• From Oppression to Opportunity: The Long Journey of the

Somali Bantu provides background information about the Somali

Bantu refugees arriving in Grand Rapids after a decade in African

refugee camps.

Broader immigrant and refugee themes – from an historical perspective

on paradoxical attitudes toward newcomers in the U.S. to an overview

of key immigrant- and refugee supporting-initiatives – are addressed in

documents in the Appendix:

• U.S. Immigration Patterns explores countries of origin, reasons

for coming, and settlement locations of immigrants to the U.S.

• An American Paradox: Immigrant Nation, Anti-Immigrant Backlash

examines the ambivalent, complex and varied nature of U.S. attitudes

toward immigrants throughout the country’s history.

• From Newcomers to New Americans: The Successful Integration

of Immigrants into American Society reports on patterns of language

acquisition, home ownership and other indicators of integration

by newcomers.

• A Sampling of Newcomer Initiatives and Resources in the U.S.

and Canada provides an overview of notable immigrant and refugeesupporting

efforts, including funder initiatives, a television series,

and a variety of studies and reports.

This report is only a beginning. We hope it will be helpful for a wide

variety of community organizations, including social service and health

care agencies, schools, neighborhood associations, governmental

units, and funders, as well as immigrant- and refugee-serving agencies.

Most of all, we hope it will provide a platform for raising awareness

and initiating a dialogue that can lead to both short- and long-term

responses that enable Grand Rapids and West Michigan to leverage the

talents and capabilities of our new neighbors to build a better future

for us all.

The term immigrant refers to a person who leaves one country to

settle permanently in another. Refugees, as defined by the United

Nations, are people who flee their country because of a well-founded

fear of persecution.

In the main body of the report, sources of information are listed

in parentheses in the text. Additional details about sources are included

in the alphabetical listing in Sources Consulted, page 44. In the

Appendix, sources are indicated at the end of each individual document.