigrant Funders' Collaborative to consider in the short and long term.

Gantz McKay, E. et al. 2001. Immigrant and refugee-led organizations and their technical assistance needs. Washington DC : Mosaica, the Center for Nonprofit Development and Pluralism.
Emily Gantz McKay and her colleagues report on a study they conducted for the Ford Foundation in the area of migrant and refugee rights. The project had three purposes:

  • To recommend immigrant- and refugee-led organizations (I/RLOs) for consideration as potential recipients of Ford Foundation-supported technical assistance, providing profiles of the organizations and an analysis of the kinds of technical assistance they need;
  • To identify and analyze possible technical assistance provider models and organizations, and recommend to the Foundation a process and/or model (and specific organizations as appropriate) for assisting these I/RLOs; and
  • To identify barriers and opportunities for leadership development among immigrant and refugee organizations and their communities.

The study involved identification of nearly 200 I/RLOs and other immigrant/refugee-focused groups through approximately 50 contacts nationwide; screening interviews with 137 I/RLOs; and identification of and interviews with 20 technical assistance providers (of various sizes and both mainstream and immigrant/refugee).

Gantz McKay, Emily et al. 2000. Research on barriers and opportunities for increasing leadership in immigrant and refugee communities: Public report. Boston MA : Hyams Foundation, Inc.
Emily Gantz McKay and her colleagues report on a qualitative research study carried out to a project team from MOSAICA, a multicultural nonprofit organization in Washington DC. The study focused on leadership development in immigrant and refugee communities (Hyams Foundation grantees), and involved 62 respondents--both grantees and Foundation representatives--in personal and telephone interviews, e-mail discussions, focus groups, and literature and document reviews.

Ho, Mimi et al. 2002. Mapping the immigrant infrastructure: Executive Summary. Oakland CA: Applied Research Center (for the Annie E. Casey Foundation).
Mimi Ho and her colleagues' focus is on facilitating community organizing for immigrant and refugee immigrant associations and ethnically based service providers. She emphasizes the importance of understanding each communities' particular situation in relation to the post-9/11 environment, and the fact that some immigrants and refugees may not desire high visibility at this time. The report includes recommendations for training opportunities with these groups.

Holley, Lynn Carol. 1998. Dissertation: Ethnic agencies in communities of color: A study of missions, services, structures, and capacity-building needs. University of Washington .
Carol Holley's dissertation is a study of the missions, services, structures and capacity-building needs of minority and immigrant/refugee community agencies. Holley interviewed a purposive sample of 13 leaders of emerging ethnic agencies: African-American (3); Cambodian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Filipino, Laotian, Mexican (2), Samoan, Vietnamese, and Multicultural. Leaders listed their priority areas for training, types of training, desired trainer characteristics, and ideas of successful strategies. Holley concluded with recommendations for skill-building by consultants and useful strategies for increasing the effectiveness of mainstream agencies in meeting the technical assistance service needs of communities of color.

Pendleton, Gail. Building the rhythm of change: Developing leadership and improving services within the battered rural immigrant women's community. Washington DC : Family Violence Prevention Fund.
Gail Pendleton's report is focused primarily on domestic violence, but she makes a number of good suggestions for training on difficult issues, particularly innovative ways to draw reticent participants into the conversation.

Waldau, R. and G. Khalsa. 2002. Providing technical assistance to build organizational capacity: Lessons learned through the Colorado Trust's supporting immigrant and refugee families initiative. Denver: The Colorado Trust.
Rich Waldau and Gurudev Khalsa, representatives of the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning, assist the Colorado Trust by helping grantee immigrant/refugee organizations choose and oversee their technical assistance providers. This report summarizes the types of technical assistance needs found in immigrant/refugee-led organizations, in three main categories: programmatic technical assistance, organizational capacity-building, and community/stakeholder relationship building. The authors also discuss lessons learned in implementing technical assistance, and recommendations for maximum success.

Additional Resources

http://www.gcir.org/index.htm
Research on barriers and opportunities for increasing leadership in immigrant and refugee communities: Public report. Boston MA: Hyams Foundation, Inc.

http://www.urban.org/pdfs/ building_capacity.pdf
Report on capacity building from the Urban Institute.

For more information, please contact Sandy Jacobsen at 651.556.4510 or email her at sjacobsen@FieldstoneAlliance.org.