Pre-Evaluation

Target population

The target population for the program is newly arrived immigrants who cannot speak English, have limited resources, and may possibly have legal problems with their immigration status. According to Sauber & Vetter (2013), new immigrants to the US as well as refugees have to contend with a way of life that is predominantly abound with hurdles. The target population which is in this case the focus groups faces these hurdles as a result of social factors such as:

• The kind of education that is available for such new immigrants and more so, the quality of such education towards enabling them and their families communicate in good comprehensible English (Sauber & Vetter, 2013).
• Economic hardships resulting from the inability to secure productive employment to mostly undocumented persons resulting in a situation where they lack all the basic necessities such as food, shelter and clothing (Houseman, 2012).
• The high degree of emotional and social isolation common among immigrant communities which limits their ability to access available social services and results in increases in psychological ailments such as stress and anxiety (Sauber & Vetter, 2013).
• The common issues of discrimination as well as prejudice which mainly result from cultural differences and serve to further limit their ability to seek and register for available social services (Houseman, 2012).

The Center thus caters for a target population that is disadvantaged in many different fronts. Social and psychological problems are not the only challenges that new immigrants have. Legal and political influences are also challenges that lead to situations which in essence tend to multiply social and psychological challenges. For instance, new immigrants are considered as a threat to national security and the predominant American way of life (Sauber & Vetter, 2013). To adequately address these challenges, there is the need for the Center to work towards establishing potent protocols and strategies aimed at pro-actively reaching out to the new immigrants as their target populations.

Program logic model:

1. Inputs

The US has an extensive and formative background history with regard to immigration. As such, it has grappled with the issue of new immigrants in the past few years especially as a result of the potent menace that is terrorism. The US government and other stakeholders have sought to resettle, settle, adjust, enable adaptation and integrate new immigrants to the contemporary American society (Williams, Gavin, Carter & Glass, 2015). In its part, the Center has to work towards establishing programs that are centered towards the needs of new immigrants. The demographic characteristics of the Center’s target populations are poor housing, need of food and social interaction (Iacovou, Pattieson, Truby & Palermo, 2013). This social welfare oriented institution is well placed to reach out to the focus group and accord them the much desired services that are education oriented. This is because the services currently offered work well to attract the attention of the targeted populations.

1. Outputs (program activities, who is reached) and their measures

New immigrants seek the opportunity to be well settled in a new country so as to effectively institute the needed adjustments to new life in a new society. Many require finding basic accommodation amenities, learning the English language, finding secure employment and more so, becoming positively integrated into the new society (Iacovou, Pattieson, Truby & Palermo, 2013). This implies that the Center has to draw up programs that cater for the short term settlement needs of the target population as well as the long term integration needs. The medium term centered goals should primarily focus on mutual adaptation programs to enable the settled new immigrants adapt to the lifestyles of their host society (Williams, Gavin, Carter & Glass, 2015).

• Outcomes/impacts and their measures in the short-term, medium term, and long-term

The Center is indeed in a position to play an active role in enabling the target populations successfully realize short, medium and long term objectives of being integrated into the host society (Valtonen, 2012). As such, the Center is in a position to measure the outcomes of each stage of the new immigrants’ processes of being fully integrated into the US society. It can effectively measure the outcomes of its short term, medium and long term programs to this end. This can be very critical towards also enabling the Center to improve its programs aimed at fully integrating new immigrants relative to the prevalent political, economic, legal and cultural spheres.

Elaborate on contents of the Program Logic Model

Information in the chart sourced from Valtonen, 2012.

Recommendations

There are a good number of immigrants who have been assisted by the Center to attain full integration into the US society. As such, the Center is under increasing pressure from such immigrants to work towards improving the short, medium and long term goal oriented programs to be more immigrant centered, integrated and of a high degree of professional integrity. As much as offering food aid, social and psychological assistance to the new immigrants is seen as the Center’s main objectives by its top administrators, there is the need to consider the views of previous immigrants. In essence, the earlier immigrants who have passed through the Center’s programs can enable it to draw up better strategies towards improving the integration process of new immigrants.

References

Houseman, A. (2012). Effects and Implications of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 on Social Service Organizations. Sociology (major).

Iacovou, M., Pattieson, D. C., Truby, H., & Palermo, C. (2013). Social health and nutrition impacts of community kitchens: a systematic review. Public health nutrition, 16(03), 535-543.

Sauber, S. R., & Vetter, S. R. S. H. J. (2013). The Human services delivery system: Mental health, criminal justice, social welfare, education, health services. New York City: NY, Columbia University Press.

Valtonen, M. K. (2012). Social work and migration: Immigrant and refugee settlement and integration. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Williams, J. R., Gavin, L. E., Carter, M. W., & Glass, E. (2015). Client and provider perspectives on quality of care: a systematic review. American journal of preventive medicine, 49(2), S93-S106.