Migraciones internacionales 21.indd Is More Necessarily Better? Leadership and Organizational Development of Migrant Hometown Associations in Los Angeles, California Luis Escala Rabadán El Colegio de la Frontera Norte Gaspar Rivera-Salgado University of California, Los Angeles Rigoberto Rodríguez California State University, Long Beach Abstract Hometown associations (htas) in the United States are migrant, voluntary groups with a shared sense of belonging to a region in a diff erent country of origin. Th eir philanthropic activities across borders have increasingly attracted the attention of government agencies and social and political actors. Th ese actors have endeavored to form more htas and place greater demands on them to expand their civic en- gagement. Th is strategy, however, will not necessarily lead to that purpose, but in- stead will likely exacerbate a critical gap in the htas’ organizational capacity. Th is paper argues that a diff erent strategy is best suited to strengthen the organizational ability of htas, and proposes a framework to achieve this goal based on a capacity building pilot program for Latino htas from the Los Angeles region. Keywords: 1. hometown associations, 2. capacity-building, 3. Latin American migration, 4. collaborative research, 5. Los Angeles. ¿Realmente más es mejor? Liderazgo y desarrollo organizativo entre asociaciones de migrantes en Los Ángeles, California Resumen Las asociaciones de paisanos en Estados Unidos son grupos de migrantes volunta- rios basados en un sentimiento compartido de pertenencia a una región en un país de origen distinto. Sus actividades han llamado cada vez más la atención de instan- cias gubernamentales y de actores sociales y políticos. Estos actores han favorecido la formación de más de estos grupos, junto con una creciente demanda sobre ellos para que expandan sus compromisos cívicos. Sin embargo, esta estrategia no conduce necesariamente a ello, e incluso podría disminuir la capacidad organizativa de las asociaciones. A partir de un programa piloto basado en la formación de capacidades con asociaciones de migrantes latinos en Los Ángeles, aquí argumentamos que se requiere una estrategia distinta para que las htas amplíen su capacidad organizativa. Palabras clave: 1. asociaciones de migrantes, 2. formación de capacidades, 3. mi- gración latinoamericana, 4. investigación participante, 5. Los Ángeles. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 2011 Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 41Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 41 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. Introduction1 In recent years, scholars and wider audiences have become more aware of the existence of migrant-led hometown associations (htas) in the United States. Although these migrant groups are a worldwide phenomenon, most of the existing literature has fo- cused on htas in the United States formed by Latin American migrants. While Latin American migrants have increased across virtually all of the United States over the last decade, California continues to be their main point of destination. Indeed, Southern California alone has hundreds of htas formed by migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua. In contrast to other types of grassroots organizations, htas are voluntary groups based on a shared sense of identity and belong- ing that arises from strong social networks formed by migrants from the same hometown or region of origin. htas are typically driven by a philanthropic mission and most have little or no pri- vate foundation or government financial support. To achieve their goals, members raise funds among friends, family members, and fellow hometowners. Their donations support social and econom- ic development projects in their country of origin, and in some cases in their places of destination. Some groups have obtained matching contributions from their governments back home, and in several cases these joint efforts have become public policies 1Th e authors would like to acknowledge all the people who made this project a joy- ful endeavor including especially the participating Hometown Associations. Th is has truly been a collaborative process with a team of dedicated civic leaders, practitioners and academics. Among the people who played an important part in developing this project are: Daranee Petsod and Alison De Lucca, Los Angeles Immigrant Funders’ Collaborative; Don Miller and Grace Dyrness, Center for Religion and Civic Cul- ture, University of Southern California (usc); Marta Segura and Zenia Ruiz (then an undergraduate student at usc). We would also like to thank the people who fa- cilitated some of the trainings: Lindsay Daley and Juan Herrera, ucla Comput- ing without Borders; Lupe Solorio and Gloria Romero, Community Partners (Los Angeles); Rodolfo García Zamora, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas; Malcolm Carson, Legal Aid Foundation (Los Angeles); Estela Bensimón, usc School of Edu- cation; Antonieta Mercado, usc School of Communication. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers of Migraciones Internacionales for their insightful comments. [42] Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 42Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 42 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 43 from the latter to support their citizens abroad. Some htas focus on policy advocacy in both their home country and the United States.2 The enormous volunteer energy generated by these organiza- tions has given rise to a number of beliefs about the role of mi- grant-led groups and the development of their communities of origin. One of these is that an active “migrant civil society” can effectively address entrenched social and economic issues on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Another belief is that the abun- dance of hta-led philanthropic activities reflects a deep leadership and organizational capacity to mobilize large numbers of people. Perhaps for these reasons external social and political actors—like government agencies, foundations, elected officials, and political activists—have increasingly attempted to connect with htas, en- couraging them to play a greater role in civic, social, and political change. Unfortunately, these external social and political actors fail to understand that many of these grassroots organizations are already overloaded and that their leaders are overburdened with competing responsibilities from work, home, and volunteer com- mitments. For instance, many external social and political actors have been willing to fund and support hta activities without in- quiring about the internal leadership and organizational capacity of these migrant-led organizations. The increasing visibility of htas in the U.S. public sphere is probably the result of their long tradition of transnational phil- anthropic activities, not necessarily their increased organizational capacity to take on more cross-border political, social and eco- nomic projects. Instead of an abundance of leadership and orga- nizational capacity, we find a growing gap between the increased demands from external social and political actors to expand the htas’ engagement in their places of origin and/or destination, and the relatively low levels of leadership and organizational in- frastructure of typical htas. 2For a full discussion of the type of projects supported by Mexican htas see Oroz- co (2002), Alarcón (2002), Orozco and Welle (2005), and Rivera-Salgado and Escala Rabadán (2008). Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 43Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 43 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201144 Research on migrant htas has underscored the fact that despite their remarkable achievements, hta leaders often work in relative isolation and find it difficult to cultivate new leadership skills, strengthen their internal organizational systems, establish collab- orative networks to leverage resources or plan strategically for the association’s development (Zabin and Escala Rabadán, 1998; Es- cala Rabadán, Bada and Rivera-Salgado, 2006; Somerville, Du - rana and Terrazas, 2008). Analysis of migrant organizations has indicated that access to internal and external resources (that is, in academic terms, the amounts of social and human capital) is crucial to the functioning and further development of htas. Research also revealed that the inability to take full advantage of resources has become a fundamental problem for these groups and that hta leaders are quite burnt-out and often at the limit of their personal capacity to lead and coordinate the activities and achieve the stated goals of their organizations. The key implica- tion is that even if some of these htas were willing to receive ex- ternal resources, they would probably be unable to translate these resources into greater organizational capacity and effectiveness in achieving their goals. This paper contains three main sections. The first part pres- ents a brief account of the significance of htas as migrant groups and a critical assessment of some of the programs carried out by migrant-sending states that have sought to form more htas and place additional demands on them. The second part describes an action research project that sought to both understand and ad- dress the aforementioned leadership and organizational capacity issues faced by htas. Rather than study the htas’ organizational predicament via traditional research approaches, we used a col- laborative action that took the form of a pilot program aimed at improving individual leadership skill sets, strengthening organi- zational capacities, and bolstering cross-organizational collabora- tion among htas from several Latin American countries in the Los Angeles region. Thus, instead of asking these leaders and or- ganizations to take on even more responsibilities, this program sought to provide support to help htas build and strengthen their Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 44Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 44 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 45 own internal capacity to share much-needed resources in order to improve their effectiveness as grassroots organizations involved in cross-border philanthropy. Finally, the last part presents an initial framework that can help guide efforts seeking to stengthen hta leadership and organizational capacity. Migrant Networks, Organizational Forms, and HTAs Early approaches to migration assumed that migrants had to in- exorably sever their ties with their homelands and follow a stan- dard assimilation path to their countries of destination. However, during the past two decades, many scholars have emphasized that international migration cannot be explained as a one-way process. Indeed, a salient feature of current migration influxes is the recur- rent movement back and forth of individuals, commodities, and ideas between communities of origin and destination, forging and consolidating social, economic, and religious ties and prac- tices that link migrants and nonmigrants to one another across borders (Goldring, 1992). A fundamental manifestation of these migrants’ ties is represent- ed by their organizational forms. Grassroots organizations such as htas that are based on hometown or region of origin, are common to many migrant groups who have settled in the United States, and have played a pivotal role in the economic empowerment and social incorporation of migrants from a variety of nations into U.S. society. Contrary to conventional perspectives about migrant as- similation, ties and loyalties to the old country, expressed by the preservation of strong social relationships among migrants from a particular town or region, have in some cases actually helped migrants move up the economic ladder and participate in the po- litical sphere (Light, 1972, 2006; Guarnizo, 1992; Levitt, 1997). The building blocks of these transnational ties are the social networks forged by migrants groups between particular sending villages and cities and specific urban or rural receiving points. Usually started by one or a few migrant pioneers, these social net- works eventually turn into a key social infrastructure by reducing Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 45Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 45 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201146 the costs and risks of the migration process, thus opening up op- portunities to migrate for others in their communities of origin and helping new migrants access vital resources (jobs, housing, and information) in their new country (Mines, 1981; Massey et al., 1987; Rouse, 1988; Portes and Rumbaut, 1991; Zabin et al., 1993). These networks constitute a key source of what several scholars have called social capital, which is the accumulation of knowledge, contacts, and experience by certain members of the network, as well as the resulting social trust among them that creates a potential stream of returns and resources over time for subsequent entrants belonging to the same networks (Coleman, 1988; Martinelli, 1994; Putnam, 2000; Runsten and Zabin, 1994; Dasgupta and Serageldin, 2000). For migrants, as numerous mi- gration scholars have underscored, social capital is a pivotal re- source in determining work trajectories and life possibilities in their places of destination (Massey et al., 1987; Portes, 1995; Lev- itt, 2001; Tsuda, Valdez and Cornelius, 2003). Organizational forms such as htas are built through these migrant social networks, and base themselves in the migrants’ locality, ethnic group, or state of origin. These associations trace their origins to informal networks of migrant paisanos and dem- onstrate several social and ethnic constituencies at varied levels of organization, from informal to more formal and institutional- ized structures (Levitt, 1997; Smith and Guarnizo, 1998). These specific ties become an essential part of the migrants’ social or- ganization, akin to the ties that bind family and friends. Thus, social ties with the “little homeland”, far from weakening or dis- appearing with distance, are strengthened and transformed into paisano networks that eventually lead to the forging of a collective identity among migrants from the same community or region, and the construction of groups like htas as a privileged means of “translocal” belonging (Rivera-Salgado, 1999; Fox and Rivera- Salgado, 2004; Fitzgerald, 2000). The strength, orientation, and extent of the formal organization of migrant associations in major destination points like the Unit ed States have varied both by historical period and nationality. For Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 46Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 46 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 47 example, Chinese and Japanese migrants in the early 20th cen- tury formed associations based on their regions of origin, which were instrumental in adapting to and enduring unsympathetic contexts, and eventually gaining social and economic mobility in the U.S. (Daniels, 1988; Wong, 1998). Another salient example were the Jewish htas, or landsmanshaftn, in New York, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which encouraged members to join unions, supplied strike benefits, and provided a social safety net for their memberships (Soyer, 1997). Throughout the 20th cen- tury, similar associations, based on the same place or region of origin in the old country, have also been key referential points for their communities in their places of destination, sometimes becoming a driving force for small business development for mi- grants from Asia, Latin America, and Europe (Light, 1972, 2006; Bonacich, 1987; Waldinger, 1986; Guarnizo, 1992; Stepick, 1998; Min, 1998). Grassroots organizations such as migrant htas have prolifer- ated in the United States since the early 1980s, especially in met- ropolitan areas, and by the late 1990s they had become the most prevalent organizational type for migrant communities from Me- xico and Central America and the main sources of immigration to the United States. Indeed, there are literally hundreds of these htas across this country, exhibiting a range of organizational for- mality and complexity. The most common and simplest type of association is the informal migrant village network. In the host society, villagers see each other at various social events, such as the celebration of the town’s traditional patron saint’s day fiesta, or at soccer, baseball, or basketball matches involving hometown-based teams. These informal networks sometimes take on the provi- sion of social services for groups excluded from government safety nets, such as providing funds for emergency medical assistance, burials, low-cost credit, and help in obtaining housing and jobs (Light, 1972, 2006; Massey et al., 1987; Goldring, 1992; Qui- ñones and Mittelstaedt, 2000). These informal migrant village networks constitute the starting point for further organizational developments among migrants, Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 47Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 47 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201148 like htas, which as we pointed out above, are a more formal orga- nizational stage that organizes and represents the daughter com- munity. Sometimes this process is initiated by a few civic-minded migrants, often motivated by a philanthropic aim in favor of their hometown of origin.3 At other times, local civil or religious authorities at home request the formation of a committee rep- resenting the migrant community. Once constituted, the main activities of these groups are fund-raising events to finance the philanthropic projects requested in their towns of origin. In turn, these events serve two important objectives: they enable these groups to finance projects in their home communities, and forge a sense of co m munity by strengthening the ties and identities among migrant paisa nos (Rivera-Salgado and Escala Rabadán, 2004; Fox and Rivera-Salgado, 2004). While migrant htas are scattered throughout the United States, their most significant clustering is represented by Latino migrant groups in Southern California, specifically the Los An- geles region. This area usually comprises several counties, with Los Angeles County at its core, and between 1990 and 2000 be- came the largest metropolitan reception area with a foreign-born population in the U.S., as a result of three decades of continu- ous immigrant influx (Waldinger and Bozorgmehr, 1996; Light, 2006). Among the various immigrant populations that constitute this multicultural metropolis, migrants from Latin America, es- pecially from Mexico and Central America, constitute the ma- jority (Eekhoff, 1994). Similarly, this remarkable concentration of Latino migrants in this metropolitan area is reflected in the increasing presence of grassroots organizations, particularly htas. For example, some observers have pointed out the expansion of these associations among Mexican migrants—the largest migrant group by far—from 170 in 1998 to 420 in 2005 in the Los Ange- les area alone (Escala Rabadán, Bada and Rivera-Salgado, 2006). 3However, we should emphasize this distinction is analytical. In practice, the pas- sage from informal to formal migrant organizations does not follow necessarily the path just described. Indeed, the distinction between both levels is usually blurred, and formal associations remain embedded in the informal migrant network. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 48Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 48 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 49 We mentioned earlier that the flourishing of htas in places such as the Los Angeles region and their projects to support their com- munities both in the U.S. and in their homeland have garnered praise and public recognition (Thomson, 2005). Nevertheless, as we argue, this acknowledgement does not consider the organiza- tional weak spots of these voluntary groups, much less possible ways of improving their performance. In this respect, while the membership of these htas has different amounts of personal social capital, in most cases this personal asset is not transformed into a significant organizational social capital among these groups. At a more theoretical level (Cohen and Prusak, 2001), social capital at the organizational level translates into the availability of resources beyond individual members, which leads to higher levels of trust, knowledge sharing, common goals, and more stable memberships in an organization. This theoretical consideration is important vis-à-vis the pre- vailing working conditions of these migrant associations. As we pointed out before, most hta leaders and their membership face increasing demands from multiple social and political actors, which becomes a serious obstacle to strengthening their organi- zational skills. As a result, in most cases, these organizations not only exhibit low amounts of social capital, they also face critical constraints on expanding it (Orozco, 2002; Somerville, Durana and Terrazas, 2008). Among the different social and political actors that have f o r g e d ties with these groups, immigrant-sending national and sub-national governments are probably the most important ref- erence for htas. Most of these national and sub-national gov- ernment entities have developed outreach policies and strategies target ing their immigrant communities in the U.S., seeking to preserve their economic, social, and cultural bond to their places of origin. According to some analysts (González, 2006; Yrizar, 2009; Yrizar and Alarcón, 2010), these policies seek to address the different needs of their diasporic communities, such as the provision of information and legal advice, the management of guest workers’ programs and of matching-grant programs linked Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 49Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 49 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201150 to local development in the country of origin, the preservation of cultural aspects in their places of destination, and the administra- tion of expatriate political participation. An important component of these policies refers to the creation of htas. Based on a general assessment of Latin American agen- cies from different key immigrant-sending countries and states,4 a more proactive approach can be observed from these governments towards their diasporic population, which includes promoting the creation of different groups, including htas. The rise and spread of htas demonstrates that these groups are an effective structure through which governments and immigrants may negotiate and agree on managing development projects in the countries of ori- gin, as well as on the political support and cultural representation of their communities in the places of destination. These outreach initiatives also include the promotion of organizational forms within these communities, with the aim of strengthening their ties and representation. As a result, we find an array of associa- tions for various purposes, from soccer leagues to htas, which in several cases are the result of these policies. These outreach policies and strategies reveal the increasing institutionalization of actions carried out by national and sub-national governments to- wards their immigrant communities in the U.S. However, while these policies aim to promote the rise of im- migrant associations of different kinds, their emphasis seems to be on increasing the number of groups rather than strengthen- ing their leadership and organization capacity. Their underlying premise is that the more groups and associations are forged, the stronger the immigrant community will be in the various places of destination. While this premise is not necessarily wrong, the 4Th is general assessment is based on the web pages of the following national governments: , for Mexico; , for El Salvador; and , for Guatemala. At the sub-national level, we checked the following links of Mexican states: , for the state of Zacatecas; , for the state of Oaxaca; and , for the state of Michoacán. All web pages were initially consulted in August 15, 2009, and last accessed on April 15, 2010. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 50Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 50 27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:11 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 51 main problem is that it underestimates the critical importance of leadership and organizational development within these groups. The outcome is a gap between the proliferation of migrant groups such as htas in key destination points such the Los An- geles region and their actual organizational capacity issues. This is a problem that has attracted the attention of several observers of the dynamics of these groups. For example, a recent report by the Migration Policy Institute on the role of htas notes that “they face organizational, capacity, and funding challenges that policy- makers are only partially addressing” (Somerville, Durana, and Terrazas, 2008:10). Similarly, the United Nations Development Programme (2005), in its assessment of the potential role of immigrant remittances in the achievement of development goals, acknowledges that the Programme “as a development player can engage and include the diaspora including migrant leaders and hometown associa- tions (htas) in the development debate” (p. 4), but it also points out that “investment in human capital is the greatest challenge that impedes their effectiveness. Success of htas would depend on available capacity to become more organized, to gain more knowledge, to invest in human capital and to exchange experi- ences with other parts of the world” (p. 3). Based on our previous research on immigrant htas, we real- ized that a viable way of bridging this gap was through a hands- on approach to provide an array of information on leadership and organizational development, in a safe learning environment, with the aim of improving their associations’ capacities. In the follow- ing section, we briefly describe and examine the development of a capacity-building pilot program for Latino htas in the Los An- geles region, an initiative aimed at strengthening their leadership skills and increasing their access to organizational resources. Migrant HTAs and Capacity-Building The proposed pilot program on Latino htas stems from in- cremental work carried out over the past few years with these Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 51Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 51 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201152 groups, based on a “participatory action research” approach (Bab- bie, 2001; Whyte, Greenwood, and Lazes, 1991; Stephen, 2007). Previous academic research (González, 1993; Alarcón, 2002; Ri- vera-Salgado and Escala Rabadán, 2004) examined how htas, using binational strategies, were working for the betterment of their members’ communities of origin, and pointed out the po- tential assets and internal resources wielded by migrants in the United States, particularly in the Los Angeles region. This re- search path let us consider how additional resources and capac- ity building might strengthen the organizational skills of these volunteer groups. In a previous initiative,5 we organized a set of meetings and workshops with leaders and members of Latino htas in the Los Angeles region, with the aim of identifying and tackling key or- ganizational challenges, as well as promoting their connections with each other and other civic and government groups. Howev- er, these initial attempts had limited success due to several factors, namely the lack of human resources for the logistical planning and coordination of these workshops (i. e., maintaining a list of participants, reserving space and parking, providing materials, sending meeting reminders, to name but a few). The lack of suffi- cient logistical and coordination capacity led to a marked decline in participants’ attendance and difficulties in following up on the range of requests raised by the participants. This initial experience taught us that proper implementation of an initiative such as this demanded several elements for its eventual success: a firm commitment from the selected hta lead- ers and members to participate throughout the planning activi- ties; sufficient staff and resources to cover the necessary costs of these activities; the ability to offer relevant skill-building contents; and proper evaluation of the program, in order to learn about the effectiveness of the intervention. In this respect, the first stage 5For instance, Gaspar Rivera-Salgado organized a conference entitled, “Working in Community Across Many Borders: Los Angeles-Based Hometown Associations from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico” on April 29, 2000, at the University of Southern California. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 52Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 52 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 53 of workshops and meetings proved useful because by listening to the participants during these sessions, we learned about how they operate internally and the services they offer, the shortfall in resources they face, and the way htas interact—or fail to in- teract—with other organizations. Feedback from participants clearly indicated the need to build capacity so that their orga- nizations could address the many needs of their memberships and obtain resources to broaden and deepen their work. Their feedback helped us design a capacity-building program focused on the specific organizational needs of Latino htas in the Los An geles region. The resulting pilot program was made possible once we ob- tained the necessary funding (from a specific foundation, the Los Angeles Immigrant Funders’ Collaborative [laifc]), proper facilities (provided by the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture), and a team to imple- ment the program curriculum and logistics. This program tar- geted emerging and established leaders of htas that represented migrant populations from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua in the Los Angeles region. The program had two components: 1) capacity-building workshops, designed to improve individual leadership skills, organizational effective- ness, and cross-organizational collaboration; and 2) mini-grants for htas to implement civic participation, health promotion, and capacity-building projects, as a means of immediate, material benefits for some of the participant organizations in their search to strengthen their organizational capacity. The main hypothesis guiding the implementation of this ini- tiative was that the inability of htas to take advantage of their internal and external resources to achieve their goals and fulfill their mission was primarily due to the following: a) volunteer hta leaders are overburdened with personal and organizational responsibilities, and therefore have little time to invest in them- selves and their organizations; b) there are few available oppor- tunities for a critical mass of emerging organizational leaders to strengthen their individual leadership skills to coordinate orga- Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 53Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 53 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201154 nizational processes efficiently and effectively; c) there is a lack of spaces to build trust and knowledge across htas and other informal and formal organizations in key areas for immigrants like the Los Angeles region; and, d) most notably, while most immigrant-sending nations have implemented different policies regarding the well-being of their diasporic populations, their poli- cies focus mainly on the promotion and numeric growth of these and other immigrant groups, but pay little or no attention to the strengthening of their organizational capacity. The program’s intervention hypothesis was as follows: if a criti- cal mass of emerging hta leaders were intensively exposed over a sustained period of time to concepts pertaining to organiza- tional dynamics and effectiveness and to leadership skill building exercises, they would increase their ability to take advantage of internal and external resources to achieve their goals and fulfill their mission. This intervention model is what we call the “ca- pacity building process”. Capacity building can be broadly de- fined as “the ability of non-profit organizations to fulfill their mission in an effective manner” (De Vita and Fleming, 2001:1). As we applied this concept to the specific realities of htas in our program, we conceptualized capacity-building as a long-term pro- cess of change that involves three overlapping areas: individual leadership skills, internal organizational processes, and coalition- building strategies. Our operational assumption was that each organization would need to bring in two or more people to build a critical mass within each organization in order to turn stronger leadership skills into improved organizational effectiveness and sustained networks with other organizations. Accordingly, some of the workshops targeted hta leaders at the individual level, to help them increase their human capital, that is, the education, knowl- edge, skills, health, or values that an individual possesses.6 In the specific case of hta leaders, important human capital endow- ments include organizing experience, specific skills, educational 6Gary Becker’s (1964) classic work defi nes human capital as individual endow- ments such as education, knowledge, skill, health and values. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 54Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 54 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 55 attainment, and strong civic values, which lead to an understand- ing of how to achieve social improvement for their communities. Our challenge was to link individual-level skill development with an effective understanding of the nuts and bolts of organi- zational dynamics, at the informal and formal levels. We did not want to impose a theory of organizational development. Instead, we chose to work within the existing situations that represent ed real situations for htas. We used a framework that distinguish- ed organizations along a continuum of organizational forms, from informal to formal-institutional. As previously noted, social capital usually refers to stocks of knowledge, contacts, experience, norms, and social trust, and norms that people can draw upon based on their membership of different types of social networks (Fukuyama, 1999; Dasgup- ta and Serageldin, 2000). Traditionally, the definition of social capital has centered on the actions of neighborhood associations, sports clubs, and cooperatives, which scholars like Putnam (2000) claim create the “networks of civic engagement”. Our program also sought to thicken htas’ “networks of civic engagement”. This would be achieved by increasing the number of organizations that participate in those networks and enhancing the contacts and con- nections among the leaders of those associations, and between that leadership and other organizations.7 The goal would be to leverage resources, from both informal and formal institutions (such as foundations, government agencies, and personal net- works of key contacts, such as politicians and other civic leaders). We therefore focused on developing an array of skills for collabo- ration and coalition-building throughout this initiative. In other words, we would not only attempt to increase the human capital (individual skills) of hta leaders but also to ensure that this train- ing would lead directly to an increase in the social capital of the volunteer-driven organizations these leaders represent. 7Jonathan Fox (1996) states that “societal ‘thickness’ refers to the breadth and density of representative societal organizations, and can also be thought of in terms of social capital accumulation” (p. 1089). Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 55Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 55 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201156 Working with the topics proposed by participants and avail- able funding, we organized a total of 12 workshops in seven sessions.8 The workshops focused on the following topics: 1) de- veloping com munity projects; 2) writing grant proposals, and project evaluation; 3) bringing in new membership; 4) a review of a foundation’s call for proposals; 5) technology for organizational ef ficiency; 6) incorporating a nonprofit organization; 7) time man- agement; 8) strategies for successful meetings, conflict resolution, and inter-group collaboration; 9) organizational structure and de- cision-making; 10) strategic planning and community planning; 11) educational opportunities for hta members and their fami- lies; and 12) fundraising strategies. The workshops had three key elements. First, in order to ensure that we offered high quality, participatory workshops, we provid- ed training on several topics that were important cornerstones for building capacity in the htas. For most of these workshops, we invited experts on the topics. Second, all workshops were held at the campus of the University of Southern California (usc), with free parking and food provided, and conducted at weekends. The university setting provided a neutral space where everyday con- cerns and competition among organizations were momentarily suspended, meaning that the representatives of participating htas were able to engage in a learning process. Finally, we produced ex- tensive transcripts documenting the details of each session, which were given to the participants on the following session, thus en- abling them to assemble a text they could subsequently use as a key organizational reference. We used two outreach strategies. First, we contacted key lead- ers from htas who had extensive contacts within their own com- munities. The leaders of hta coalitions and federations were particularly helpful in identifying the emerging leaders within their membership organizations. The second strategy was to con- tact the leaders, either by phone, through a formal invitation, 8For more information about the content of each workshop and the participating Hometown Associations, see Rivera-Salgado, Rodríguez and Escala Rabadán, 2004. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 56Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 56 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 57 or in some cases, by giving presentations to the htas’ governing boards. At these presentations, we emphasized the importance of attendance and requested that the organizations take responsibil- ity for ensuring that two of their members attend continuously throughout the entire workshop series. Our goal was to recruit a diverse group of htas’ leaders along national, ethnic, and gender lines. We were especially interest ed in attracting htas that were at an intermediary, or partly consolidat - ed, stage of development. In addition, we targeted leaders from both stand-alone htas and coalitions of these organizations, includ ing umbrella federations for communities in Mexico’s tra- ditional sending states such as Zacatecas, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Oa xaca; and networks of Salvadoran and Guatemalan migrant organizations. We reached our target population. For instance, 36 people at- tended the workshop series, 36 percent of whom were women (13 out of 36), evidence that we had, at least partly achieved the gender diversity that was one of our goals. In general, more par- ticipants came from individual groups than from state or coun- trywide htas federations, and most of the participants occupied a formal leadership position in their organization. However, the type of leadership needs varied depending upon the organiza- tional structure (individual organization being less complex than federations) and also on the country of origin (since the politics and ethnic composition of each of the five countries of origin involved is unique). Participants were drawn from 20 organizations in five coun - tries: El Salvador (Comité del Desfile y Festival de Independen- cia Salvadoreña [Codefisal]; Comunidades Unificadas de Ayuda Directa a El Salvador; Asociación Migueleña Siglo xxi; and Su- chitotenses Asociados en Los Ángeles [sala]); Guatemala (Frater- nidad Mazateca en Los Ángeles; Consejo de Integración Maya en Los Ángeles; and Maya Visión); Honduras (Hondureños Unidos de Los Ángeles [hula]); Mexico (Unión de Comunidades Se rra- nas de Oa xaca [ucso]-Federación Oaxaqueña de Comunida des y Or ga ni zaciones Indígenas de California [Focoica]; Unión de Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 57Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 57 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201158 Mu jeres Oaxaqueñas [udmo]; Grupo Folklórico Huaxyacac; Fe- deración de Clubes Zacatecanos del Sur de California; Federa ción Cali forniana de Michoacanos “Lázaro Cárdenas del Río”; Jalis co clubs in Los Angeles: Talpa de Allende, Quila, Comunitario Ja- may, Zapotitán de Hidalgo and Oconahua; and Club Chapala, Jalisco, in Santa Barbara); and Nicaragua (Nicaraguan American Development and Education Foundation [nadef]). Key Results With regards to the mini-grants that were part of this program, we collaborated closely with the Los Angeles Immigrant Funders’ Collaborative (laifc) in the definition of guidelines for their allo- cation. These guidelines focused on the feasibility of the proposed initiatives, to ensure that a project would increase an organiza- tion’s ability to meet its grassroots philanthropic mission. As a result, four organizations that had met the criteria for using the funds submitted brief project proposals. In addition to the grants provided, the team helped the organizations refine the design and implementation of those projects, which were completed over a one-year period. The following four groups were selected to receive a mini-grant for organizational capacity-building: 1. The Unión de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas (Alliance of Oaxacan Women), an umbrella organization for htas, proposed to increase the leadership and participation of migrant women from Oaxacan communities represented in their associations. 2. Comunidades Unificadas de Ayuda Directa a El Salvador (Com munities Providing Direct Aid for El Salvador), known as Comunidades. This coalition of 19 Salvadoran htas based in the Los Angeles region presented a leadership-development project that would incorporate the use of new technologies into the work of Salvadoran htas. 3. The Grupo Folklórico Huaxyacac (Huaxyacac Folk Dance Troupe), comprising 45 migrant youths from the state of Oaxa- Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 58Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 58 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 59 ca, Mexico, proposed to build the troupe’s capacity by hiring a dance instructor, who helped them to learn and stage new dances. 4. The Unión de Comunidades Serranas de Oaxaca (Alliance of Oaxacan Mountain Region Communities), in collabora- tion with the Federación Oaxaqueña de Comunidades y Or- ganizaciones Indígenas de California (Oaxacan Federation of Indigenous Communities and Organizations of California) proposed a series of health-education workshops to improve the well-being of the Oaxacan migrant community. The work- shops were organized together with a series of basketball tour- naments, in which approximately 85 teams, representing many of the Oaxacan htas in the Los Angeles region, participated. These tournaments provided a ready-made audience eager to learn about health and well-being issues. With respect to the workshop series, this new stage required proper evaluation of its performance. To this end, while we de- parted from several approaches (Weiss, 1998; Wholey, Hatry and Newcomer, 1994), we adopted an evaluation framework based mostly on what some scholars (Fetterman, 2001) call an “em- powerment approach”. Empowerment evaluation stresses the process of using the evaluation process to help individuals and groups gain greater control over their environment. This evalu- ation approach seemed the most suitable choice to evaluate the program’s design and implementation. Moreover, we also used a formative evaluation strategy because the program itself was under development. To this end, we asked three main questions and used different methods to generate and interpret information to answer them. The questions, methods, and findings are given below: A. Did We Reach the Target Population? Method. We collected background information on the partici- pants in terms of their formal and informal roles within their organizations. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 59Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 59 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201160 Findings. We were successful in reaching out to the htas that we wished to participate in the program, and we were able to sustain consistent attendance by their representatives. B. Was the Program Implemented According to Its Design? Method. We attended and observed all sessions and kept copious notes on how the workshops proceeded. We paid special attention to the interaction between participants and presenters, interaction among participants themselves during workshop activities, and patterns of participation. Lastly, we compared the contents of the presentations against the agenda for each session to determine if what had been promised was actually delivered. Findings. We covered most of the topics suggested by the htas in the planning sessions. However, we did not have any control over the delivery of the workshops since we partnered with facilitators from other organizations for the first time. We also asked about this issue in the final questionnaire that evaluated the sessions fa- cilitated by our team, when we were able to control for the quality of the information and the facilitating techniques. C. Did a “Theory of Change” Work? Specifically, a) Did the work- shops build individual leadership skills? b) Did the participants help their organization improve effectiveness? c) Did the organi- zations develop stronger cross-organizational relationships? Method. We took extensive field notes for each session, developed and distributed a brief questionnaire, and used focus groups. The brief questionnaires were distributed to participants beforehand to obtain their assessment of the impact of the workshops for them and their organizations. We organized a day-long reflection session at the end of the series of workshops to determine the pro- gram’s impact. In this reflection session, we deliberately placed participants from different organizations at different tables to elicit as much dialogue as possible. Then we held a large-group discussion on each of the questions in order to obtain a more col- Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 60Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 60 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 61 lective reflection on the achievements and shortcomings of this experience. Findings. The responses from the participants provided us with systematic feedback on the impact of our initiative. As we had no- ticed throughout the series, participants unanimously made posi- tive comments on aspects ranging from the formal to the more qualitative. Some participants pointed out the following: All [the facilitators] were very well trained and delivered good pre- sentations. There was also a good mix of community groups and organizations from different countries and different states within Mexico. The contents were quite varied (Norma, Unión de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas). What I liked best were some of the facilitators: the invitations were consistent and in writing, sometimes there were phone reminders, the resulting notes were useful, the food was sometimes good, we had access to free parking and it was always available, and it made us feel like we were [college] students (Guadalupe, Hondureños Unidos in Los Angeles). I liked the way the coordinators promoted these workshops, the way they contacted us and the continuity of this contact, remind- ing us, telling us when we were going to have this or that workshop … also the punctuality of most of the presenters. I also liked the va- riety of topics and that we didn’t have the same routine … and also [I liked the fact that] most of my fellow participants were interested (Pedro, Jalisco Club Comunitario Jamay in Los Angeles). And it helps a lot in these workshops to have an appealing yet ordi- nary language, like the kind we use, because despite the level being quite academic, it wasn’t too complicated for us (Cándida, Unión de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas). However, we wanted to probe participants’ reaction to the workshops in more detail and at a substantive level their written responses emphasized the following achievements: Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 61Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 61 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201162 1. Participants reported that these workshops significantly affected them. Through their written responses, participants depicted the series of workshops as a highly meaningful learning expe- rience, and some of its contents have already been adapted to their roles as leaders and members in their organizations. The following excerpts convey this achievement: I think all this guidance was extremely important because this way, you can do things more specifically, can’t you? You are grounded, and you can provide better guidance that wouldn’t be possible with- out this training. And after all, you organize things as best you can, don’t you? I mean, that’s what happened to me. However, now that I’m in touch with the hometown associations, when it’s my turn to share something with one of these groups, I share all these things I’ve learned, and they become motivated to take a course like the one we had here, right? And I can remember the comment [that one of the facilitators made], telling us “Sometimes we have to almost beg to make you attend these workshops!” And that’s true, but if you go and talk with the other members of the group, they feel motivated to take courses like these and learn. I think that’s important, it’s im- portant because you [the facilitators] had to struggle a lot to bring us here, right? And to me that’s very important, to have this inspiration and be able to share it with others (Bertha, Federación Californiana de Michoacanos “Lázaro Cárdenas del Río”). What I have learned is that you have to know the difference between needs and priorities that many of us have to cope with. Well, I was personally quite mixed up, but now I know how to establish priori- ties, and that way I know how to achieve them. We really learned to identify what priorities are, how to do something to make it come true, how to establish priorities in our organizations and in our per- sonal lives. And that was something I learned, from setting a time- line to defining how much time you’re going to assign for your needs and your priorities, and to prove it with facts (Henry, Comité del Desfile y Festival de Independencia Salvadoreña). What I liked was to be able to determine the percentage of time you give to each activity or the worth of each one of the things you do. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 62Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 62 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 63 Suddenly, you say that the family deserves 100 percent of our time, but then you realize this is not true, you devote time to your job, that’s what usually takes most of our time, and then comes all the activities you do for the communities you’re involved with, like social welfare work. And out of that, perhaps you’ll have time for your fam- ily, at a lower percentage, and then, if any time is left over, you study, and at the very end are things like health or religion. That’s what I re- alized when I did this mapping exercise, that is, when you find your- self and establish the priorities you give to various activities (Natalio, Unión de Comunidades Serranas de Oaxaca-Federación Oaxaqueña de Comunidades y Organizaciones Indígenas de California). 2. All participants emphasized that they felt more empowered as individuals and community leaders. A basic principle of em- powerment theory and evaluation is that individuals must feel empowered in order to perform as change makers through their organizations and institutions. In this respect, the fo- llowing excerpts illustrate the development of several skills that convey important changes in that direction: [This workshop series] was like a guide, like a road map to empower not only myself but also to become a better leader in my organiza- tion. What I liked best was the confidence we achieved about how to come up with an idea and nurture it until it becomes a funding proposal, I liked the fact that it was such a detailed and elaborate process in which you shared your knowledge in order to transform it into a proposal … this idea will lead to good things for the future of our organization, but most of all I think it was a very powerful tool that will help us to become consolidated as organizations in the achievement of our goals and objectives, and hopefully, they will crystallize and won’t be reduced to wishful thinking. What I also liked was how we were encouraged to work collectively, to use our time and to think that we were a single group that had to move forward together … In the future, it would be good to include a workshop on gender and leadership, that is, how to learn that both men and women want to work on a common agenda, and that there should be mutual respect within our organizations, which means that women should not be treated as if they were a big zero or merely Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 63Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 63 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201164 as someone who can’t do a thing, that is, gender issues. I liked what we did here because men and women have shown the same respect to each other when talking and doing everything, but we must see how we can bring that into our organizations (Martha, Federación de Clubes Zacatecanos del Sur de California). The fact is that we [at Comunidades] have been working for quite a while on this, and we really need this training in our community work, I think these workshops were excellent, but I still need more, there are still lots of things I need to learn, and those of us involved in community work realize that others really need it too, especially those who are in new associations. We have about six groups that just joined Comunidades this year and they’re newer than us, but they also have the same needs for training, and that’s what we’re planning to do, we want to share whatever we might have learned here, based on the notes from the workshops (Patricia, Comunidades). 3. Most importantly, participants also emphasized the significance of their participation for their own groups. While participants appreciated the importance of learning new skills for them as individuals, they linked this achievement to its usefulness for their organizations, a clear reflection of the achievements of this program. Future evaluations of the dynamics within the organizations that sent representatives to the workshop series will give us a better idea of the long-term impact. This signifi- cance can be appreciated in views such as the following: The truth is that through these training sessions, we’ve learned, both personally and for our organization, how to lead better and to better identify our goals. Before, our work plan only defined the general objectives we had, and we jumped into doing whatever had to be done. But through these training sessions ... we’ve already learned how to have a better perspective on the project we want to carry out. Here we’re also talking about targeting the population. That has enabled us to be very specific about what we’re doing. In the past, we used to say “We want to do such and such a thing”, and it was so ambiguous. We didn’t really specify the purpose of the activities we wanted to carry out. In this regard, these training sessions have Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 64Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 64 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 65 certainly helped us ... I have also been able to unburden myself of some of my responsibilities because I have also learned to delegate activities (Edwin, Fraternidad Mazateca en Los Ángeles). Well, these workshops also taught us how to organize ourselves bet- ter and carry out a community survey in order to really identify which community we will work with, where we will be working, and to develop a project strategy and carry it out. Thanks to that, we were able to carry out a more accurate analysis of how we were going to carry out this survey for the community we want to work with and to implement it. In fact, that’s the first thing we did, we did the first survey just today, and we think it was possible because we had the necessary information from the workshops. And that’s what we’re just doing today, putting into practice what we learned (Cándida, Unión de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas). I liked that we recognized that without the concept of “target popu- lation”, we would have been very confused about how to use our scarce resources as small organizations serving a vast population, given that the resources are simply insufficient to help the entire population (Ronald, Nicaraguan American Development and Edu- cation Foundation). [And the most important thing I learned was] to put this knowledge into practice, and also to motivate other members of my organiza- tion so that they also train and take advantage of this opportunity. And I have to continue learning, because the more I learn, the easier it gets to organize (Bertha, Federación Californiana de Michoacanos “Lázaro Cárdenas del Río”). Conclusions While the praise and recognition that social and political ac- tors have showered on htas is well deserved, our fundamental concern is that their growing visibility is also leading to greater demands from government agencies and other social and politi- cal actors, both in the U.S. and in their places of origin. These demands are straining the capacity of these organizations, given Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 65Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 65 27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:12 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201166 the already overloaded agendas of these volunteer organizations. From this angle, simply creating more organizations and asking them to take on more activities will probably not translate into better or more projects. This strategy will heighten, not dimin- ish, the organizational predicament of hta leaders. Instead, we believe that what is required is investment in the leadership and organizational capacity of htas to help their leaders strengthen their individual skills, their internal organizational infrastruc- ture, and their connection to other organizations in order to take full advantage of the external resources required to succeed in future community and development projects. The formative evaluation of this pilot program aimed at strength ening the leadership and organizational capacity of htas yielded three core lessons for those interested in supporting a capacity-building strategy for htas. The first lesson is that effec- tive capacity-building programs targeting htas need to cover and connect three areas: foster individual leadership skills; apply these leadership skills to building greater organizational effectiveness; and embed these organizations into networks that provide access to more resources. The second lesson is that effective capacity building with htas taps into what groups really care about. Hence capacity builders need to meaningfully involve hta leaders in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of the program. Effective capacity building needs to be very grounded in the real situations faced by the hta leaders, and should help hta leaders gain greater aware- ness of the diversity of organizational forms and how to structure their organizations. This will help them improve their practices, their organizational effectiveness, and cross-organizational col- laboration to address the issues they care about deeply. In other words, effective capacity building with migrant htas should be a highly participatory process through which participants use their concrete experiences in their organizations to form, test, and ap- ply their own theories and concepts of leadership, organizations, and related topics. To this end, it is important for capacity build- ers to be careful about unconsciously importing and applying or- ganizational models from other fields. They should avoid simply Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 66Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 66 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 67 transforming migrant-led associations into organizations that can merely manage government and foundation projects and funds. A third lesson is that collaborative initiatives between htas and nontraditional actors (beyond governments in their states and sub- states of origin), such as foundations, universities, and scholars, are not only feasible but necessary. On their own, htas do not have the resources to sustain ongoing leadership development and capacity building programs. Indeed, the establishment of mean- ingful partnerships with these and other actors will be a key factor in the organizational growth of htas in the future, an issue that has been underscored by other observers (Somerville, Durana and Terrazas, 2008).9 While we are aware of the limited scope of this initiative and our ability to make larger claims based on this one capacity-building program, we believe that this pilot program crystallized insights that resonated with program participants and with our work over the past decade with these organizations. The program’s partici- pants, who constituted the leadership of htas in various ways, acknowledged the need to invest in the development of their own organization. They acknowledged the fact that this type of in- vestment is imperative if they are to respond effectively to the increasing needs and demands of their memberships and the so- cial and philanthropic projects in their hometowns. Future evalu- ations of this learning experience among participant groups, as well as comparisons with similar experiences, will enable us to more accurately determine the extent of these interventions in order to expand the organizational strength of migrant htas. References Alarcón, Rafael, 2002, “The Development of the Hometown Associations in the United States and the Use of Social Re- mittances in Mexico”, in Rodolfo O. de la Garza and Briant 9In their recent report on the role of htas and immigrant integration, these au- thors conclude that “[s]mall, well-crafted interventions (with the voluntary coop- eration of htas) should be made where they can enhance the eff ectiveness” of these groups (p. 16). Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 67Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 67 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201168 Lindsay Lowell, eds., Sending Money Home: Hispanic Remit- tances and Community Development, Lanham, Maryland, Row- man & Littlefield Publishers. Babbie, E., 2001, The Practice of Social Research, 9th ed., New York, Wadsworth Publishing Company. Becker, Gary, 1964, Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special References to Education, Chicago, Illinois, University of Chicago Press. Bonacich, Edna, 1987, “Making It in America: A Social Evalua- tion of Immigrant Entrepreneurship”, Sociological Perspectives, vol. 30, num. 4, October, pp. 446-466. Cohen, D. and I. Prusak, 2001, In Good Company, How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work, Boston, Massachusetts, Harvard Business School Press. Coleman, James, 1988, “Social Capital in the Creation of Hu- man Capital”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 94, January, S95-S120. Daniels, Roger, 1988, Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850, Seattle, Washington, University of Washington Press. Dasgupta, Partha and Ismail Serageldin, eds., 2000, Social Capi- tal: A Multifaceted Perspective, Washington, DC, The World Bank. De Vita, Carol and Cory Fleming, 2001, Building Capacity in Non- Profit Organizations, Washington, DC, The Urban Institute. Eekhoff, Katherine E. [masters thesis], 1994, “Asociaciones salva- doreñas en Los Ángeles y las posibilidades de desarrollo en El Salvador”, Los Angeles, California, Department of Urban Planning-University of California. Escala Rabadán, Luis, Xóchitl Bada and Gaspar Rivera-Salga- do, 2006, “Mexican Migrant Civic and Political Participation in the U.S.: The Case of Hometown Associations in Los An- geles and Chicago”, Norteamérica, Revista Académica, year 1, num. 2, July-December, pp. 127-172. Fetterman, David M., 2001, Foundations of Empowerment Evalu- ation, Thousand Oaks, California, Sage Publications. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 68Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 68 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 69 Fitzgerald, David, 2000, Negotiating Extra-Territorial Citizenship: Mexican Migration and the Transnational Politics of Commu- nity, La Jolla, California, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies-University of California, San Diego. Fox, Jonathan, 1996, “How Does Civil Society Thicken? The Po- litical Construction of Social Capital in Rural Mexico”, World Development, vol. 24, num. 6, pp. 1089-1103. Fox, Jonathan and Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, 2004, “Building Civil Society among Indigenous Migrants”, in Jonathan Fox and Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, eds., Indigenous Mexican Migrants in the United States, La Jolla, California, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies and Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies- University of California, San Diego. Fukuyama, Francis [conference], 1999, “Social Capital and Civil Society”, Wash ington, DC, International Monetary Fund Conference on Second Generation Reforms, October 1. Goldring, Luin, 1992, “La migración Mexico-EUA y la transna- cionalizacion del espacio político y social: Perspectivas desde el México rural”, Estudios Sociológicos, vol. x, num. 29. May- August, pp. 315-340. González Gutiérrez, Carlos, 1993, “The Mexican Diaspora in California: Limits and Possibilities for the Mexican Govern- ment”, in Abraham F. Lowenthal and Katrina Burgess, eds., The California-Mexico Connection, Stanford, California, Stan- ford University Press. González Gutiérrez, Carlos, 2006, “Introducción”, in Carlos Gon zález Gutiérrez, ed., Relaciones Estado-diáspora. Aproxima- ciones desde cuatro continentes, Mexico, Miguel Ángel Porrúa. Guarnizo, Luis [Ph. D. dissertation], 1992, “One Country in Two: Dominican-owned Firms in New York and in the Do- minican Republic”, Baltimore, Maryland, Department of So- ciology-The Johns Hopkins University. Levitt, Peggy, 1997, “Transnationalizing Community Develop- ment: The Case of Migration between Boston and the Do- minican Republic”, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, vol. 26, num. 4, December, pp. 509-526. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 69Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 69 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201170 Levitt, Peggy, 2001, The Transnational Villagers, Berkeley, Cali- fornia, University of California Press. Light, Ivan, 1972, Ethnic Enterprise in America: Business and Welfare among Chinese, Japanese and Blacks, New York, Basic Books. Light, Ivan, 2006, Deflecting Immigration: Networks, Markets, and Regulation in Los Angeles, New York, Russell Sage Foundation. Martinelli, Alberto, 1994, “Entrepreneurship and Management”, in Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg, eds., Handbook of Economic Sociology, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton Univer- sity Press. Massey, Douglas et. al., 1987, Return to Aztlán. The Social Process of International Migration from Western Mexico, Berkeley, Cali- fornia, University of California Press. Min, Pyong Gap, 1998, Changes and Conflicts. Korean Immigrant Families in New York, Boston, Massachusetts, Allyn and Bacon (The New Immigrants Series). Mines, Richard, 1981, Developing a Community Tradition of Mi- gration: A Field Study in Rural Zacatecas, Mexico and California Settlement Areas, La Jolla, California, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies-University of California, San Diego. Orozco, Manuel, 2002, “Latino Hometown Associations as Agents of Development in Latin America”, in Rodolfo O. de la Garza and Briant Lindsay Lowell, eds., Sending Money Home. Hispanic Remittances and Community Development, Lanham, Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Orozco, Manuel and Katherine Welle, 2005, “Hometown As- sociations and Development: Ownership, Correspondence, Sustainability, and Replicability”, in Barbara J. Merz, ed., New Patterns for Mexico: Observations on Remittances, Philanthropic Giving, and Equitable Development, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press. Portes, Alejandro and Rubén Rumbaut, 1991, Immigrant America: A Portrait, Berkeley, California, University of California Press. Portes, Alejandro, 1995, “Economic Sociology and the Sociol- ogy of Immigration: A Conceptual Overview”, in Alejandro Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 70Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 70 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 71 Portes, ed., The Economic Sociology of Immigration. Essays on Net works, Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship, New York, Russell Sage Foundation. Putnam, Robert D., 2000, Bowling Alone. The Collapse and Re- vival of American Community, New York, Simon and Schuster. Quiñones, Sam and Alan Mittelstaedt, 2000, “A League of Their Own: How a Team of Oaxacan Busboys Is Redefining L. A. Basketball”, L. A. Weekly, February 2, pp. 10-20. Available at (last accessed on May 4, 2011). Rivera-Salgado, Gaspar, 1999, “Binational Organizations of Me- xican Migrants in the United States”, Social Justice, vol. 26, num. 3, September 22, pp. 27-38. Rivera-Salgado, Gaspar and Luis Escala Rabadán, 2004, “Col- lective Identity and Organizational Strategies of Indigenous and Mestizo Mexican Migrants”, in Jonathan Fox and Gas- par Rivera-Salgado, eds., Indigenous Mexican Migrants in the United States, La Jolla, California, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, and Center for Comparative Immigration Studies- University of California, San Diego. Rivera-Salgado, Gaspar and Luis Escala Rabadán, 2008, “Migra- tion Collective Remittances and Development”, in Ton van Naerssen, Ernst Spaan and Annelies Zoomers, eds., Global Mi- gration and Development, New York, Routledge. Rivera-Salgado, Gaspar, Rigoberto Rodríguez and Luis Escala- Rabadán, 2004, in “Building Capacity: Insights from the Pilot Program on Immigrant-Led Hometown Associations”. Avail- able at: (last accessed on May 7, 2010). Rouse, Roger, 1988, “Mexican Migration and the Social Space of Postmodernism”, La Jolla, California, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies-University of California, San Diego. Runsten, David and Carol Zabin, 1994, “A Regional Perspective on Mexican Migration to Rural California”, “Conference on Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 71Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 71 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. MIGRACIONES INTERNACIONALES, VOL. 6, NÚM. 2, JULIO-DICIEMBRE DE 201172 the Changing Face of Rural America”, Asilomar, Pacific Grove, California, June 12-14, unpublished. Smith, Michael P. and Luis Guarnizo, eds., 1998, Transnation- alism from Below, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Transaction Publishers (Comparative Urban and Community Research Se- ries, vol. 6). Somerville, Will, Jamie Durana and Aaron Matteo Terrazas, 2008, “Hometown Associations: An Untapped Resource for Immigrant Integration?”, Insight, July, pp. 1-24. Soyer, Daniel, 1997, Jewish Immigrant Associations and American Identity in New York, 1880-1939, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press. Stephen, Lynn, 2007, Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California and Oregon, Durham, NC/London, Duke University Press. Stepick, Alex, 1998, Pride against Prejudice. Haitians in the United States, Boston, Massachusetts, Allyn and Bacon (The New Im- migrants Series). Thompson, Ginger, 2005, “Mexico’s Migrants Profit from Dol- lars Sent Home”, The New York Times, New York, February 23, International Section, p. A1. Tsuda, Takeyuki, Zulema Valdez and Wayne A. Cornelius, 2003, “Human versus Social Capital, Immigrant Wages and Labor Market Incorporation in Japan and the United States”, in Jef- frey G. Reitz, ed., Host Societies and the Reception of Immigrants, La Jolla, California, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies-University of California, San Die go. United Nations Development Programme, 2005, “The Potential Role of Remittances in Achieving the Millennium Develop- ment Goals — An Exploration”, Roundtable on Remittances and the MDGs, New York, undp, October 10. Waldinger, Roger, 1986, Through the Eye of a Needle: Immigrants and Enterprise in New York’s Garment Trades, New York, New York University Press. Waldinger, Roger and Mehdi Bozorgmehr, eds., 1996, Ethnic Los Angeles, New York, Russell Sage Foundation. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 72Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 72 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. ESCALA-RIVER A-RODRÍGUEZ/IS MORE NECESSARILY BETTER? 73 Weiss, Carol H., 1998, Evaluation: Methods for Studying Programs and Policies, 2nd ed., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall. Wholey, Joseph S., Harry P. Hatry and Kathryn E. Newcomer, eds., 1994, Handbook of Practical Evaluation, San Francisco, California, Jossey-Bass Publishers. Whyte, W. F., D. J. Greenwood and P. Lazes, 1991, “Participa- tory Action Research: Through Practice to Science in Social Research”, in F. Whyte, ed., Participatory Action Research, New York, Sage, pp. 19-55. Wong, Bernard, 1998, Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship: The New Chinese Immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Mas- sachusetts, Allyn and Bacon (The New Immigrants Series). Yrizar, Guillermo [conference], 2009, “Agencias públicas para emi grantes internacionales en el centro occidente de México”, in “First Alumni Meeting”, Tijuana, Mexico, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, September 9. Yrizar, Guillermo and Rafael Alarcón, 2010, “Emigration Policy and State Governments in Mexico”, Migraciones Internaciona- les 19, vol. 5, num. 4, July-December. Zabin Carol and Luis Escala-Rabadán [working paper], 1998, “Mexican Hometown Associations and Mexican Immigrant Political Empowerment in Los Angeles”, Washington, DC, The Aspen Institute, Winter. Zabin, Carol et al., 1993, Mixtec Migrants in California Agricul- ture: A New Cycle of Poverty, Davis, California, California In- stitute for Rural Studies. Date of receipt: December 7, 2010. Date of acceptance: February 26, 2011. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 73Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 73 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m. Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 74Migraciones internacionales 21.indd 74 27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.27/06/2011 05:08:13 p.m.