Margie McHugh
Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
Margie McHugh is Director of the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. The Center is a national hub for leaders in government, community affairs, business and academia to obtain the insights and knowledge they need to respond to the challenges and opportunities that today’s high rates of immigration pose for communities across the United States. It provides in-depth research, policy analysis, technical assistance, training and information resource services on a broad range of immigrant integration issues. Ms. McHugh’s work focuses on education quality and access issues for immigrants and their children from early childhood through K-12 and adult, post-secondary and workforce skills programs. She also leads the Center’s work seeking a more coordinated federal response to immigrant integration needs and impacts, and more workable systems for recognition of the education and work experience immigrants bring with them to the United States.
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Prior to joining MPI, Ms. McHugh served for 15 years as Executive Director of The New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella organization for over 150 groups in New York that uses research, policy development, and community mobilization efforts to achieve landmark integration policy and program initiatives. During her time with NYIC, Ms. McHugh oversaw research, writing, and publication of over a dozen reports dealing with issues such as the quality of education services provided to immigrant students in New York’s schools, the lack of availability of English classes for adult immigrants, the voting behavior of foreign-born citizens, and barriers faced by immigrants seeking to access health and mental health services.
Prior to joining NYIC, Ms. McHugh served as Deputy Director of New York City’s 1990 Census Project and as Executive Assistant to New York Mayor Ed Koch’s chief of staff. She is the recipient of dozens of awards recognizing her efforts to bring diverse constituencies together and tackle tough problems, including the prestigious Leadership for a Changing World award. She has served as a member and officer on the boards of directors for both the National Immigration Forum and Working Today; on the editorial board of Migration World Magazine; and has held appointive positions in a variety of New York city and state commissions, most notably the Commission on the Future of the City University of New York and the New York Workers’ Rights Board.
Ms. McHugh is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges.
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The Importance of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care for Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families
In this webinar, speakers examine the critical role of child care provided by family, friends, and neighbors (FFN) for immigrant families and program and policy approaches to more equitably serve and support FFN caregivers.
In this conversation, Margie McHugh, director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, chats with Ivana Tú Nhi Giang about the important role of integration, for immigrants themselves and the broader society, and the varying degrees of intentionality in integration policy design around the world.
On this webinar, MPI researchers examine common features and notable areas of innovation they found in a scan of state and local language access laws and policies in more than 40 states, along with practical insights that local governments can employ as they face growing linguistic diversity in their communities.
MPI experts discuss a framework describing the most critical elements that should be included in standardized, comprehensive DLL identification and tracking processes for early childhood systems, based on program and policy needs.
MPI analysts discuss their analysis comparing key sociodemographic characteristics of immigrant and U.S.-born parents of young and school-age children, along with the two-generational implications of these findings.
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As the United States becomes more diverse, changes in the cultural makeup of communities can challenge longstanding practices in human services delivery. This brief explores strategies service providers can employ to build their understanding of and responsiveness to the cultures of the communities they serve, leading to better outcomes for immigrant and refugee families.
Language barriers can hinder immigrant families’ access to services and make it challenging for immigrant parents to find family-sustaining jobs and actively participate in their children’s education. This brief explores approaches service providers are using to make their offerings more culturally and linguistically responsive, and to support language learning among children and their parents.
What status immigrants hold affects their access to U.S. public benefits and services. This brief examines approaches that two-generation programs are using to service immigrant families with a variety of statuses, including mixed-status families.
Building trust between service providers and immigrant and refugee families can be challenging, but it is also a key component of programs that successfully serve these families. This brief explores two-generation program strategies for creating trusting relationships, including hiring culturally competent staff and creating welcoming and safe spaces, and discusses the policy implications.
In this webinar, speakers examine the critical role of child care provided by family, friends, and neighbors (FFN) for immigrant families and program and policy approaches to more equitably serve and support FFN caregivers.
In this conversation, Margie McHugh, director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, chats with Ivana Tú Nhi Giang about the important role of integration, for immigrants themselves and the broader society, and the varying degrees of intentionality in integration policy design around the world.
On this webinar, MPI researchers examine common features and notable areas of innovation they found in a scan of state and local language access laws and policies in more than 40 states, along with practical insights that local governments can employ as they face growing linguistic diversity in their communities.
Many states and localities have language access laws and policies to ensure people who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) have effective access to essential public services and institutions. This report explores a wide range of common and unique features of these language access laws, highlighting how different jurisdictions have approached issues such as translation, interpretation, agency oversight, technical assistance, and community involvement.
New Data Resources Can Help Improve Targeting of State Early Childhood and Parent-Focused Programs
Federal WIOA Plan Requirements Ignore Opportunities to Support Equitable Access for Immigrant/LEP Adults
It is Time for Federal Agencies to Do More to Improve the Provision of Language Access Services
Mapping the Patchwork of State ‘DREAM Acts’ and Postsecondary Education Policies for Unauthorized Immigrant Youth
Danger Ahead for Aspiring Citizens as New Federal Workforce Law Is Implemented