Successful integration builds communities that are stronger economically and more inclusive socially and culturally. In that way, the aim of the projects is to reduce the causes of non-integration like tensions between different social groups, avoid processes of ghettoization, unequal job opportunities and polarized cities.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
​
-
Immigrant assistance centers - located in strategic points of the city (our proposal for the Gdansk case-study: Gdansk Wrzeszcz, Gdansk Oliwa, Gdansk Stocznia) - this centers shall be seen as places where immigrants can go to consult what they need, assess their skills, and also to provide them with social aid in the form of vouchers and packages.
-
Assign part of the city budget to offer immigrants workspaces, work materials and workshops for free so they can start creating businesses to establish themselves in the local economy.
-
Immigrant's market - located near the advisory centers - place where they can sell their handmade works or exchange things.
-
Vouchers - at the arrival each of immigrant will get free vouchers for first aid things like food, clothes, cleanliness measures.
-
Free life insurance for students and workers.
-
Mobile app - to provide immigrants with updated information in their native languages about: prices of goods in local markets, location of hospitals and health care centers by districts, maps, city infrastructures, information about useful legislation and links to local authorities, and updates on job offers and language and skill courses.
LONG-TERM RESPONSE
-
Networking - establish connections between industries and community partners.
-
Grant programs - financial assistance for direct programs, services and activities that enhanced the quality for residents. It shall be noticed that grant programs should be available both for locals and immigrants, on a basis of risk situations and where this grants should be given for programs that will benefit the whole society.
-
One-on-one business consultations, so immigrants can understand the requirements for establishing businesses in the new country, and to help them develop their own ideas.
-
Work offices for foreigners - help in job seeking - connected to the first aid advisory centers, and in order to help them find jobs for which they are properly qualified. Work offices should also be able to help to evaluate the immigrants own achievements in ways that will be more suitable for the country’s own economy. For example, skilled workers should be distributed according to needs and skills and provide they receive courses to assess.
-
Inclusive social housing - the aim is to solve the citie's needs for social housing, encouraging the creation of new slow-rent developments. Slow-rent developments aim to address the needs of not only immigrants but also low-income locals that might have troubles accessing the housing ladder. The concept of slow-rent development aims to exponentially increase or decrease the costs of renting apartments accordingly to the income and main activity of the tenants.
In long-time perspective we hope that our solutions will encourage immigrants to invite their families to the city so they can feel at home and the money will stay in internal circuits, to help develop the city's economy.