Religious Congregations In Nurturing, Educating & Encouraging Immigrants’ Integration Into Society.

This year’s annual conference on Faith and Public Policy will examine the role of contemporary American churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples in nurturing, educating, and encouraging immigrants’ successful integration into American society. Although religious institutions have always played a critical role, the challenge today is perhaps more daunting given the enormous diversity of our current immigrant population.

The conference, presented by the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, will feature the results of an in-depth research study and a distinguished panel discussion led by project director, Joel Kotkin, Davenport Institute senior research fellow with presentations by author Gregory Rodriguez and researcher Karen Speicher on Tuesday, March 16 at the Pepperdine University Drescher Auditorium.

A group of unique religious leaders and scholars will participate at the conference, including:

* Reverend Ken Fong, Senior Pastor, Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles
* Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, American Jewish Committee
* Rebecca Y. Kim, Assistant Professor, Pepperdine University, Department of Sociology
* Ali Modarres, Associate Director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs and Professor, Department of Geography and Urban Analysis, California State University, Los Angeles
* Reverend Fernando Santillana, Associate Director of Connectional Ministries Ministerios Latinos, California-Pacific Annual Conference, The United Methodist Church

“Religious communities long have served as waystations for new immigrants,” says Gregory Rodriguez, author of the study and senior fellow at the New America Foundation. “They simultaneously allow newcomers to accentuate their ethnicities and ease their adjustment into their new society.

For many contemporary immigrants, faith is the realm in which they most intensely negotiate the transition from past to future. More than any other social institution, it is the churches, synagogues, and temples of Southern California that most influence today’s newcomers integration into American life.”