Panel Discussion on Migration: Diversity, Demographics and Development in the American City

In partnership with International House Philadelphia, Office of Immigrant Affairs, and  University of Pennsylvania, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture is pleased to present an interdisciplinary panel on migration and its impacts on society and the city.  Three experts from the legal, urban studies, and sociological spheres will address questions of who becomes an immigrant and why, where refugees are settling throughout the region, how immigration makes and remakes spaces, and how it transforms socioeconomic and cultural systems.  The panelists will offer insight about the economic and cultural benefits immigration brings, as well as challenges faced by immigrants and refugees as they make new lives in the region.

Date: November 7, 2017

Time: 5:00 – 7:00pm

Location: City Hall – Mayor’s Reception Room – 2nd Floor

Event begins promptly at 5:30. Please arrive early to allow time for security access

Panelists include:

• Domenic Vitiello – Associate Professor of City Planning & Urban Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
• Fernando Chang-Muy – Thomas O’Boyle Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law where he teaches Refugee Law
• Emilio A. Parrado – Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology, Chair of Penn’s Sociology Department, Director of the Latin America and Latino Studies program

RSVP HERE

Domenic Vitiello

An Associate Professor of City Planning and Urban Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a member of AFRICOM, served on the board of ACANA and as board chair of JUNTOS, and worked with many immigrant and refugee community organizations in Philadelphia. He played for Guatemala in the Hispanic Soccer League of Philadelphia many years ago, and has refereed the annual African and Caribbean Soccer Tournament. Domenic’s recent research has focused on the destruction and preservation of Chinatowns in the United States and Canada; migrant-led transnational development in the U.S., Mexico, and West Africa; and migrant communities’ engagement in urban agriculture around the world. Earlier this year, Penn Press published his co-edited volume with Tom Sugrue, Immigration and Metropolitan Revitalization in the United States. Domenic is currently writing a book titled The Sanctuary City that examines Central American, Southeast Asian, African, Arab, and Mexican immigration to Philadelphia since the 1970s.

Fernando Chang-Muy

The Thomas O’Boyle Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law where he teaches Refugee Law. He also teaches courses on Non Profit Management and Immigration for Social Workers at Penn’s Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice.
He has served as Legal Officer with both the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO), AIDS Program. Before joining the UN, he was a staff attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia serving as Director of the Southeast Asian Refugee Project, providing free legal aid to low-income immigrants and refugees in Philadelphia. He is also past founding director of the Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture, a project of Lutheran Children and Family Services, established to serve newcomers fleeing human rights violations. He serves on the Boards of local public interest organizations, government, and foundations. In 2008, Philadelphia Mayor Nutter appointed him as a Commissioner to the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. He is former Board member of the Delaware Valley Grantmakers, The Philadelphia Award, the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation and the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Coalition. He is author of numerous articles on diverse topics dealing with immigration & refugees, public health and management, and is co-editor of the text Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees (NY: Springer Publication, 2008). He is a graduate of Loyola, Georgetown, Antioch and Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. He is a 2011 recipient of the Penn Law Public Interest Supervisor/Advisor of the Year Award honoring outstanding project supervisors and advisors and the 2016 recipient of the Law School Beacon Award, recognizing exemplary commitment to pro bono work by a Penn Law faculty member.

Emilio A. Parrado

The Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology, Chair of Penn’s Sociology Department, Director of the Latin America and Latino Studies program and affiliated faculty with Penn’s Population Studies Center. His research has migration as it central focus and its interaction with other demographic and social processes. Dr. Parrado’s interests fall into three broad categories: 1- The Hispanic population of the United States, especially issues of immigrant adaptation and new areas of migrant settlement; 2- International migration, with special emphasis on its determinants and consequences for sending and receiving regions including health and family outcomes; 3- Social and demographic change in Latin America, including social mobility and family behavior. He is presently concentrating his efforts in studying the intersection of gender, migration, and health risks among Mexican and Honduran migrants in sending areas and receiving communities in the U.S. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, he draws upon diverse sources of existing data such as population and economic statistics and survey data, as well as collects original survey and ethnographic data and he uses a variety of advanced statistical methods for data analysis, and draw upon ethnographic and historical materials for contextualizing relationships and interpreting outcomes. This mixing of research methods and data sources enhances his analyses of complex social and demographic phenomena. He obtained his PhD from the University of Chicago.