We propose an interactive report back from the Latin American Migrant Community Summit that is taking place in May of 1007 in Morelia Michoacán, Mexico, which I describe below. The USSF will be a great opportunity to share the results of this historic gathering of Latin American migrant communities from all over the hemisphere. Our goal is to have a session during the social forum that reports on the results of the Summit and engages participants in a dialogue and reflection about how to follow up on the resolutions on migration and development issues that emerge from the Migrant Summit.

Description of the Summit:

The Americas is a hemisphere of migrants. Virtually all countries in the Americas experience some form of migration. As migration has increased dramatically in the past two decades, so have migrant organizations begun to form in many countries. These organizations take many forms, but they share a concern with building healthy communities, both in their adopted countries, and in their places of origin.
Over the past 18 months, a group of migrant leaders from organizations whose members emigrated from the Americas have been meeting to develop a space for information-sharing and joint strategy setting for Latino and Caribbean migrant leaders. The goal of this initiative is to position organized groups of Latin American immigrants as protagonists in the development of healthy communities, both in destination countries and in countries of origin.
Several hundred migrant leaders will use the Summit as a space to learn from each other about the many different forms of Latino and Caribbean migrant organizing taking place in the Americas and Europe. Groups will share learning about different approaches to decision-making and base-building, as well as fundraising and other institutional development strategies. The Summit will also give migrant-led groups the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the various policy spaces where decisions are made that affect migrants and their families, both at the national level and multi-lateral venues. An important objective of the Summit will be to amplify and exchange lessons learned about collective remittances and the possibility of making such social investments a more effective tool for supporting equitable and sustainable local development
Other issues of concern that will be addressed at the Summit include:

• Economic, cultural and social roots of migration
• Legal frameworks for managing migration and migrants rights across borders
• Migration from a gender perspective
• Social consequences of migration/impacts on families
• Public perception of migrants, and the need to articulate positive media messages on migrants and migration
• Human rights and migration (including social, economic and cultural rights)
• Culture and identity and the challenges for constructive integration efforts – with a focus on engaging the second generation
• Xenophobia and racism – strategies for overcoming these issues through healthy integration
• Leadership development: challenges, and how to overcome them
• The role of migrant communities in articulating new local and national development strategies
• The relationship between migration, remittances, and development
• Education – challenges for transnational communities