Moving Toward a Better Life
Crossing Borders: Deepening Collaboration between NGOs Serving the Immigrant Community through Community-Based Learning
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marcy Campos, Ludy Grandas
Metropolitan areas, such as Washington, DC, are a hub for diverse immigrant communities. From the late 1970s (the Cold War era) to the current time, Central Americans have arrived in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) area. University courses with community-based learning (CBL) at their core offer students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the push and pull factors that drew people from “Northern Triangle” countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) to this area. By engaging directly with the nongovernmental organizations which serve the local Latin community, students expand their global competencies and explore ways to address the myriad of challenges faced. NGOs are key to promoting the integration of migrants, refugees, and asylum speakers. Groups such as United We Dream which supports “dreamers,” Trabajadores Unidos, which works with day laborers, and the Congregation Action Network which address sanctuary, detention, and deportation, help students understand the current climate faced by the immigrant community and the role of both direct service and community organizing. Two specific courses provide the basis for this powerful pedagogy: “The Latino Community of the DC Metropolitan Area” and “Spanish Topics: Latina/o Migration, Identity, and Labor." We examine the key elements that make this experience impactful and reciprocal, building strong campus-community collaboration and bridging differences related to class, race, and ethnicity. At the height of the national debate over immigration policy, this pedagogy brings a critical issue to life.
Fleeing a War Zone: LGBTI Asylum Seekers Running Towards Freedom
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Richard Greggory Johnson III
LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex) individuals living in countries that are oppressive are in the middle of a war zone. The war zone meaning that their lives are in danger if anyone discovered that they were LGBT. In the 2019 there are currently many countries where being LGBT can cost a person their life. The United States Department of State has listed on their at-risk website LGBTI persons. Indeed, LGBTI persons may be targeted and harassed in their home country due to sexual orientation, perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression. Therefore, fleeing to another country is their only option for living. However, the narrative about refugees and asylum seekers often does not include LGBTI persons. Since this is the case, public officials nor NGO organizations know how to assist these persons. There is no doubt that many LGBTI persons seeking asylum status slip under the radar in their new country. They have little money, may not speak the language, and have little prospects for work. In many cases LGBTI persons must result to sex work and living on the streets. Therefore, their lives are almost the same horror as in the country they fled. This paper focuses on LGBTI asylum seekers and what types of services are available to them in their new country and how they actually fare. The paper ends with recommendations for how LGBTI asylum seekers can recover from trauma and become a full fledged productive and proud citizens.
The Building Refugee Initiatives to Develop Goals for Educational Success Program: A Mentorship Model for Improving Refugee Access to Higher Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kayte Thomas
Conflict and displacement by nature separate individuals from academic settings, and access to education for refugees is therefore a matter of social justice concern. Studies indicate that refugees disproportionately lack access to college education, despite having a desire to attend. Additionally, refugees are not only receptive to peer mentorship programs but are actually requesting them when asked about their educational needs.The BRIDGES program (Building Refugee Initiatives to Develop Goals for Educational Success) is a research-based design intended to support high school juniors and seniors who are either refugees or children of refugees in gaining a deeper understanding of the college entrance process while becoming more acquainted with the expectations of the college setting. This program pairs refugee high school students with college mentors in an innovative cross-cultural model of service learning. It aims to address and reduce the structural barriers in place that hinder access to higher education for refugee learners. The BRIDGES program has already been implemented at the community college level in the United States and is easily replicable at any college or university setting worldwide.
Autonomy, Migration, and Trauma: Case Study of Syrian Women Refugees/Asylum Seekers in the UK
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nour Hadjadj
The ongoing conflict in Syria forced many women to cross borders independently in order to flee, and in the process, they started challenging a number of social boundaries. Arguably, Syrian women gained more autonomy following the 2011 events, in ways unimaginable before the conflict. However, the impact of war and displacement they experienced had affected the way they interact with the outside world after resettlement. Some of them have been labelled as ‘mentally ill’. Overall, the effects of the experiences of being a refugee for women and the role this plays in their lives are poorly understood. This research aims at understanding female migration on various levels. It aims at considering the psychological distress they go through, assess their ways of addressing the challenges they face and examine to what extent they can exert autonomy during and after relocation. In order to do so, the research employs the concepts of Autonomy of Migration (AoM), Feminism and the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF). These concepts highlight the importance of moving away from the traditional theories and looking at the individuality of refugees in responding to social facts like forced displacement and trauma from the perspective of female refugees themselves as autonomous agents. This research uses qualitative data from doing ethnographies in three sites around the UK, mainly (Leicester, Nottingham, Canterbury) where encounters with female refugees allow for an insight into their experiences and life stories.
A Whole-of-Community Approach to Rural Refugee Resettlement in Australia: Local Community Response to Ezidi Inclusion in Armidale
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Trina Soulos
Successive Australian governments have turned to rural areas to welcome refugees. Indeed, the 2019 national review of refugee settlement outcomes recommended 50% humanitarian entrants be placed in rural localities by 2022. Armidale is Australia’s newest rural refugee resettlement location. Since 2018, Armidale received 600 Ezidi refugees. SSI provides settlement services under the federal Humanitarian Settlement Program. In tandem, SSI delivers community engagement, instrumental to integration and community cohesion. This study addresses local responses to refugee resettlement. Successful integration involves mutual adaptation and shared responsibility by everyone, including newcomers, host communities and governments. In recognition, SSI adopted a whole-of-community approach to rural resettlement. ‘All In For Armidale’ captures the whole-of-community approach to rural refugee resettlement. It overlays local case-studies with the strategic pillars of community engagement practice, relaying important aspirations the Ezidi hold for their future in Armidale. Joint research by SSI and University New England empirically gauged community responses to refugees arriving in Armidale at regular intervals, assessing Armidale’s attitudes, concerns, responses throughout the first 18 months of settlement. Findings revealed increasingly positive attitudes across clusters of the local community. Over time, community members reported more positive contact with refugees, increased willingness to help refugees, and perceived the community to be more positive toward refugees coming to Armidale. This was tempered by a minority of people who expressed concerns, however this decreased across the surveys.
