Mission & Vision

The National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC) is the nation’s largest gathering of the entire sector working on behalf of America’s immigrants and refugees and is the  annual gathering of the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA). Since its inception in 2008, it has grown to become a broad, diverse, highly collegial and collaborative space that consistently draws over 1,200 leaders from more than 450 organizations across the United States, as well as a growing cohort of international partners from Canada, Europe and Mexico. To ensure that NIIC is accessible to the broadest audience possible, each year the conference is held in a different region of the country and is co-anchored by key NPNA partners at the national, regional and local level. Amidst one of the most virulently anti-immigrant, anti-refugee administrations in American history and a global pandemic, the stakes for immigrants and refugees in the historic November elections could not be higher. 

NIIC 2020 will be the first gathering post-election for the entire field focused on immigrants and refugees. Pivotal conversations and strategizing about the 2021 landscape -- one that will either be game-changing and renew possibilities for lasting policy change that advances equity and enfranchisement for all or mark a doubling down on the division and injustice that has characterized the last years -- will be at the heart of the conference. 

Sited in Nevada, and anchored by a consortium of leaders in Western States, including California, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, Washington and Utah, NIIC will uplift the diversity, breadth and scale of America’s immigrant and refugee communities, the experience of border and new gateway states, states that span the political spectrum, and those whose demographic and voter block trends -- including large Latinx, Asian & Pacific Islander, African Diasporic, Middle Eastern and Indigenous communities -- bring important lessons for the country. Shared access, prosperity, health, opportunity, power and interdependence for all who call America home will be at the core.

NIIC 2020 will also concretely:

  • Serve as the key post-election hub for strategy and connection across the sector.

  • Work with key partners to advance key strategies -- such as NPNA’s New American Dreams Platform, the idea that worker rights are immigrant rights, the full inclusion of the African Diaspora and Asian & Pacific Islander immigrants in our movement and nation -- through concrete policy proposals and practical actions at the local, state, and federal level that support dignity for New Americans and benefit all Americans.   

  • Engage key national civic, political and policy leaders to commit to advance pro-immigrant policies, and urgent economic and health supports for immigrant communities in the wake of the pandemic.

  • Uplift the power, innovation and leadership on immigration and refugee issues of Western States.

  • Vision and power-forward a more transformational solidarity and unity that fully encompasses all immigrant and refugee communities.

  • Coalesce, align and power a unified, positive and inclusive message about immigrants and refugees that shapes the narrative and policy landscape.

  • Support the policy priorities of our national and regional partners through tracks, plenaries, and mini-convenings.

  • Support New American participation in our democracy, through activism, naturalization and engagement with the electoral process and elected officials.

  • Celebrate New American contributions to our nation's economy, as workers, entrepreneurs, and consumers, and pursue equity for New Americans and all Americans.

  • Provide training and education on the key issues affecting New Americans.

  • Share best policies, practices, and research on successful civic, economic, and language immigrant integration including key success stories and models at the municipal, state-level and regional.

  • Strengthen connections, relationships and collaborations across the different sectors, ethnicities, and funders of our movement.

NIIC celebrates our commitment to an inclusive democracy that welcomes, integrates and uplifts all, recognizing the vital contributions and impact all communities have on our nation. The conference is an inspiring, collegial and intersectional space that showcases the expertise and innovation of a wide range of leaders, organizations, and networks all working on behalf of America’s immigrants and refugees and towards a shared vision of a welcoming democracy.