How do they come to the U.S.?
What happens to them oncethey arrive?
Learn answers to these and other
frequently asked questions about
refugee resettlement.
The International Institute of MN is a
refugee resettlement agency that
provides a continuum of services to new
Americans.
Spring 2012
The Research Group won Best Community Initiative Award at the spring 2012 SCSU Community Engagement Fair.
Research Group Director Stephen Philion recently won the prestigious National Campus Compact Thomas Erlich Community Engaged Faculty Finalist Award.
Yes, we're doing the conference again, next spring! Already the University of Minnesota's Immigration History Research Center has agreed to cosponsor next year's Global Goes Local Conference and made a generous $1,000 to our foundation account.
On April 12th and 13th, 2010, the Faculty Research Group held its first annual “The Global Goes Local: The Social Conditions of Immigrant Workers and Families in Minnesota Conference. The 2 day -conference included panels that presented various collaborative efforts between faculty, students, and the community to develop data useful to both immigrant workers in the surrounding communities and university academics. .
The Faculty Research Group on Immigrant Workers in Minnesota was awarded a $10,000 Diversity Minigrant from the MNSCU Chancellor's Office on Equity and Affirmative Action.
5 professors from 3 COSS departments were awarded funds to do research on the social conditions of immigrant workers and their communities:
I. The grant was generously matched with $2,000 from the College of Social Sciences Dean Frances Harrold. Click here to read the Recent Progress Report.
On December 4th, 2009, The Faculty Research Group on Immigrant Workers in Minnesota held its kickoff event, sponsoring a talk by Nelly Ortiz on “Why We Leave: A Firsthand Account of Migration to the U.S.”, in the Atwood Theatre. The event was standing room only, filling the Atwood Little Theatre with an audience of almost 250.
Born in Cuenca, Ecuador, Ortiz spoke about her experiences as an immigrant living in Chicago, scenarios for immigration reform and the structural explanations for immigration that are often ignored. Ortiz moved to the U.S. in 1995 and is a founding member of Cleaning Power, a politically-conscious women’s house cleaning cooperative in Chicago.
Ms. Ortiz was interviewed an hour before her talk, by SCSU Radio Station KVSC. You may listen to the interview.