This article is written by Lindsay Mensch, Content Manager, Welcoming America.

  • The problem: As global migration increases, governments and civil servants need to intentionally create more welcoming environments for migrants.
  • Why it matters: Inclusion and belonging are essential for new and long-term residents to fully participate in their communities.
  • The solution: Civil servants can act as leaders to foster trust and belonging among public institutions and migrants.

Fostering belonging is more important than ever as places across the globe welcome migrants into their communities.

As demographics change and communities grow more diverse, governments have ample opportunity to create the conditions to fully include every person — no matter where they come from.

Truly welcoming communities have policies and practices that enable everyone to contribute, thrive and belong, including immigrants. By intentionally working toward welcoming, civil servants can help foster an environment where all residents feel empowered to work together to solve civic, social and economic challenges.

Trust is essential for people to feel a sense of belonging in their community.

Regardless of your role in the public sector, there are many ways civil servants can cultivate belonging and build trust between public institutions and newcomers.

Listen to and learn from migrant communities at every opportunity

Investing in relationships with community members of all backgrounds is one of the most important ways you can personally engage in welcoming work as a public servant. Sustaining long-term intercultural connections deepens trust and understanding, especially when you’re working together toward a shared goal.

Trust is essential for people to feel a sense of belonging in their community. Finding moments for real listening and resident engagement can reinforce trust between public institutions and new residents.

Start by reflecting on how you and your agency gather information; how are you engaging residents in your listening and decision-making processes? Are people with migrant backgrounds being represented and reflected in your resident engagement? If not, develop a plan to ensure that you’re building relationships with residents of all backgrounds, including migrants. By being more intentional in how you engage residents, your work can reinforce connections across lines of difference.

Facilitate communication between government and migrants

Consider new approaches for communication with newcomers in your community. For instance, civil servants can champion community ambassadors who serve as trustworthy sources of information for migrant communities. A prime example of this is a Natural Helpers programme run by the Office of Economic Opportunity in the City of Portland, Maine, USA, where community member liaisons receive training to increase their knowledge of local resources and maximise their leadership skills. The programme aims to ensure that no one is excluded from local government and community resources.

Language proficiency may be a barrier to engagement, but there are solutions to ensure migrants’ needs are met. Strive to create multilingual resources for your community whenever possible. Government programmes and public servants play a critical role in providing interpretation and translation so all community members can access government resources, regardless of the languages they speak.

Public communication is another tool that governments can use to counter harmful anti-migrant narratives. Whenever you can flex your storytelling skills, sharing examples of migrant and non-migrant residents working together on a common agenda reinforces shared values and can reassure newcomers and your receiving community that inclusion is highly valued. Furthermore, encouraging local government leaders to make statements of welcome can foster a sense of belonging for new community members.

Use values to guide your work

If you’re already working to embed diversity, equity and inclusion into government initiatives, then you understand the importance of using these values to design programmes and guide your practice. Developing the skills and knowledge to understand and engage with migrant communities is an important dimension of diversity, equity and inclusion work.

The common values shared by new and long-time residents can serve as guidelines for government decision-makers as they set out to foster inclusion. To develop a set of values to guide welcoming work in your locality, design a collaborative process that ensures residents from a wide range of backgrounds participate, including immigrants.

Fortunately, there are established standards to help you create values-guided welcoming initiatives. For instance, in the United States and New Zealand, there are nationally recognised Welcoming Standards that local governments and nonprofits use to benchmark their progress toward building inclusive environments.

Move beyond individual action

It’s not only up to individuals to drive welcoming work forward. In your capacity, collaborate across agencies, sectors and organisations to take a more systemic approach.

Joining a local network can help civil servants forge partnerships on the community level and better assess local needs. National and international networks like Welcoming America or Welcoming International are spaces where you and your peers can share experiences and lessons learned while receiving training, resources and networking opportunities.

As governments play an active role in developing welcoming infrastructure, creating offices or staff positions dedicated to fostering inclusion is becoming common. Establishing these roles helps institutionalise welcoming work and supports the continuity of inclusion programmes during periods of transition or organisational change.

By designing programmes and policies that proactively advance immigrant inclusion, communities are better equipped to welcome people regardless of the circumstances of their arrival. Investing resources in building welcoming welcoming infrastructure supports both migrants and non-migrants in the long term.

Developing trust with migrant communities and ensuring that newcomers can access public resources are key roles that civil servants play in welcoming work. When people are welcomed, they are more likely to feel a sense of belonging in the places they live and work. In turn, residents of all backgrounds are included and will be more empowered to fully contribute in their communities.

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