Immigrant Political Incorporation through Grassroots Organizing

The 1996 federal welfare reform law left the decision about whether or not to allocate funds for immigrant health care to the individual states. In September 2004, the Massachusetts legislature approved significant cuts in immigrant health care. In response, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) and Health Care For All (HCFA), two civic groups, joined together to protest this action, and successfully restored benefits for thousands of state residents. Now, with support from the Foundation, Jeffrey Prottas will examine both the environmental and organizational conditions that made this coalition of mainstream and ethnic advocates, and of immigrants themselves, successful. They will examine the legislation that cut health benefits for immigrants and the make-up of the immigrant communities that mobilized in response. In addition, they will undertake a content analysis of local news media to examine the policy context in which immigrant organization took place and the influence the grassroots activity had on public perception of the political coalition. Prottas will also interview key actors, such as organizational staff and leadership in the organizations, immigrant participants, and public decision-makers. The goal here is to better understand which characteristics of the organizations involved explain their ability to influence the political process. The results of this study will be written up for publication in an academic journal.