Before I published my book, "The Legal Alien's Guide", I thought that the main
problem was that the information was not readily available to people and it was hard to filter it down to find organizations that would really help you to find a job or start/develop your own business in
Chicagoland if you are new to the city. I naively believed that when I collect all the information and put it in an easy-to-use guide all problems will be resolved. I was wrong.
The biggest problem is that a lot of private and government organizations set up to help people actually prevent you from getting to the information you need and this is how it happens:
1.
Some of the organizations will not move their finger if it is not financially beneficial to them. I came to several
organisations working with international communities in Chicago and they appreciated the value of my book but they said that they will inform their members about it only if I pay them. Which means that those immigrant that signed up as members with them and in some instance paid (!) for membership are prevented from getting the information which they are entitled to get.
2.
Some organizations are afraid of competition. I have about 200 associations, groups and clubs listed in my book so that every person can find something for his/her own needs, which may mean much better and more tailored services than they are getting currently (in case they are already receiving help from an organization). So I had a situation several times when an organization refused to post a link to my book on their website saying that "they already have all useful links their members may need". In reality they usually have 5 to 10 links that after my thorough investigation usually turn out to be non-competitive "nominal" links that don't threaten to take away members from this group because they provide similar (and may be better services)
3. Some organizations were created by one individual and though this person did a great job helping at least some people it would be too ambitious to think that 1 person can help
everybody. However this type of organizations do not let the information about resources in my book to reach people because
they consider themselves really good at networking and it seems to me that it bothers them that the idea to write a guide similar to mine didn't come to them first. They ignore all my requests to help in communicating to their members that new resources are available and feels like a dead end.
4. Not all government organizations are helpful either:
one Illinois organization specifically set up to help immigrants refused to use my book to help the people they work with because... they simply didn't like the title of it.And I am not asking them to sell my book, I am just asking them to let people know that it exists. I never expected that there will be such a resistance from all these organizations because they all claim on their websites that they were set up to help, inform, educate, etc.
So what can you do? Spread the word about the Guide - people have the right to know about resources available to them. If you are a member of any networking, immigrant, student or any other organization - ask them to send out the information about the book to their members, especially if you paid for membership, you paid to get information which you are not actually getting. If your organization has a resources library ask them to have a copy or two of the Guide there, again, you have the right for it. It will take a lot of effort to change people's selfish mentality but together we can do it!
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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com
