Refugee Resettlement in Non-Traditional Immigrant Destinations

非传统移民目的地的难民安置

• 批准号: 1359895
• 负责人: Pablo Bose
• 金额: $ 20.76万
• 依托单位: University of Vermont & State Agricultural College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-15 至 2018-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1359895&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Refugee; Resettlement; Non; Traditional; Immigrant

Refugees are designated by the U.S. Federal government as immigrants who have been allowed to enter the U.S. to escape dangerous conditions in their countries of origin. Recent years have witnessed the movement of refugees to locales different from "gateway" cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco where they traditionally settled. This project will investigate the resettlement experience of refugees in small cities in the US, beginning in New England and eventually expanding the study to other sites in the South, Midwest, and Northwest. This project will build on the work of other social scientists who have studied the effects of such settlement patterns -- what the economic impacts might be, how refugees are adjusting to new lives, how their children are doing in school, and how their new homes are adjusting to unfamiliar faces. Many of these new destinations do not have long histories of integrating newcomers into their midst, making it important to ask what kinds of impacts are being felt in local schools, industries, and social services because of this influx. These are important questions not only for researchers, but also for urban planners and civic leaders, for policymakers, and for residents in these communities. Because the project is being conducted in concert with community organizations, including mutual aid associations, resettlement agencies, and local social service providers, researchers will generate useful information and insights regarding why refugees are being placed in small cities without large existing immigrant populations, what the refugees' experience of settlement has been, and if and how their new communities are being transformed by their arrival. The project will result in a model with tools and data to assist scholars, policymakers, service providers, community leaders and refugees understand and improve the resettlement experience in new destinations throughout the U.S.This project investigates resettlement processes in three stages. First, researchers will conduct interviews with the decision makers who send refugees to their initial resettlement destinations and with the local leaders who are in charge of helping the newcomers adjust to their arrival. Second, the project will survey a number of recent refugees regarding their experiences on two occasions -- shortly after they first arrive they will be asked about their expectations for their new life, and one year later the same group will be asked questions about their actual experiences. These surveys will examine a range of important aspects of refugee and immigrant life including education, employment, healthcare, housing, social integration, and transportation. Finally, researchers will conduct a series of workshops on perceptions of landscape change, some with recently arrived refugees and others with long-term residents of the neighborhoods into which they have been placed. These workshops will draw on important tools in geographic research including mental and sketch mapping, photography, and qualitative GIS. Together these various forms of inquiry will help to develop a model for incorporating data-driven local knowledge on resettlement -- from both refugees and the communities where they live -- into regional and national planning on refugee placement and reception. Incorporating such local knowledge into policymaking has the potential for creating better outcomes in refugee resettlement across the country.

难民是美国联邦政府指定的移民，他们被允许进入美国以逃避原籍国的危险条件。 近年来，难民向不同于“门户”城市的地方流动，例如他们传统上定居的纽约、芝加哥和旧金山弗朗西斯科。 该项目将调查美国小城市难民的重新安置经验，从新英格兰开始，最终将研究扩展到南部、中西部和西北部的其他地点。该项目将建立在其他社会科学家的工作基础上，这些社会科学家研究了这种定居模式的影响-经济影响可能是什么，难民如何适应新的生活，他们的孩子在学校的表现如何，以及他们的新家如何适应陌生的面孔。 这些新的目的地中，许多都没有将新来者融入其中的长期历史，因此，询问当地学校、工业和社会服务部门因这种涌入而受到何种影响是很重要的。 这些问题不仅对研究人员，而且对城市规划者和公民领袖、政策制定者以及这些社区的居民都很重要。 由于该项目是与社区组织，包括互助协会、重新安置机构和当地社会服务提供者合作进行的，研究人员将获得有用的信息和见解，了解为什么难民被安置在没有大量现有移民人口的小城市，难民的定居经历是什么，以及他们的到来是否以及如何改变他们的新社区。 该项目将产生一个具有工具和数据的模型，以帮助学者，政策制定者，服务提供者，社区领袖和难民了解和改善整个美国新目的地的重新安置经验。 首先，研究人员将与将难民送往最初安置目的地的决策者以及负责帮助新来者适应他们抵达的当地领导人进行访谈。 第二，该项目将在两个场合调查一些最近的难民的经历----在他们第一次到达后不久，将询问他们对新生活的期望，一年后，将询问同一组人的实际经历。 这些调查将审查难民和移民生活的一系列重要方面，包括教育，就业，医疗保健，住房，社会融合和交通。 最后，研究人员将举办一系列关于景观变化感知的研讨会，其中一些研讨会是针对最近抵达的难民，另一些研讨会则是针对他们所处社区的长期居民。 这些研讨会将利用地理研究中的重要工具，包括心理和草图映射，摄影和定性GIS。 这些各种形式的调查将有助于开发一个模型，将来自难民及其居住社区的数据驱动的当地重新安置知识纳入难民安置和接待的区域和国家规划中。 将这种当地知识纳入决策，有可能在全国各地的难民重新安置方面取得更好的成果。