CHAPTER XIX

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION TO WASHINGTON

There exists in Washington, D.C. a large and growing population which recently has come to the city from parts of the world that have been upset by war and economic dislocation. Unlike the international elites who are affiliated with the embassies and institutions like the World Bank, the international migration of many of these newcomers largely has been motivated by acute "push factors." Although not always the only motivating factors, the threat of violence and the desperate economic circumstances which often are associated with it have influenced the decisions of many to leave behind family members, friends and the lives they had known in their native countries. These migrants have been forced to create for themselves a new life in an unfamiliar society. By far, the largest number have come from El Salvador in search of a safe haven--virtually in the shadow of the White House.

Felipe: My father was a farmer. He used to work about seven

When Felipe left Mexico City, he went to Houston, but soon found that he was unable to find a way to support himself there, either. The only alternative he could think of was to move on to Washington where a family friend, a former priest, was living. When he arrived in the city, the friend put Felipe in contact with others who gave him shelter.

[Not being able to find a way to live] was a shock. I left Houston because there was no work. Then I came up here to Washington and I met this guy. He said, `I am living in a very cozy apartment with one kid and my wife but I know these people who are trying to help Salvadorans, Central Americans, anybody who is coming from a country that is in conflict. . . .' They wanted to take people who left because of the war situation, but not people who came here just because they wanted to make money. Well, I wasn't working back [in El Salvador and] I didn't come here to look for work either. But I did have to find a way to live. . . .

When I first got to Washington I really needed help. The people that I stayed with took me as a refugee. The situation was that I could stay with them for two months after I got a job, but then I had to move to my own apartment. . . . I found a job the third day after I got here, but with my income, there was no way I could support myself in an apartment. So I needed more time before I could find my own place. I asked them if they knew of someone who could help. They said, `yes.' They told me about this Christian house. They wanted me to become a member of it.¹ . . .

They said to me, `We noticed that you are very helpful to these other people here.' Some of them are really down when they come from El Salvador. One of the problems that they have is with drinking. So I tried to . . . find out why they were drinking. I got very involved with their lives trying to help them out. [The members of the house] told me that that is what they did--try to help people out. So they asked me, `Why don't you stay with us?' That's how I got involved with the house. Once I became a member, I kept my job, paid my rent, my food and everything.

Felipe continued to live there for the next two years and he enrolled in high school at the Multicultural Career Intern Program (MCIP). Although he dropped out of MCIP, he later earned a high school equivalency certificate (GED). He also completed a training program in electronics repair at a public vocational school. Although he was an illegal alien when he arrived in Washington in 1981, like most participants in this study, he later became a permanent resident of the United States. In 1988, Felipe was married, the father of three children, and earning a good income from his job in a company that repairs broadcast-quality video equipment for professional production companies. He was contemplating going into business for himself.

My country is very poor and it is very difficult to make a career. But here, there are many opportunities to achieve something for the future, or survive.

A thesis of this study is that the degree of success that study participants experienced in their adaptation was related to their capacity to reconstruct a coherent image of themselves in their new society. Their school and local community organizations reconstructed for these displaced youths a stable social network within which they learned that they could participate in a sustainable pattern of healthy, productive and rewarding social interaction in their new society.

For the purposes of this discussion, three alternative patterns of participation for economically poor immigrants (and many impoverished members of indigenous minorities) may be described: co-equal participation, margination and conflict. In the case of co-equal participation, society's educational, social and economic institutions are structured so as effectively to recruit persons from all segments of society, regardless of their ethnic or cultural identities. Criteria for participation in the core economic and social institutions of a society would not favor, officially or unofficially, one racial or ethnic group over another. In the case of co-equal participation, newcomers and indigenous minorities are likely to conclude that it is in their interest to acquire the knowledge and skills that would allow them to take advantage of the opportunities that exist beyond the boundaries of their own group. In turn, persons of the majority culture would not require them to negate their ethnic identities nor mask distinctive forms of ethnic cultural expression in order to become full participants in the institutions of the society, at large.

As was the case with Felipe, whose story was previously presented, most newcomers to Washington have been relatively successful in finding employment in low paying service and manual jobs. Most of these jobs pay low wages and offer little prospect for upward mobility.^16-17 It is unlikely that young Latinos growing up in the city would find such jobs attractive as their frame of reference shifts from their country of origin to life in the United States. Unless they get a good education, better jobs will not be available.

When first contacted in 1982, 85% of the 181 original Latino study participants had been in the city less than two years. Seventy-three percent came from Central America, with Salvadorans comprising 77% of the Central Americans and 54% of the study population. The only country outside of Central America represented in the study population by more than four persons was the Dominican Republic. The remaining 17% of the population came from 14 other Latin American countries. Ninety-one percent of respondents indicated that they hoped someday to return to live in their country of origin. By 1988, however, only 7% had done so.

COUNTRY N %

EL SALVADOR 98 54%

GUATEMALA 18 10%

NICARAGUA 8 4%

HONDURAS 3 2%

PANAMA 4 3%

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 19 10%

OTHER 31 17%

-- ----

181 100%

As previously indicated, Latino study participants generally were of low socioeconomic status. Fifty-one percent of the students reported that neither of their parents had completed as much as 12 years of schooling. Twenty-four percent indicated that at least one of their parents had completed high school. One fourth indicated that a parent had obtained some post-secondary education. Although most informants came from modest backgrounds in the countries of origin, the parents of some were professionals or business persons. For such persons, emigration usually led to a drastic decline in occupational status. Of students who stated the occupation of their fathers when they still lived in their countries, 25% indicated that their fathers were involved in agriculture, mostly as peasant farmers. Sixty-five percent of study participants responded to this question about paternal employment prior to migration.

Only 31% of the students responded to the question regarding their father's employment in Washington. Of the 57 persons who did respond, most indicated that their fathers worked in construction (13), as busboys (6), chefs (7), or in housekeeping and building maintenance (7). None were involved in business, and only eight worked either as professionals or para-professionals. It was learned through interviews that most of the persons who did not respond to questions about parental employment did so because the parent did not live with his or her child.

Occupation Homeland Washington

Agriculture 29 25% 0 0%

Non-Agricultural

Labor 33 28% 39 68%

Service 15 13% 10 18%

Professional 24 20% 8 14%

Business 17 4% 0 0%

---------- --------

118 100% 57 100%

Most of the mothers who were involved in business in their countries were small scale retail merchants who sold food or other goods from "puestos" or stands in the local markets. The large number of youths who indicated that their mothers were housewives in their native countries contrasts sharply with the occupational status of the mothers in Washington. Nearly half of the 98 mothers whose occupations were reported were employed as domestic workers in Washington. Many also were employed

Occupation Homeland Washington

Agriculture 9 7% 0 0%

Non-Agricultural

Labor 22 16% 79 81%

Service 19 14% 9 9%

Professional 18 13% 4 4%

Business 13 10% 0 0%

Housewife 54 40% 6 6%

---------- ---------

135 100% 98 100%

as domestic workers in Washington. Many also were employed cleaning office buildings and hotels. Seventy-five percent responded to questions regarding their mother's employment in their countries of origin compared to only 54% in Washington.

Washington, of course, is not the only city in the United States that experienced a wave of migration from Central America and other parts of the world in the 1980s. Nor is MCIP necessarily unique in regards to the formidable challenges facing its students. What is of interest here is how this school established functional linkages between the newcomers and potential sources of employment through career oriented instruction and internships. In addition, the school facilitated the development of a multicultural ethic and multicultural community. Programmatically, three factors gave MCIP its unique character:

(1) MCIP made a deliberate attempt through the curriculum and extra-curricular activities to create a multicultural community, thereby engendering tolerance and respect for the diverse linguistic and cultural traditions of the students and others.

(2) The school maintained a nurturing atmosphere through its counselling program and the empathetic involvement of its multicultural staff in addressing both academic and non-academic needs.

(3) MCIP emphasized career training and experiential learning through internships.

MCIP placed a heavy emphasis upon guidance services and benefitted from a highly motivated staff of teachers and counselors. As the students attempted to adapt to a strange environment, language and culture as well as to the demands of school and the exigencies of securing the most basic material necessities, teachers and counselors provided psychological, academic and practical assistance. Even students who expressed some dissatisfaction with the school usually mentioned at least one teacher or counselor who helped them or their family find housing or a job, or who otherwise got involved in helping the student in a way which was perceived as extraordinary. The nurturing atmosphere of the school was due, in part, to the fact that the teachers and counselors were bilingual and bicultural, many having come from the same countries as the students.

Jaime: He left rural El Salvador in 1981 at the age of 17, where he had been living with his mother and a younger sister in a town in the southwestern part of the country. His mother was employed by the government as a public health nurse. Because of frequent combat in the area where they lived, Jaime's mother pleaded with him to leave the country. She suggested that he could stay with his cousins who were living in Washington, D.C. Although reluctant to leave, Jaime followed his mother's advice and began the journey north. Travelling alone, he crossed Guatemala, Mexico and 2,000 miles of the United States. In Washington, Jaime stayed for a short while with his cousins, whom he had never met before, and then moved in with some other youths from El Salvador.

Jaime soon found his first job in Washington as a dishwasher at a downtown restaurant. He was paid $1.20 per hour for a 50 hour week. After a year of work, he told his boss that he wanted to go to school, and would like to work fewer hours. According to Jaime, his boss told him, "Fine, but find somebody else to work your day shift. Instead of $60 a week, we will only pay you half." Jaime went on to explain:

I agreed. I found someone to take my day shift and they started to pay me $30 for the 35 hours a week that I worked at night. Then they said that they needed someone to work both days and nights, so they laid me off.

Before he lost his job, Jaime was earning less than a dollar an hour. After a very difficult month in which his roommates bought him food and paid his portion of the rent, he found another job, this time as a busboy, and settled into a routine similar to that followed by many other students at his school. Monday through Friday, he attended classes from nine o'clock in the morning until three o'clock in the afternoon and then went to work from four until eleven o'clock at night. He also worked weekends.

Having worked during his first year in Washington under blatantly exploitative conditions before being laid off, having no close family in the area, (he did not get along with his cousins), and then beginning a grueling routine of school and work that left practically no time for relaxation, it is not surprising that Jaime began having difficulties. Below, he describes some of his problems and the role a school counselor played in helping him make the adjustments that were necessary for him to live in an urban environment in the United States.

Miriam Figueroa is now my friend but she used to be my counselor. She was helpful not only in motivating me and telling me how hard things are, but also that you really have to struggle in order to make it. She helped me a lot when I really got screwed up. I would get on a bus and wonder what all those other people were thinking about me. Like, `that is just an indian sitting there--a stupid guy.' Certain prejudices people have, it's true, but I was getting sick because of the things I was seeing . . . things I never saw in my country. We have racial problems [in El Salvador] but not as bad as here. I was seeing things from a racial point of view, but not from other points of view. I used to talk to Miriam about it and she used to understand. She helped me realize that I'm not the only one here in this situation. That's all I thought of after a while. There are so many other people who may feel like me, Latinos as well as many other nationalities. Now I don't think about it at all. I still notice things, but I just don't think about it. . . .

At one point, I just felt like giving up--that was when my mother was in big trouble. You know the situation in El Salvador. . . . She was riding a bus from one town to another. That bus got massacred. Twenty-five people got killed and about ten people were hurt, wounded. My mother, of all the people, came out OK, with no wounds. My mother said, `I just prayed to God.' She is not religious, but that's what she did. That's what she thought helped, and that's what I think sometimes, too. See, my mother is big. She is not a person who can move, go on the floor and move this way and that way. She escaped unharmed just by luck. I heard the news and I felt bad, but I said to myself, `thanks God, it is over.'

But it wasn't over. After that she got moved to another clinic near the border with Honduras. [In her work as a nurse] she had to move back and forth through the mountains to another town--and I heard that the guerrillas wanted to kidnap her. They wanted her to help treat the wounded, the sick in their camps. Well, for a long time I kept hearing that everything was fine--but I was worried. Finally, in 1984, she got kidnapped. They took her to some town. She didn't know where she was because they put a bandage over her eyes. . . . I started thinking about her and my little sister. She was only eight. I got sick, I got sick really bad. Not sick physically, but psychologically, because I didn't know what to do. But I always say that one has to be realistic. I knew they wouldn't kill her. I knew they wanted to have her [nursing] services.

I talked with Miriam, my counselor. But then I began thinking, `After all, we all die one day or the other.' I felt bad and I cried, and I was mostly worried for my sister. That weekend, two days after I heard the news, I decided to go dancing. Sounds crazy, but I decided to go to a discotheque and dance. I knew my mother was disappeared, but I knew that if I stayed at home, I would get sicker and more depressed. So I went dancing, and I was dancing when my cousin came into the discotheque and told me that my mother was back home. I was criticized a lot for going dancing while my mother was gone. But that was what I felt like doing and that was the only way that I knew I could cope with this.

Jaime graduated from high school in 1985 at the age of 21. He had been a good student. He had participated in internships in health care settings which the school arranged for him. Working with the Red Cross and other organizations, he helped to provide services such as first aid training to the Latino community. Since graduating, he continued to support himself by working as a busboy. He also worked, sometimes as a volunteer and sometimes for pay, in several health and social service programs. Jaime hoped to continue to work in the Latino community and one day to get involved in politics. In 1988, he was enrolled at a local college and was making good progress toward his goal of entering the same profession as his mother: nursing.

Edgar Garza: MCIP was not the only institutional resource

available to these refugee youths while they were in high school. Churches and other community based organizations also were important sources of institutional support for many persons in this study. Below, Edgar Garza describes some of the problems that he and other young Latinos faced growing up in Washington, and how his mother, his school, and a church-sponsored youth group enabled him to avoid becoming trapped in a pattern of self destructive behavior. Although he admits making "mistakes," Edgar was one of the most successful study participants in terms of education and employment.

-- Bilingual and Vocational Training (BVT); English as a Second Language Instruction combined with computer training;

-- Training and Employment Program (TREP); data processing and clerical training;

-- On the Job Training (OJT);

-- Stay in School (SIS);

-- Work Experience Program (WEX);

-- Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP).

Fifty-nine of the 112 persons interviewed in 1988 participated in some type of job training program in addition to the career counselling seminar and the hands-on internships while enrolled at MCIP. The programs involved classroom instruction (e.g in word processing), paid internships at work sites, or both. The effectiveness of the career development program is indicated by the fact that 58% of the youths who received some form of job training from MCIP were employed in positions related to that training in 1988. Nearly half worked as secretaries. Nine of the eleven persons who participated in health related career development activities while in high school were working in medical, dental or nursing settings in 1988. The success of MCIP's career development program must be partly attributed to the strong economy of Washington and a good system of public transportation which provided access to jobs. Nonetheless, the vocational training and internships provided by the school effectively addressed the pressing need of most MCIP students to rapidly develop the skills necessary to earn a living.

Rosalba: The story of Rosalba illustrates the importance of the school's career development program for the long term adaptation of the youths in this study. Shortly after coming to Washington with her family from a rural village in El Salvador in 1981 Rosalba, enrolled in MCIP. While she attended MCIP, she lived in a small apartment with both of her parents and five brothers and sisters. Rosalba's father found work in a restaurant as an "ensaladero" (salad maker) and her mother as a cook. Rosalba was shy in high school and was reluctant to speak English for fear of making a mistake. In 1988, she explained how she twice flunked the Career Counseling Seminar, the MCIP course which she considers to have been most valuable to her, because she would not speak English in class. At the age of 18, while still a student, she became pregnant and soon decided to marry the father of her baby. She had known the father since the days they were in elementary school together in El Salvador. After she married, her husband and others in her family urged her to drop out of MCIP. Although shy, Rosalba was very ambitious and strong willed. Her hope of going to college and eventually becoming a criminal lawyer seemed to be fading away. Ms. Davis, her counselor at MCIP, was the only person she felt that she could confide in. Ms. Davis urged her to stay in school and not to give up hope. Rosalba graduated from MCIP in 1983, although she was very close to dropping out. A few months later, her baby was born.

Shortly after the baby was born, it became clear to her that her marriage was not working out. In the face of her family's disapproval, she and her husband separated and eventually divorced, leaving Rosalba with the responsibility of supporting herself and her child. Not surprisingly, Rosalba became quite dejected.

At that point I was really down, and I thought that I would never move on and get ahead. But when I saw my child, I said, `Wait a minute. I have somebody to live for now.' He is my whole wide world, the reason for my living. It's my son that made me.

After the baby was born, Rosalba went to work cleaning commercial buildings, a dead-end job she kept for three years. She also worked as a cashier in a fast food restaurant. During that time she did not return to MCIP, but with the end of her marriage, and feeling trapped in low paying jobs, she returned in 1987 to talk again with Ms. Davis. Ms. Davis introduced her to the school's Work Experience Program (WEX). Although Rosalba would be paid only $3.50 an hour, $1.50 less than she was making cleaning buildings, she would receive six months of on-the-job training, and then be eligible to be hired as a regular employee. When she was a student at MCIP, Rosalba had learned word processing and participated in an office management training program coordinated by the school, although she never had worked as a secretary. The WEX program gave her that opportunity and Rosalba began to use the skills that she had learned while in high school.

At the end of her six months of WEX training, Rosalba was hired as a file clerk by the city government. During her first year on the job she demonstrated her capabilities, was promoted to secretary, and given a substantial raise. In addition to working full-time as a secretary, Rosalba also held two other part-time jobs in 1988. She worked in a second clerical position in the evenings, and as a cashier on weekends for a total of 75 hours a week. Rosalba's mother helped her with the care of her son. Although she was working more hours than she would like, she was proud of what she had accomplished. It made her happy that her grandfather, who also lived in Washington, told her that he was proud of her because she was the first one in the family to graduate from high school.

In 1988, Rosalba still hoped to become a lawyer and had regained her optimism that, one day, she would reach her goal.

After all that has happened to me, yes, I am optimistic. Sometimes I can't believe what I have done. I am really proud of myself because there are certain times when I thought that I would stop living. But, thank God, I moved on. I didn't stay there. When I want to do something I go for it--and I work for it.

In 1988, information was collected on education, employment, cultural identity and social organization in order to assess the long-term adaptation of study participants, who were now young adults. Basic data regarding post-secondary education and employment were gathered for 146 (81%) of the 181 persons from the previous study, and more detailed information was collected in interviews with 112 of the original study participants.

Despite the innovative design of MCIP and the support available from community-based organizations such as Edgar's church youth group, 39% of the 168 study participants whose graduation status was known had not earned a high school diploma or received the GED by 1988. Although every effort was made by the school to keep students enrolled until graduation, even students who did not graduate benefitted from counseling services, language instruction, social support and career development programs.

Half of the group (73 of 146) had completed a job training program, earned an associate degree, or finished at least one year of college. Women were significantly more likely to have progressed in some type of post-secondary educational program than men. This difference is primarily explained by the fact that nearly twice as many young women completed post-secondary job training programs than men. Eleven percent of study participants had made significant progress toward a Bachelors degree although no one had yet graduated from a four year baccalaureate program. Twelve of 112 persons interviewed were currently pursuing a college degree. Twenty persons had been enrolled in college for less than one year before discontinuing their studies.

Education Males Females Total

None 46 (61%) 27 (38%) 73 (50%)

Completed job

training program 16 (21%) 31 (44%) 47 (32%)

Associate degree (A.D.) 2 (3%) 5 (7%) 7

(5%)

A.D. plus at least one

year of college 2 (3%) 1 (1%) 3 (2%)

One or more yrs. college 9 (12%) 7 (10%) 16 (11%)

-------- -------- -----

75 (100%) 71 (100%) 146 (100%)

By 1988, ten persons had earned Associate Degrees, including three who were continuing their university studies. Most were in health related disciplines such as dentistry, nursing, and respiratory therapy. All but one were first introduced to these fields through internships arranged by MCIP.

The most frequently utilized type of post-secondary education was the job training program. Apart from their high school career development programs, 63 persons enrolled in job training programs offered by public schools and colleges, community organizations, private trade schools, corporate employers and the military. Seventy-five percent of enrollees received certificates of completion. Women were more likely to utilize these programs than men, probably because the better paying jobs that do not require educational credentials (e.g. construction, restaurant waiter) generally were not available to women. Jobs that are

Employment N % *

Clerical 22 16% Full-Time: 125

Waiter/Waitress 10 7% Part-Time: 10

Construction 10 7%

Management 9 7%

Domestic Labor 9 7%

Cleaning 6 4%

Retail Sales 6 4%

Kitchen Help 5 4%

Painting 5 4%

Dental Assistant 5 4%

Chef 4 3%

Skilled Worker (misc.) 4 3%

Medical Assistant 3 2%

Designer 3 2%

Unskilled Labor (misc) 2 1%

Hotel Bellman 2 1%

Bank Professional 2 1%

Bank Teller 2 1%

Community Worker 3 1%

Computer Operations 2 1%

Electronics Technician 2 1%

Housewife 2 1%

Mechanic 2 1%

Nursing Assistant 2 1%

Paralegal 2 1%

Respiratory Therapist 2 1%

Teacher's Aide 2 1%

Beautician 1 1%

Radio Announcer 1 %

Courier 1 %

Real Estate 1 1%

Parking Lot Attendant 1 1%

Type Setter 1 1%

----------

135 100%

* Percent total does not equal 100% due to rounding.

available to women (e.g., secretary, health care worker) all require post-secondary schooling. By far, the largest number of job training programs (27) were in office management and secretarial skills. All 27 participants in these programs were women.

Despite extensive involvement in job training programs, many study participants expressed disappointment about their unfulfilled dreams of college. When informants were asked in 1988 if they had experienced any major disappointments since leaving high school, by far, the most frequently mentioned response (58% of the 66 people who expressed an opinion) related to the inability to continue with their schooling. In contrast, the next most frequently cited disappointments were: marital problems (10); problems with immigration status (10); death in the family (9); finding a "good job" (6); illness or injury (6); and economic difficulties (3).

Although almost all of the high school graduates interviewed had wanted to go to college, two obstacles repeatedly prevented them from enrolling.

1. When they graduated from high school and were ready to enroll in college, many had not yet become legal residents of the United States. Some informants explained that they were afraid that they might be deported if they tried to take college courses. Others said that, without residency papers, they would not be able to afford higher out-of-state tuition.

2. The need to work was a problem in at least two ways. Regardless of immigration status, most people had to work to support themselves and other members of their families. It was difficult to find either the time or the money to take classes. Secondly, as many persons worked long hours--even full-time jobs--while attending MCIP and after graduating, they did not have sufficient time or energy to excel in their studies.

Finding employment seldom was a problem for participants in this study. By 1988, most informants had advanced well beyond the entry level jobs that they held when they first arrived. Although economic problems were seldom mentioned by study participants as a having been a major problem since leaving high school, finding a "good job" was more frequently mentioned. A "good job" was not defined solely by the wages paid. They wanted jobs where they would be respected also for their knowledge and expertise, not just for how hard they worked. Restaurant and construction work generally was not hard to find for male study participants. Neither required a high school degree or job skills to enter, yet both offered the possibility of career mobility. Women without education or job training were limited mainly to employment in such positions as in commercial housekeeping, cafeteria food server, fast food worker, or domestic labor. These jobs paid poorly, were considered the least desirable, and offered little possibility of upward mobility. Most of the women working in such positions were high school drop-outs, had problems with their immigration status, or both. Vocational training, particularly in clerical and health related fields, was crucial to the economic security of female study participants. For both men and women, job skills were required for employment security. Those who lacked them could rely only upon their hard work and maintaining a compliant attitude as means of pleasing their bosses.

In 1988, 42% of study participants were currently married. Eighty-one percent married other Latinos, although less than half married persons of the same nationality. Thirty-six percent of women (13/36) who were not currently married were mothers responsible for the care of at least one child. Nine of the single mothers had never been married and four were divorced. Only 43% of women with children (both married and single) had graduated from high school, as compared to 80% of childless women. Seventy percent of childless women had completed some type of post-secondary education, as compared to only 44% of the mothers.

One hundred and forty-six of the original 181 study participants (81%) were still living in metropolitan Washington. Of these, 49% still lived in the District of Columbia where they lived in 1982, with the remainder in the Maryland or Virginia suburbs. Only 41% of the graduates lived in the central city compared to 60% of non-graduates. Sixty-two percent of informants stated that virtually all of their friends were Latinos, although high school graduates were more likely than drop-outs to have friends of different ethnic backgrounds. Forty-six percent of the graduates stated that they had friends who were not Latino compared to only 21% of drop-outs.

The majority of interviewees (63%) belonged to no formal organizations of any kind, whether a church, athletic team, community organization, or other group. There was no significant difference in organization membership between interviewees who were high school graduates and non-graduates. By far, the most common type of formal organization to which informants belonged were churches. Twenty-nine percent of interviewees reported belonging to a church, slightly more than half of which were Catholic. Most who reported belonging to a Protestant church stated that they had become affiliated with that denomination after arriving in Washington. Nearly all the Protestant and Catholic congregations to which interviewees belonged were predominantly Spanish-speaking. Women reported belonging to a church only slightly more often than men. Several informants (e.g. Edgar) described how membership in a church or church sponsored organization was an important source of social support for them during critical periods during their adjustment to life in the United States.

By 1988, most informants had become permanent residents of the United States or were applying for residency through the amnesty provision of the 1985 immigration law. Permanent residency was perceived as opening the door to better jobs, more security, and protection from exploitation. After years of working harder than others in order to survive, most study participants were looking forward to taking the next step toward occupational mobility and economic security.

However, for a small number of informants who could not qualify for legal residency, finish high school or learn a job skill, however, "making it" in Washington was beginning to appear increasingly unrealistic. As the frame of reference by which informants evaluated their circumstances shifted from their native countries to the affluence they saw around them in Washington, the strategy of hard work, accommodation, and deferred gratification for a better future seemed more and more absurd. This is illustrated by the story of Luis.

Luis had dropped out of MCIP in 1984 because, in his view, he had gotten involved with "friends who were not really my friends." During his days at MCIP, Luis had no relatives living in the area, and had been solely responsible for supporting himself. When interviewed in 1988, he stated his belief that having done poorly in school had undermined his self-confidence. One positive experience that he recalled at MCIP was an internship at an auto parts store where he was responsible for filling customer orders. That work made him feel that he could do something well; it gave him a sense of competence. Unfortunately, his internship ended when he dropped out of MCIP, and since that time had been working as a house painter. As for the future, Luis was not very optimistic.

I hope to survive. One of my biggest problems is not having confidence in myself. To make it in this country, you have to have a good education. You need a good job, and you need to have somebody there for you to help you when you need it. A lot of us Latinos have problems with the same things: money and [immigration] papers. Maybe with the new law (1986 immigration law) the problem with the papers will be taken care of. But for people who came after me (after 1981, the cutoff date for the amnesty provision of the law)--they are going to be living at the same time in this country and in another. That is something that can really screw you up. It can totally confuse you. Education is the only way that you can be somebody here.

Youths like Luis who lack education will continue to rely primarily upon their hard work, a "good attitude," and skills they learn on the job if they are to have any hope of advancing further in their careers. For those who cannot qualify for legal residency, even these attributes may ultimately be of little value.

Informants were asked about challenges facing Latino young adults as they made the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Of the 84 responses to this question, the most frequently mentioned was drug and alcohol abuse. There was a sense that substance abuse was becoming an increasingly serious problem for Washington Latinos, although several noted that this problem was not unique to them. Other frequently mentioned challenges were: getting an education, finding a "good job," setting goals and then working steadily to achieve them, overcoming loneliness, immigration problems, and discrimination against foreigners.

Many of these challenges described by study participants were summarized well by Vicente. As an exceptionally articulate and informed observer of youths on the streets, Vicente had these comments about the attraction of the drug scene:

Every teenager has to go through that (drugs), and it will be up to every teenager to cope with those things. There are guys who get stuck on that and there are guys who go through it. For society, it's bad. It's the worst. But at the time you live through that, it's not bad. I mean, it's fun! Everything is Party! Party! Party! Party, all the time. But you have to realize that you cannot live like that. If that were life, the whole world would be screwed up. But when the world is screwed up for you already anyway, it looks pretty good.

Regarding education and the need to set goals, Vicente stated:

The challenge is to understand that in the United States, you can afford to live and have whatever you want, but with lousy jobs. What people don't understand is that there will come a time when they will need to get more education. There will be a more difficult time when they won't be able to afford a family. It is so easy to achieve better in this country, but people just don't realize that. They are satisfied with less because they are still having their memories of the past--what they couldn't have. Believe me, not everybody in my country (El Salvador) has a color TV. They come over here and don't even finish high school. Especially if they can speak English, they can get a job--maybe a mediocre job--but they get it. They can live by themselves and afford things. They don't realize that in the future they will be needing more. If they don't get an education, they at least need to learn a skill. But there are a lot of people who are satisfied with doing busboy or other lousy jobs.

The concept of "mediating structure"²³ is useful in describing those institutions that lie at the juncture between the private domain of individuals interacting in small, informal groups, and the public domain of the bureaucratically structured institutions of the state. In modern societies, personal and group identities are formed primarily within the private domain of family, friends, and the immediate community.²⁴ If this is so, then a question that must be addressed is: How is commitment to the norms and values of the public domain established and maintained? Besides the threat of force, what prevents dysfunctional behavior in the public domain, particularly in heterogeneous, multicultural societies? What prevents the emergence of massive alienation, margination and intergroup conflict?

A key factor in addressing this problem is the existence of small-scale institutions that are geographically and culturally accessible to local communities. In order to function as mediating structures, these institutions must provide a context for social interaction based on values to which individuals and small groups are committed, and which are congruent with responsible citizenship in the wider society. Examples of the types of institutions that can function as mediating structures (though they do not necessarily do so) are: neighborhood and civic associations, churches, schools, artistic organizations and self-help groups. Social conflict, margination, and random deviant behavior are most likely to occur in societies where mediating structures are absent or ineffective.

The importance of ethnic based and other voluntary organizations for the integration of migrants into their new environments has been well documented.²⁵ Such organizations meet a variety of needs, including social and emotional support, material assistance, and the promotion of political interests. Settlement houses of the early Twentieth Century, such as Chicago's Hull House,²⁶ although not a voluntary organization per se, engaged migrants in mutual assistance and advocacy projects. They effectively linked the needs and aspirations of ethnically diverse newcomers with available resources, and thereby facilitated their functional integration into society. They did not promote cultural assimilation, however, unless this was not an objective of the immigrants themselves.

Like the settlement houses of a previous era, MCIP facilitated the functional integration of international migrants into the economic and social institutions of the public domain. It prepared Latino and other immigrant youths to participate in the social, economic and political institutions of the city without demanding rigid conformity to the majority culture. Through the coordination of internships in businesses throughout the city, it also functioned to reduce any suspicion and mistrust that may have existed among long-time residents of Washington about the newcomers in their midst. In short, the school reinforced the foundations of a truly multicultural society based on co-equal participation. In doing so, it also lessened the probability of both margination and interethnic conflict.

1. The house was part of the Sanctuary Movement, a nationwide effort by a network of churches to assist refugees.

18. American Council on Education, Minorities in Higher Education (Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education, 1983).

20. Opportunities Industrialization Corporation of America (OICA). The Career Intern Program: A Serious Solution to Youth Unemployment, A Decade of Difference: 1972-1982 (Philadelphia: Opportunities Industrialization Corporation of America, 1972).