Perceptions of Community Climate Among Latino Immigrants in Three Rural Communities in the Midwest
Abstract
The current study is part of a large-scale project that is examining the strategies that newcomers use to accumulate assets, minimize vulnerabilities, and to integrate into their communities. Using focus group data, this presentation will focus on the context of reception experienced by these newcomers in the communities where they settled. Participants were Latino adults (n = 50; 24 men, 26 women) who resided in one of three rural communities in different areas of the state. Focus groups interviews in Spanish were conducted with males and females separately in each community. The presentation will describe the following themes: perceptions of the community climate and experiences with racism. The appeal of the host community and the community reception will be described, and participants? experiences with overt and covert racism will be highlighted. Implication of the findings for interventions and improving the context of reception for newcomers will be discussed.
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