Joshua Friedman was a 2023-2024 DMC PIR. During his residency, Josh conducted research that looks comparatively at refugee integration alongside the rights to adequate food and shelter in Chicago and Vienna. Combining legal and policy review with qualitative research on the experiences of refugees in both locations with food and housing, the research aims to highlight best practice examples and challenges faced in the US and Central Europe.  

Final Report: Coming Soon 

Charlotte Long was a 2024-25 DMC PIR. She is a Housing Specialist for migrants and asylum seekers in Chicago and a professor of Gender Justice studies at Roosevelt University. During her residency, she collected qualitative information on faith-based informal housing networks in the Chicagoland area that have worked to house recent migrant arrivals in the past three years. The research is based on existing literature on "Sanctuary" networking, but is also focused on understanding new tools and techniques that informal community groups and religious spaces use to assist houseless immigrants unable to benefit from city services.   

Final Report Request Form:  Request "Filling in the Gaps" Research Article 

Rob Paral was a 2023-2024 DMC Practitioner in Residence. He is a demographic and public policy consultant with specialties in immigrant, Latino and Asian populations; community needs for health and human service programs; and Midwestern demographic change. Rob’s project focused on developing a report on Illinois capacity to resettle migrants and the state’s response to recently arrived forced migrants included achievement and potential avenues for improvement. Within his report, Rob highlights recommendations for future Illinois policy. To accomplish his goal Rob traveled throughout the city of Chicago, Springfield, IL and El Paso, TX to interview administrative and legislative budget experts relevant to the report and interviewing immigration attorneys and advocates.  

View The Final Report: “Building a Plane While It’s Flying”: Illinois Confronts a New Era of Forced Migration 

Elizabeth G. Kennedy, Ph.D. was a 2023-2024 DMC Practitioner in Residence. She is a 2023-2024 Fulbright Scholar to El Salvador and LAPOP's 2023-2024 Honduras expert. Her project focused on preparing expert witness affidavits on the country conditions of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala alongside create training materials and guidance for immigrant advocacy organizations in connection with each of the country condition reports. Her project also prioritized coordinating alongside the DMC to make these expert witness reports available to legal service providers for use in support of asylum applications.  

View The Final Report: Asylum Access for Salvadorians, Honduras and Guatemalans