We are pleased to welcome Diana Guelespe, PhD, Urban Institute, and Jessica Darrow, PhD, University of Chicago, to BPB’s Learning Luncheon which focuses on the status of Afghan Resettlement.

The Urban Institute and The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, at the University of Chicago recently published the Urban Institute Report: ‘Examining Afghan Evacuees’ Resettlement: Insights and Lessons for Future Humanitarian Populations. BPB was one of the stakeholders of the report by participating in the interviews.

The Report is a study on how Afghan evacuees are faring across multiple dimensions of their life one year after their arrival, and how the broader community and resettlement infrastructure has responded to the complex needs of the evacuees. This project can help create a framework of proactive policies that better prepare the US government, resettlement agencies, and other groups to more cohesively meet the needs of people during humanitarian crises.

The report is based on 36 interviews with Afghan evacuees who arrived in the United States in the fall of 2021 and 51 interviews with community stakeholders across three study sites—Chicago, San Antonio, and northern Virginia.

Diana Guelespe is a senior research associate in the Income and Benefits Policy Center and a former equity scholar at the Urban Institute. She is a sociologist with over 20 years of experience working with immigrant and refugee communities at the local, state, and national levels.