The Newcomers Challenge in California

California is home to more immigrants than any other state in the country. With limited supportive organizations, a majority of immigrants are left out of benefiting from the available resources. They are struggling to achieve at least a basic level of self-sustainability for a longer period of time. This situation not only impacts the lives of the immigrants themselves but also puts a burden on public agencies trying to stretch tax dollars on different public support programs. This is sad, but perhaps not surprising given the state of our public support entities and the complexity of maintaining California's public standard of life. California’s public assistance organizations are overwhelmed and many lack the funds to provide basic resources, let alone to provide up-to-date welfare care, build education systems for skilled workforce, or create equitable opportunities for these newcomers. This disparity is even more visible in populated metropolitan areas more suitable for new comers. Large cities are deemed critically overcrowded above the recommended population density level. This situation creates a domino effect putting strain on housing market, public schools, recreational facilities, public health system and as whole the standard quality of life. Cultural and language barriers greatly impacts California’s immigrant communities. In addition, many cities are a melting pot of immigrants from many cultural backgrounds. California is one of the states with more diverse immigrant population and successfully integrating in such a diversity of cultures requires some fundamental changes in California’s distribution of resources available to immigrants.