When we all have one voice

This thesis explores findings from two years of ethnography and portraiture with a group of linguistically diverse immigrant mothers in a public housing project in Somerville, MA. The group organized with a local community based organization called The Welcome Project to advance interpretation and translation and intercultural education in a school that faced inequity in parent engagement and student learning. Participant observation, formal and informal interviews, document analysis, and grounded coding produced findings important to understanding how panethnic organizing can improve equity in parent engagement in schools and civic incorporation in diverse, immigrant communities. This layering of ethnography and portraiture is an important tool for conducting in-depth, longitudinal analysis of the complex social processes that lead to civic incorporation and the formation of panethnic partnerships. The Welcome Project used a theme-based adult English class; structured opportunities to exchange stories, values, and resources; a common identity as immigrants; and a focus on "language justice" to help a diverse group of women form an organization called The International Parents Group that engaged in decision making at their children's school. Organizing helped the group overcome isolation, language dominance, and fear of civic participation. This study guides organizers, educators, and activists to build panethnic organizations through structured interactions across linguistic and cultural differences. It examines the structural contexts in which panethnic organizing may be successful. It provides an in-depth case study of civic engagement and organizing for educational opportunity among the fastest growing demographic group in the United States: immigrants and their children.