2025 CDS Annual Conference

Description of the Present and Respond panel

The field of refugee studies outlines several domains that evidence suggests are of central importance to achieving integration – the long-term goal of resettlement. Equally important is the role that receiving communities play in facilitating integration. The presenter, a city planner by training who is deeply involved in refugee resettlement through his work and volunteer activities, is exploring how the theory and practice of community development can help achieve refugee integration and link resettlement to local development. The presenter will share examples from practice and invite responders to comment and critique from their perspectives as scholars.

It may seem an odd time to be thinking about long-term refugee resettlement considering the program in the U.S. has been suspended by the Trump administration. But the program could be restarted if various lawsuits prevail, and there are hundreds of thousands who began their resettlement in the U.S. before this year. And the U.S. is not the only country that resettles (or resettled) refugees; overseas experience can help inform U.S. approaches, and vice versa. Furthermore at some point the entire refugee program in the U.S. may be re-invented, at which time new ideas might contribute to the discussion.