About the Book
Despite the velocity and scale of the cumulative changes of immigrant integration and receptivity infrastructures in fast growing regions of the United States, less research has focused on the new and evolving experiences in these regions in recent years. Editors Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez and the contributors in Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States fill this gap through case studies of different types of immigrant gateway metro areas. They provide insight into how immigrant settlement, integration, and receptivity processes and practices within each metro area have continued to evolve beyond the nascent experiences documented in the early 2000s. This interdisciplinary volume examines ongoing processes in not only well-established immigrant gateways, but also in previously overlooked regions. This book is a resource for researchers, students, and practitioners to contextualize the ongoing changes in new destination metropolitan regions in the United States and to learn from the challenges, opportunities, and best practices emerging from different metropolitan regional contexts.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: Twenty-First Century Immigration Geography in the United States, by Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez
Chapter 1: Detroit, Michigan: Revitalizing the Rust Belt by Welcoming Immigrants in a Former Gateway, by Xi Huang and Alexis P. Tsoukalas
Chapter 2: Washington, DC: Reception and Integration of Immigrants and Refugees in the National Capital Region, by Elizabeth Chacko
Chapter 3: Miami, Florida: Immigrant Settlement and Impact in the Gateway to the Americas, by Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez, Eric Manley, and Nilofer K. Bharwani
Chapter 4: Atlanta, Georgia: How Institutionalized Reception and Representation of Refugees Changed Immigrant Receptivity in a Major-Emerging Gateway, by Sarah Ryniker
Chapter 5: Charlotte, North Carolina: Multiple Scales of Receptivity in the Queen City, by Paul N. McDaniel and Heather A. Smith
Chapter 6: Greensboro, North Carolina: Immigration and the Spatial Dynamics of Neighborhood Change in the Piedmont Triad, by Nabeela Farhat and Selima Sultana
Chapter 7: Nashville, Tennessee: Immigrant Integration and Rent Burden in the Music City, by Madhuri Sharma and Mikhail Samarin
Chapter 8: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota: The Success of Somali Elected Officials in the Twin Cities, by Stefanie Chambers and Annika Davies
Chapter 9: Burlington, Vermont: Refugee Resettlement in the Green Mountain State, by Pablo Bose
Chapter 10: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Welcoming Newcomers to the City of Bridges During Times of Crisis, by Jennie L. Schulze
Chapter 11: Louisville, Kentucky: Adaptive Municipal Responses to a Growing Immigrant Community in the Age of COVID-19, by Andrew Lim, Nan Wu, and Karen Aho
Chapter 12: Birmingham, Alabama: Immigrant Integration, Place Branding, and Geographies of Care in the Ridge and Valley, by Paul N. McDaniel
Chapter 13: Des Moines, Iowa: Refugee Resettlement Ecosystems and the Uneven Geographies of Immigrant Incorporation in the Heartland, by Emily Frazier
Chapter 14: Reno, Nevada: “I Just Feel Out of Place There” - Punjabi-Sikh Socio-Spatialities in the Biggest Little City in the World, by Heather L. Benson and Kate A. Berry
Conclusion: Future Trajectories, by Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez
About the Contributors
About the Author :
Paul N. McDaniel is associate professor of geography at Kennesaw State University.
Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez is associate professor of social work and human services at Kennesaw State University.
Review :
The 'overlooked' metropolitan regions covered in Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States are particularly intriguing, as these are important sites of immigrant integration that prompt new questions and theoretical contributions. The editors of this interdisciplinary volume do a fine job weaving together key and emerging themes in immigration studies that is both smart and inviting to the reader.
Assembling a diverse group of scholars and professionals, Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez have produced an impressive volume on the transformative settlements of and receptivity for immigrants within fourteen U.S. metropolitan areas. This book provides an in-depth knowledge on different kinds of immigrant gateways and is good for both course reading and scholarly references.
With this stellar book, editors and chapter authors Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Rodriguez continue their thorough scholarship documenting the dynamics of immigrant integration across the United States. With its highlights from multiple metropolitan areas, including specific nonprofit interventions and successful public private partnerships to expand immigrant inclusivity at the local level, Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States holds lessons for direct-services nonprofits like ours, as well as for businesses and governments seeking to serve their immigrant neighbors. This book should be on the desks of CEOs, local government officials, and nonprofit executive directors as they humbly navigate the complex waters of embracing growing diversity and the unique opportunities presented when the world comes to us, and immigrants make this great nation their home.
As an elected official in the state’s most diverse county, with a population that is over 26% foreign-born, a book like this one—underscoring how metropolitan regions across the country have worked to integrate and embrace those born overseas—is an invaluable guide to everyone who seeks to love their neighbor. The insights provided are relevant and rich for a variety of stakeholders, including local public servants who are elected to serve everyone in their communities.
Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States, by editors and chapter authors Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez and Paul McDaniel, grounds the reader in the reality of what has been accomplished in cities across the United States who have chosen to welcome immigrants. The book also expands the reader’s mind to embrace what’s possible when communities choose love over fear. In these ways, the book both looks backwards and forwards, helping apply lessons from yesterday to build a better tomorrow. In an era of rhetoric rather than solid research and information around immigration, the book provides real-world best practices to implement as well as pitfalls to avoid as our nation continues its journey, haltingly, but steadily, toward liberty and justice for all.
I believe it to be both practical and educational that Integration and Receptivity focuses on the real-world experiences of other metro regions, chronicling lessons learned and patterns observed as communities reach toward loving those around them. Many times in direct-services work, a nonprofit deals with the challenge immediately in front of them, and may not have the time to really think comparatively about what’s going on in other places. The accessibility of the information in the book makes it an immediately valuable tool that can inform direct services. It also appeals as an educational piece that can contextualize multi-region experiences for a wide array of readers and stakeholders.
Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States is a must-read guide for community advocates, business leaders and local officials on how to successfully integrate talented newcomers from around the world into their communities. By sharing lessons from cities nationwide, it illustrates how we can put U.S. ideals of welcome and opportunity into action and expand prosperity for new and old Americans alike. The editors, Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez, are to be commended for this groundbreaking – and eminently practical – work that reminds us immigrants are a source of strength for our cities and our nation.
As the CEO of two of Georgia's leading Latinx advocacy organizations with a focus on justice for immigrants, I wholeheartedly endorse Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States, by editors and chapter authors Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez and Paul McDaniel. This book provides an important backdrop for understanding immigrant dynamics at the local level and provides solid context from sites across the United States on what works and what does not as communities explore ways to embrace those who come to them from all over the globe.
With my background in cultural and linguistic responsiveness, immigrant behavioral health, social and racial justice, health equity, and health disparities, I want to highlight the significant research value and substantive contributions made by Dr. Rodriguez and Paul McDaniel in their book, Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States. It is well documented that immigrants are among the most resilient populations, yet they face heightened risks for negative mental health outcomes. These outcomes are largely influenced by social determinants of health, such as racism, poverty, and the extent to which local communities are supportive of immigrants. This final aspect is profoundly explored in the insightful work of Rodriguez and McDaniel, along with the contributions of other chapter authors. The combination of Rodriguez’s expertise as a policy expert and social worker with McDaniel’s geographical insights has produced a brilliant and impactful piece of research.
In my line of work, one of the things that is most lacking when serving children and immigrant families is a sense of experience and context...In the national debate around immigration and what it means for all of us, the local level is all too often overlooked, as are the stories of young people and how they move through life. With our nation at an inflection point around immigration policy, it is good to know that researchers...continue to explore meaningful community engaged, data-focused inquiry that can build trust and lead decision makers to better outcomes.
