Barriers to Ambition across Class, Race, Ethnicity, and National Origin

This chapter examines barriers to ambition based on class, race, ethnicity, and national origin. It notes that many nations do a better job in delivering on the American Dream than America does. The United States has lower rates of intergenerational mobility than other comparable countries. The public radically underestimates barriers to ambition based on race, class, and ethnicity and the resource disparities in families, schools, and support structures that hobble disadvantaged youth. Americans also fail to address the racial barriers and biases that persist across class. Children of some recent immigrant groups are an exception to these patterns and have higher ambitions and achievements than children of similar backgrounds with American-born parents. But those advantages fade with each generation, and even members of “model minorities” confront disabling stereotypes and marginalization. Society pays a substantial price for the failure to address these inequalities, and the chapter closes with key reform priorities.

The Wealth of Immigrants: Expanding our Understanding of Immigrant Economic Integration in Canada

Wealth is a key feature of immigrants' successful economic integration in Canada, while more broadly contributing to their level of social inclusion and sense of self-efficacy throughout the life course. Yet, immigrant wealth has been largely ignored in the Canadian literature. Current analyses of immigrant economic integration focus primarily on labour market outcomes and growing earnings inequalities. This body of literature would be greatly enriched by strengthened understandings of immigrant savings, consumption, asset accumulation and investment. This paper thus brings together the fragmented and scarce literature related to immigrant wealth; consequently merging literatures from different fields and generating an important disucssion of the overarching issues affecting immigrant wealth in Canada. A critical review of the literature reveals that recent immigrant cohorts face increasing economic inequality compared to the Canadian born population and established immigrants, while wealth is increasingly polarized among recent immigrant groups. These trends have profound implications for the long-term economic well-being of immigrants in Canada, particularly as they reach retirement age.

The barriers faced by recent immigrant women in Hamilton and Toronto's rental housing markets

The overall purpose of this paper is to add to the existing body of literature on the housing situation and needs of recent immigrant households by placing the unique experiences of recent immigrant women at the centre of the study. It will begin with a review of the existing literature on immigration and housing, with a particular focus on the barriers facing newcomers in the rental housing market. Based on data from Statistics Canada, the Longitudinal Study of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), studies conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and interviews with persons with demonstrated knowledge of the barriers facing newcomer women searching for adequate, suitable and affordable housing, this paper aims to provide an overview of the difficulties that many newcomer women face in their search for and retention of housing in Hamilton and Toronto. It also includes a series of recommendations addressing some of these barriers.

The barriers faced by recent immigrant women in Hamilton and Toronto's rental housing markets

The overall purpose of this paper is to add to the existing body of literature on the housing situation and needs of recent immigrant households by placing the unique experiences of recent immigrant women at the centre of the study. It will begin with a review of the existing literature on immigration and housing, with a particular focus on the barriers facing newcomers in the rental housing market. Based on data from Statistics Canada, the Longitudinal Study of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), studies conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and interviews with persons with demonstrated knowledge of the barriers facing newcomer women searching for adequate, suitable and affordable housing, this paper aims to provide an overview of the difficulties that many newcomer women face in their search for and retention of housing in Hamilton and Toronto. It also includes a series of recommendations addressing some of these barriers.

The Wealth of Immigrants: Expanding our Understanding of Immigrant Economic Integration in Canada

Wealth is a key feature of immigrants' successful economic integration in Canada, while more broadly contributing to their level of social inclusion and sense of self-efficacy throughout the life course. Yet, immigrant wealth has been largely ignored in the Canadian literature. Current analyses of immigrant economic integration focus primarily on labour market outcomes and growing earnings inequalities. This body of literature would be greatly enriched by strengthened understandings of immigrant savings, consumption, asset accumulation and investment. This paper thus brings together the fragmented and scarce literature related to immigrant wealth; consequently merging literatures from different fields and generating an important disucssion of the overarching issues affecting immigrant wealth in Canada. A critical review of the literature reveals that recent immigrant cohorts face increasing economic inequality compared to the Canadian born population and established immigrants, while wealth is increasingly polarized among recent immigrant groups. These trends have profound implications for the long-term economic well-being of immigrants in Canada, particularly as they reach retirement age.

Newcomers And Food Insecurity: A Critical Literature Review On Immigration And Food Security

In Canada, recent immigrant households are more likely to be food insecure than non-immigrant households. This is important for Canada, which receives approximately 250,000 permanent residents each year, as food security is linked to how immigrants perceive membership, reconstruct identity, and integrate successfully. Literature on immigration and food insecurity exists; however, it has not been collected or analyzed through an in-depth, critical review. This paper comprises the findings of a review of Canadian and international literature on barriers to food security for immigrants and their children. It includes sources from the academic, interdisciplinary literature in addition to government and non-government primary data, and considers the experiences of immigrants in terms of availability, accessibility, adequacy, acceptability, and agency of food. This review provides an understanding of the research that exists on the causes of food insecurity for newcomers, as well as identifies gaps in the literature and recommendations for further research.