New York City

During the 1980s when New York City allowed noncitizens to participate in the city’s 32 Community School Boards, which had the power to hire superintendents and principals and allocate funding for certain programs, many school districts were characterized by over crowed schools, out of date books, lack of language access or cultural competency, crumbling facilities, no after school programs—all combining to produce poor education for the students, which contributed to and further perpetuated the low socio-economic status of their families.

In Washington Heights, a predominantly Dominican section of northern Manhattan, a vibrant voter registration drive in 1986 brought in 10,000 parent voters—most of them immigrants—who turned out in record numbers. This political mobilization led to the election on the local school board of a majority of advocates for immigrants, including the first Dominican ever elected in the U.S., Guillermo Linares, who became the president of the school board.

These developments, in turn, contributed to improvements in the schools and helped reshape community politics. (Linares became a City Councilmember, head of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, and is currently a New York State Assemblyman.) As a result of this mobilization the city devoted more funds to improve and build new schools in Washington Heights.

In the end, it was not only Dominicans that benefited. All community residents -- including Irish, Italian, Jewish, Puerto Rican and Black families who lived there -- benefited from improved education opportunities. Moreover, it was not just residents in Washington Heights who benefited: similarly, voter mobilization efforts yielded school budgets that grew in other districts in New York City, producing improvements in student and family outcomes.

Although these patterns were not evident in all 32 school boards, data shows during the 1990s parent voters comprised between 15% and 41% of votes cast in school board elections

Importantly, these examples were not isolated to districts in New York City; similar positive results are also evident in other cities where immigrants have voted, such as in Chicago and Maryland..