The Human Service Landscape in the Midwestern USA: A Mixed Methods Study of Human Service Equity among the New American Population

Abstract

As demographic shifts are occurring in many urban cities in the USA, human service organisations (HSOs) are challenged to provide services conducive to the local region's demographic profile. In order to create urban societies where immigrant populations can thrive, prosper and become productive citizens, it is important to understand the human service landscape of the region. As part of a larger community-based participatory research project, this study explores human services geared towards the New American population in a midwestern region of the USA. This includes human service access and utilisation, as well as barriers and facilitators of human service provision and delivery, among the growing New American population. Based on the responses received from a web-based survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, this study (N = 165) uses a human service equity lens to situate HSOs and community capacity at the centre of migration and human service research. Knowledge gained from this study will help promote improved service delivery systems; address the quality of direct services; and improve accessibility, accountability and service coordination among HSOs to serve the diverse New American population, which can be replicated to many other similar urban regions across the globe.