Mónica Reyes (PhD, Old Dominion University) is an assistant professor in the Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse Department at DePaul University. Her research focuses on cultural rhetorics and critical refugee studies, with particular attention to the intersections of rhetoric, storytelling, and migration. She is the author of Rhetoric and Storytelling within the U.S. Asylum Process (2024). Her work has appeared in Grassroots Activisms: Public Rhetorics in Localized Contexts (2024), Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing & Culture (2020), and Postcolonial Text (2019). 

Dr. Reyes’ project, Dr. Reyes' project, Cultivating Community: Rhetorical Practices of Migrant Volunteers in Chicago , will explore how migrant volunteers use volunteer work to create community, purpose, and belonging in the context of restricted access to work permits and how their contributions help them navigate systemic barriers while fostering resilience.

Jay Baglia has over 25 years of experience working in healthcare to improve communication among patients and providers. At DePaul, Dr. Baglia teaches courses in Health Communication, Health Literacy, and Health Disparities. He has published award-winning scholarship in the area of health communication. Prior to joining DePaul, Baglia was a medical educator for Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) in Allentown, Pennsylvania. For LVHN, he developed curriculum and assessment tools for the Department of Family Medicine Residency Program, planned and facilitated workshops in the Teaching Leader Series, and served as study coordinator for the Cultural Awareness Implementation Team baseline assessment group.  

His Solutions Lab grant project involves creating patient-centered videos for CommunityHealth, the largest provider of free healthcare for the uninsured, including migrants, in Chicago. 

Ramya Ramanath is an Associate Professor at DePaul University’s School of Public Service where she chairs its International Public Service degree program. Her research projects, primarily in India, the US, and East Africa, draw on disciplinary perspectives in organizational behavior, urban sociology, planning, anthropology, and political science. Her resulting publications have focused on interorganizational and organization-community relations in affordable housing, resettlement and rehabilitation, capacity building, program evaluation, and gender-responsive policy and practice. 

Her project with the DMC Solutions Lab involves working with the Ruff Institute for Global Homelessness. This project examines the policies and practices that precipitate (or preclude) homelessness from the perspective of service providers, both governmental and nongovernmental, working with forced migrants in multiple distinct cities across the globe. 

Executive Summary of Findings: Exec Summary_Arnold.docx 

Kate Cooper Ph.D. was a 2023- 2024 Solutions Lab grantee. Dr. Cooper is an assistant professor of communication studies in the College of Communication. Her project partnered with Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA) in order to create mentorship and design a sustainable training program for volunteers. The research team compiled findings from FORA focus groups and surveys into a detailed report. In addition, they compiled best practices from peer-reviewed research that focused on the effectiveness of volunteer programs. The complete 24-page report is available online, with summarized findings below. 

Executive Summary of Findings: Executive Summary_Cooper 

Lamont Black Ph.D. was a 2023- 2024 Solutions Lab grantee. Dr. Black is an Associate Professor of Finance who focuses on digital transformations of business with an emphasis on emerging technologies including AI and the Metaverse. His project addressed migrant finances from the perspective of money, savings, and remittances, assessing migrant financial hurdles and the protentional for new technologies to provide better financial inclusion practices. You can access a summary of his findings below.  

Executive Summary of Findings: Executive Summary_Black.docx