Study Identifies Need for Statewide Coordination and Changes to Support Upward Mobility Across Eight Issue Areas WASHINGTON, DC — Connecticut's nearly 600,000 immigrants have been responsible for all population and workforce growth in the state over the past decade and a half, according to a comprehensive new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report that examines opportunities to better support immigrant families' economic advancement. The study, All in for a Thriving Connecticut: Opportunities to Support Upward Mobility for the State's Immigrant Families, examines key state policies and service systems within eight areas of focus, drawing on interviews with dozens of key stakeholders in and out of government. Within each area, the report offers recommendations to improve policies, practices and funding structures. It also assesses opportunities to improve statewide coordination on immigrant integration efforts and offers a demographic profile of the state’s immigrants. "Most immigrants in Connecticut, as in the country overall, are successful and self-sufficient," the report states, noting that roughly two in five have at least a bachelor's degree, more than 60 percent reported speaking English very well and that this population works at higher rates than U.S.-born residents. However, the analysis reveals significant gaps in state policies and services that could better support integration and economic mobility of the state’s immigrants—who are 15 percent of its overall population—and that of its children, nearly one-third of whom are part of immigrant families. Amid dramatic federal policy changes and uncertain future funding, "finding ways to support the upward mobility of all Connecticut families, including immigrant families, will be critical to maintaining the vitality of the state's economic and civic life," the MPI analysts write. The report offers findings and recommendations in eight key areas: adult education and workforce development, housing, low-wage worker protections, health care, small business development, immigration legal services, K-12 education and early childhood services. Given the significant impacts of federal immigration policies on state and local economies and service systems, building state government capacity to analyze and address these is a key overarching recommendation of the report. The report suggests policymakers consider creating a state Office of New Americans, as more than 15 other states have done. Among the report’s other key findings and recommendations: Adult Education and Workforce Development: Connecticut provides significant state support for adult education, but programs face capacity challenges and lack sufficient teachers for English and civics courses. The workforce system lacks coordinated efforts to leverage immigrant workers' potential. Recommendations: Increase adult education capacity with career-focused English instruction and expand workforce system initiatives for individuals with English learning needs. Housing: Immigrant families face challenges finding affordable housing due to language barriers, discrimination and landlord exploitation. Recommendations: Scale up municipal housing code enforcement, expand tenant protections and legal support programs, and build nonprofit capacity for affordable housing development. Issues Affecting Low-Wage Workers: Immigrants are over-represented in Connecticut's low-wage workforce but often lack awareness of their rights under labor laws. State Department of Labor staffing cuts and rising case backlogs have created an environment that some charge invites underpayment or mistreatment of workers. Recommendations: Prioritize funding to expand Department of Labor inspections, increase education efforts about workplace rights for immigrant workers and enhance the state Attorney General’s role in prosecuting labor law violations. Health Care and Social Assistance: While Connecticut has expanded public health insurance access for some immigrant children and pregnant women, many families still face barriers to needed health care and difficulty navigating health systems. Recommendations: Increase interpretation services, leverage partnerships between health-care providers and institutions trusted by immigrant communities and, if funding permits, consider expanding state-funded public health insurance options. Small Business Development: Connecticut ranks low among states for ease of launching new businesses, and start-up funds and small business support programs appear less focused on the types of businesses immigrants tend to operate. Recommendations: Survey immigrant-led businesses on services helpful to their growth, ensure ethnic businesses and associations are included in economic development planning processes and public procurement notices, and make services for local entrepreneurs visible and accessible in multiple languages. Immigration Legal Services: Immigration legal service providers are struggling to address dramatically increased demand from newcomers with temporary statuses and those facing removal in the current high-enforcement environment. Representation is demonstrated to improve due process and boost system efficiency alike. Recommendations: Increase flexible funding, incentivize creative approaches to stretch existing funding, such as pro se clinics and workflow models that maximize non-lawyer staff contributions and strengthen working relationships between state agencies and legal providers. K-12 Education: English Learner (EL) children account for 10.5 percent of Connecticut’s K-12 students, with urban school districts enrolling larger shares. The report finds state capacities needed to scale effective instructional programs for EL students extremely weak, noting for example, that Connecticut has only about 25 dual language programs compared to Oregon's 140, despite similar EL and overall student populations. Recommendations: Legislators should convene a task force to identify capacities needed to bring effective instructional programs to scale and meet expectations set forth in its existing bilingual and EL programming laws, including the 2023 Bill of Rights for EL students and their parents. Early Childhood System Services: With 37 percent of Connecticut children ages 0-5 being Dual Language Learners (DLLs), the report emphasizes the need to improve the capacity of early childhood services to address these children's developmental needs, in particular as they are disproportionately likely to live in low-income households. Recommendations: Expand the state’s bilingual instruction mandate to also cover 4-year-olds in preschool programs, improve identification of DLLs across all early childhood settings including through Early Start CT, invest in educator training for effective DLL instruction and create multilingual parent education campaigns to support children's development when formal services are insufficient. Read the full report here: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/connecticut-families. | 
