Developing, "Best Practices," For Coastal Communities Experiencing Immigration (Graduate Student Stipend) Grant uri icon

abstract

  • We propose to: 1) Compare three groups-new foreign-born immigrants, new U.S. citizen arrivals to coastal destinations, and native coastal North Carolinians-to one another regarding issues of importance to N.C. Sea Grant; 2) Investigate their perceptions of land- and water use; 3) Investigate the role of new immigrants in surface-water activity conflicts; 4) Investigate consumer demand for coastal recreational facilities among new immigrants and new arrivals; 5) Investigate the methods that different types and sizes of coastal communities have used to manage new immigration and create social environments that benefit both new immigrants and native North Carolinians; 6) Determine "best practices" that communities have found that address the needs of new immigrants while enhancing coastal social and cultural landscapes, particularly how different communities have educated and prepared new immigrants for coastal geologic, hydrologic, and ecological processes; 7) Develop two sets of educational materials: one to assist communities in adjusting to new immigration, based on the best practices we find, and another to educate immigrants in culturally appropriate language and styles about coastal natural disasters, ecological, geologic, and hydrologic processes. We will combine representative sampling techniques with network sampling in four coastal areas: 1) Wilmington and its surrounding counties; 2) Beaufort, Carteret, and Pamlico Counties; 3) Albemarle Sound region; and 4) the Outer Banks. Sampling in these regions will include communities with different rural/urban mixes and economic bases, and that experience different coastal geologic, hydrologic, and ecological processes (e.g. beach erosion vs. harmful algae blooms). We will conduce open-ended interviews among community members familiar with new immigrants regarding their communities' experiences with new foreign-born immigrants and new U.S. citizens, probing about problems that immigrants pose for health care, education, and land- and water use, as well as the ways communities have dealt with these problems. We will interview people in each of the three groups. From these interviews we will develop more structured interview protocols to administer to 75 individuals per region (N=300), eliciting information about particularly useful programs, problems they have experienced, plans for future employment and entrepreneurial activity, uses of land and water (including roles in surface water conflicts), and demand for coastal recreational facilities. Network and cultural consensus data will be collected from 60 individuals to assess perceptions of land- and water use, knowledge of natural disasters, hydrologic, ecological, and geologic processes that affect coastal environments, and the relationships among network characteristics, social capital, adaptation, and success.

date/time interval

  • February 2004 - December 2006