August 8, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The author of a study that was featured in Give & Take recently says that The Chronicle and bloggers mischaracterized his findings.
Harvard University’s Robert D. Putnam writes that his recent study shows that while civic engagement, including charitable giving and volunteering, declines in ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the short term, over a number of years immigration and diversity have many positive effects on society.
In the past America has successfully adjusted to new populations entering the country, he writes, and today entities such as Catholic and evangelical churches and the U.S. Army are helping to build a more cohesive society.
He argues that the process of assimilation — “fostering a wider sense of ‘we’” — needs to be encouraged by, for example, through the construction of community centers where people across ethnic lines can interact.
What do you think? What can nonprofit groups do to foster the positive benefits of diversity and immigration? Click on the comments link below to share your thoughts.
