Immigrants rights advocates in Nebraska are using a tool developed by the American Immigration Council to measure how well migrants are fitting in to their communities, also determining whether they feel safe and valued.
The Belonging Barometer is being used as part of a summer-long effort designed to share information with people in communities around the state, amid increasing anti-immigrant sentiments across the Midwest.
Nebraska Appleseed's Senior Immigrant Welcoming Coordinator Christa Yoakum said the barometer is gathering real data, and that it helps communities address the issues that may be causing isolation and loneliness, in a place where immigrants may have spent their entire lives, but have never truly felt included.
"We all want to belong," said Yoakum. "We all need places that we feel we belong. But yet right now, all across the country, we know people are living in isolation. That is, really, a public health hazard."
In addition to measuring and addressing immigrant belonging, advocates this summer are also using arts and other cultural events to bring people together in Nebraska's rural areas.
Yoakum said immigrant advocates have used a similar tool in other parts of Nebraska, and found that feelings of isolation and loneliness aren't confined to immigrant-rich rural communities. They're prevalent in bigger cities, too.
"People in Lincoln, Nebraska, who because of when we saw everything falling out in Minneapolis, were so fearful to go to work, some of them quit working during that time," said Yoakum. "Others would go to work, but come home and not turn any lights on in their home, as to not call attention to themselves."
Research from the American Immigration Council found that people with more diverse friendships, typically across racial and cultural lines, had more and deeper friendships, and felt less overall loneliness or social division.