Government policies and mission statements are always driven by terms and phrases. Whether they exist beyond looking good on paper and sounding strong in stump speeches is the dream that isn’t always realized. For Boston’s MOIA (Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement), the driving motivation rests in that final word: advancement. What does it mean? How is it measured? Can immigrants advance without successfully integrating themselves within the social fabric of their chosen land? What measures need to be taken in order to achieve that integration? Economic strength can only come from financial autonomy. Are immigrants being offered (and taking) opportunities to become their own bosses? Our nation’s table is long and rich with the bounty of hard work, perseverance, and single-minded determination. Do immigrants have an unconditional seat at that table?
Monique Tú Nguyen, Boston’s newly appointed Director of the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Achievement (MOIA), served ten years as the Executive Director of Matahari Women Workers Center, where her focus was advancing the rights and protections for domestic workers, women, immigrants, and their families. While there, she served as a steering committee member of massundocufund.org, in the early days of the COVID 19 pandemic, supporting undocumented men, women, and children with direct financial assistance in order to repair, rebuild, and revive their businesses, communities, and families. She was also pivotal in the successful passage of the 2014 Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights
Sampan recently had the opportunity to speak with Nguyen, a Vancouver, Canada native and proud daughter of Vietnam War refugees. It was a busy time for Nguyen, only one week after her August 16th appointment and four days into the unprecedented Orange Line MBTA shutdown. We covered that topic, and others, in a conversation edited for clarity and continuity
SAMPAN: Could you start by telling us about your experience and history with immigrant rights?
NGUYEN: I embarked on my journey with immigrant rights work as a formerly undocumented student. I was living in Texas and even though I’d gained status I still had a sense of injustice about my family members still struggling with being undocumented and thinking about all the other families out there that were just like mine, living in the shadows. I had an epiphany moment one day when I did a google search for “immigrant rights movement.” I didn’t know what ‘immigrant rights’ or ‘movement’ was but my search came up with so many campaigns and movements across the country, like California and New York. The first was too expensive and the second too scary. On the third page were some Massachusetts options. I saved up for six months of living expenses and came up here on a whim. After attending various meetings I came upon Matahari, my former employer. They resonated the most with me because of their work with immigrant women. That’s where I cut my teeth with organizing for immigrant rights. In the beginning I focused mainly on family reunification. Over time, it became more about building empowerment through channels like workforce development and the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.
SAMPAN: Stability, economic empowerment, civic ownership and social integration have always been important ideals for all of us here in Massachusetts. Could you elaborate on how important it is for immigrants to reach these objectives? What obstacles are still in the way and how are you working to remove them?
NGUYEN: Those are fundamental goals for all of us in the United States. Oftentimes, immigrants are not going to feel they have equal access to these goals, especially with language barriers. In my work I’ve come to find that people are more comfortable when they speak the language that is most comfortable with them. While they’re learning English they’re only using limited vocabulary. I’m hoping to do a lot of work within MOIA and the Equity and Inclusion office to build more language access so that immigrants can be working alongside non-immigrants here in Boston to make the city better, more inclusive and powerful, more civically engaged. [Programs include but are not limited to: The Dreamers Fellowship, Immigrant Information Corners, Immigrant Professionals Fellowship, Immigrants Lead Boston.] There are so many countries represented among our immigrant population that there’s no way the city of Boston can do it alone so we have to partner with many other organizations.
SAMPAN: COVID-19 has devastated so many aspects of our lives over these last two and a half years. Mental health issues often go unspoken, maybe because of cultural stigmas, but they’re even more apparent in all of us these days. What is MOIA doing right now to specifically address and repair the mental health problems that are further complicating immigrant advancement?
NGUYEN: That was something definitely revealed throughout COVID, and immigrants especially have less access to mental health care. MOIA has been able to share resources that will allow immigrants to improve their lives and survive during these times. There has been extreme isolation during COVID that has impacted our mental health. So many people had this moment of clarity where they felt like they could die alone. A lot of migrants are often here in this country alone or far from their families. MOIA’s mini-grants have helped a number of organizations this year, in pilot form, and we look forward to expanding the program more. I got to meet members of one of the organizations, Asian American Youthforce Workshop, last week. They spoke with me about the impact that even $6500 has had as their organization has been able to help members talk through the stigma, the depression and extreme isolation that impacted their ability to function every day. I’m really looking forward to expanding that program.
SAMPAN: Entrepreneurship and academic or political leadership have always been hallmarks of an American dream. We come here with the understanding that we can build our own businesses and create lives as doctors or state officials and these dreams happen for many of us. What is MOIA doing to ensure that newly arrived immigrants can have equal access to the same opportunities as those who have been here for generations?
NGUYEN: I’m confident in the work Mayor Wu has been doing across all aspects of her cabinet to ensure that residents who have been here for a while also get empowered. MOIA is trying to adjust the barriers immigrants have so they can equally access the same opportunities as people who speak English or have gone to school here. I am really excited about an initiative we have called Cooperative Business Support. This model has been found to best serve the needs of immigrant business people and we are looking to feature this as a new emergence business model for immigrants. The Dreamers Fellowship also goes a long way towards creating equity. Across the cabinet we are looking to uplift everyone. I understand if people wonder ‘why immigrants?’ but we’re really trying to maintain and sustain equity.
SAMPAN: Do you think there’s more of a cultural divide or a generational divide when it comes to us as a nation of immigrants working together?
NGUYEN: It’s both. It’s cultural and generational. Before we came here as immigrants, we all had our home cultures that upheld traditions. We passed on stories and practices that were so important to our heritage. We came here and were so busy just trying to survive that we lost languages, we lost traditions. We didn’t have cultural support. People have a distance within themselves from their cultures and it makes it harder for them to appreciate new immigrants. I’m hoping through MOIA that we can all start reclaiming our cultures. It’s interesting that people forget the struggles Italian immigrants went through when they first came to this country. There’s always an ongoing wave of who is the scapegoat. I hope through MOIA that we can build bridges across cultures. Learning our history will help create more solidarity. My whole point is to build more points of relation instead of points of division.
SAMPAN: How will the Driver’s License Bill help advance the causes most important to MOIA?
NGUYEN: Immigrants feeling they have equal access to opportunities is such a central foundation for functioning in daily life. Something as simple as a driver’s license will lower barriers. People have been living in fear of something so simple like picking up or dropping off their children or going to get food for dinner because they didn’t have a driver’s license. We’re hoping this will give people a sense of identity and validation in a different way. It will help them become more involved with the world and lessen the fear.
SAMPAN: We are in the midst of an unprecedented shutdown of the Orange Line in Boston. Many immigrants who live at either side of the line, in Malden or Forest Hills, are having to scramble for alternatives to commuting into the city for work. How is MOIA dealing with alleviating the fears of immigrants who don’t know what’s happening?
NGUYEN: The MOIA team, and the whole administration, has been so responsive, open, and communicative. There’s not a day that goes by right now where I’m not responding to groups or residents to get them clear answers to their questions and concerns. I’m proud of how everyone is working inter-agency and across government levels to respond to this MOIA has been working closely with community-based organizations on texting with local directors and organizers to help with anything, like getting things translated and organizing language access. We need to be responsive, open and communicative and be humble that we may not have the answers but we’re here with you to move through this together. If anything, I think it’s been galvanizing for people to start appreciating public transportation more. Without this situation, people wouldn’t have the impetus to create a movement for change. The next time this happens, if it does, we will have a more rapid response.
