The Institute on Immigrant Integration Research & Policy is pleased to announce a call for abstracts for its second annual conference on immigrant integration.

The one-day conference titled, “Engineering Cohesive Communities: Social Integration of Foreign-Born Americans,” will be held virtually.

The conference will bring together practitioners, policymakers, policy implementers, and researchers to discuss the most pressing challenges and examine creating unified and cohesive communities that foster a sense of belonging, facilitate collective well-being, and cultivate trust in institutions of society. Papers that showcase promising models and practices that promote social integration and cohesion are invited. The conference will feature two tracks as follows:

Track One | Community Models of Engineering Social Cohesion

Connected communities that promote collective well-being, narrow the social distance among its members, and intentionally activate skills of empathy and altruism are healthy and productive communities. They are communities that have the capacity to combat exclusionary narratives, promote social unity and cohesion, and respond effectively in protecting their members at times of disasters and crises.

Presentations tackling the following topics that explore lessons learned, strategies that effectively and efficiently dismantle barriers to implementation, and recommendations for scaling up, replicating, and sustaining these interventions are invited. Topics include (but are not limited to):

• Inclusive Workplace Cultures that enable foreign-born workers to thrive in the multicultural workplace and cultivate understanding and appreciation of difference.
• Educational systems that facilitate the social integration of refugees, asylees, and other immigrant children. Institutional arrangements that increase capacity for English language learning and bilingual education. Models of school interventions that can facilitate social and mental well-being for immigrant children.
• Models that foster academic success of foreign-born students in higher education and promote a welcoming climate.
• Efforts that develop and organize communities, build coalitions, and activate place-based programs, civic engagement, and intergroup collaborations.
• Cross-sector partnerships that dismantle isolation, and foster social cohesion.

Track Two | Inclusive Governance for Advancing Social Integration

There is consensus that good governance promotes citizen participation, pluralism, equity, inclusion, accountability, and transparency. Local government is responsible for integrating foreign-born residents into the fabric of their communities by ensuring services and programs that address their unique needs; promoting welcoming climates that foster social cohesion and preventing discrimination, and instituting place-based initiatives that guard against segregation and stigmatization. Immigrants are members of the local communities whose needs and voices must be reflected in all local policies and practices.

Presentations tackling the following topics that explore lessons learned, strategies that effectively and efficiently dismantle barriers to implementation, and recommendations for scaling up, replicating, and sustaining these interventions are invited. Topics include (but are not limited to):

• Mechanisms that ensure responsive planning and budgeting that take into consideration narrowing the distance between foreign and native-born communities and promoting cohesion.
• Mechanisms for formal and informal participation of foreign-born residents in decision-making of local government.
• Adaptations of mainstream services and programs so that all members of the community have unrestricted access to healthcare, employment, and education as well as safety.
• Models of targeted services and programs including language training and skill development that address the unique needs of this population.

Proceedings of the conference will be published and will include practice and policy recommendations that emerge from the conference.