Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization

Nature and landscapes are increasingly recognized as integral to human health, well-being, and sense of belonging. As such, nature and landscapes offer potential benefits for nature-based integration (NBI) efforts aimed at fostering a sense of inclusion among new residents. Although such linkages are recognized, NBI research remains limited with fruitful potential for place-based and immigrant-oriented community organizations or governments interested in fostering a sense of inclusion, belonging, identity, and even environmental responsibility among new residents. In this article, we demonstrate the application of a collaborative NBI study among Oregon’s growing Slavic immigrant community. This study, through a community geography and community-based participatory research approach, sought to gauge community interactions with and sense of place to Oregon’s natural environment, notably mountain landscapes. Although with limitations, this study demonstrates the potential of NBI to enrich nature-based programs, immigrant advocacy organizations, government engagement efforts, and landscape planning with opportunities to better understand and tools to potentially engage diverse populations.

This article reports on an investigation of factors that promote or impede the development of social cohesion in communities receiving refugee newcomers largely of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) backgrounds. This community-based research was completed in collaboration with a community partner-a settlement agency dedicated to supporting people with immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Interviews were conducted with refugee newcomers, professionals working with refugee populations, individuals involved in private sponsorship of refugees, and long-term community residents. Results focus on the essential relational and contextual issues to consider when designing a program to build social connections. Together, the findings suggest the value of trying to replicate how relationships form organically, the need to collaborate across systems, and the importance of addressing societal narratives about how newcomers are perceived. Recommendations regarding the process of creating a community program are offered. These findings will be shared with a range of stakeholders to cocreate and implement a new program for enhancing social cohesion in our community. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).