Striving to Thrive: Community Cultural Wealth and Legal Immigration Status

Researchers in this qualitative study explored the perspectives and experiences of individuals with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status or without authorized immigration status in a way that was strengths-based and humanizing, as opposed to critical and blaming. The researchers drew from a community cultural wealth (CCW) theoretical model in order to focus on the resilience and persistence of people who are striving and attempting to thrive in a new receiving area in the southeast U.S. Twelve Latinx participants in new immigrant communities were interviewed. An interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) qualitative research design was employed and themes identified. The themes reflected participants experiences (e.g., wanting a chance to contribute, experiencing discrimination, seeking to be acknowledged as human beings, persisting in spite of adversity, being an ambassador to English speaking groups), which were organized post-hoc under the CCW framework. The discussion includes recommendations to recognize and bolster these strengths in the community as well as confronting the structural biases that undermine them. Findings in this study are significant for psychologists and other helping professionals in emerging immigrant communities who may need tools to push back on deficit-based narratives about immigrants.