Colorado's foreign-born population has increased significantly since 1990. These immigrants from all over the world, including Mexico and several African nations, have diversified Colorado's metropolitan and rural regions and contributed to the state's service and agriculture industries. And, as in most communities across our nation, these newcomers are often left to fend for themselves as they try and integrate into their new community, from finding healthcare to navigating needed systems (e.g., legal, social services). At the same time, established residents may have concerns about connecting with their new neighbors.

Beginning in 2004, The Colorado Trust initiated the Supporting Immigrants and Refugee Families Initiative (SIRFI) Immigrant Integration Phase, in which ten Colorado communities, and subsequently nine more, received five-year funding to facilitate a two-way process in which both newcomers and receiving community members adapt to each other and work together to create healthy communities. The 19 grantees formed community collaboratives to engage in inclusive community planning and implementation.

Community Science, with a team led by Kien Lee, was engaged to design and conduct an evaluation of the Immigrant Integration Phase of the initiative. The evaluation process has taught all the initiative's stakeholders many lessons, from assessing what it takes for the evaluation team to work closely with the technical assistance providers to help the grantees understand and value the role of evaluation to the factors and conditions required to implement immigrant integration projects in different types of communities.

To access a report that describes the lessons learned to date, click here. A final evaluation report on the first ten communities will be released in 2010.