Through its new Immigrant Engagement Project, the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC) is creating opportunities for dialogue that allow recent immigrants and long-term residents of San Mateo County to get to know each other better. These dialogues will also help identify shared interests and community concerns about public services including education, community development, health and safety.

To better support the integration of immigrants into the community, Santa Clara County established IRIS – Immigrant Relations and Integration Services. Housed in the County Office of Human Relations, IRIS staff members work on projects that promote positive immigrant relations and integration.

The City of Lodi, California is home to a diverse population of 65,000 people, including many Latino and Pakistani immigrants and their families. Pakistani people began immigrating to the area in the 1920s to work on nearby farms, and today about 5 percent of residents are Pakistani. Until recent years, the Lodi Pakistani community mostly remained relatively isolated. When the FBI announced that they had discovered a terrorist cell in Lodi in June of 2005, the resulting flurry of media attention and threats spurred city officials to work to establish lines of communication with this part of the community.

Portland, Oregon’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement has developed several programs intended to expand opportunities for civic involvement among underrepresented communities.