BU Today: Prof López Reflects on Work Supporting Displaced Communities at the US-Mexico Border
To support migrant communities at the US-Mexico border, Prof. Luz Lopez from the School of Social Work, and leader of the Global Health Core at the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health, collaborated with a BU team including Prof. Carrie Preston from the College of Arts & Sciences, and Prof. Muhammad Zaman from the College of Engineering, who are co-founders of the Initiative on Forced Displacement (IFD), Border Studies Program. They were joined by several students who volunteered at refugee organizations in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. The project allowed the team to work with migrants in the area to better understand and meet their needs. The team plans to continue ongoing collaborations and future work with these organizations.
Excerpt from, “Border Studies Program Offers Chance to Learn about Migrants and Border Wall Firsthand,” by Sara Rimer, originally published on BU Today:
After a series of seminars, readings, and class discussions this past fall, with topics ranging from the history of US immigration policy to migrant health during the pandemic, the students, along with Preston, director of the IFD Border Studies Program, and Luz M. López, a School of Social Work clinical professor and director of the Global Health Core at the Center of Innovation in Social Work & Health at SSW, spent nearly two weeks earlier this month visiting the lower Rio Grande Valley, an area that encompasses Brownsville and McAllen, Tex., and Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico. While there, they volunteered with a number of nonprofits that support migrants, including Refugee Services of Texas, Rio Grande Relief Projects, Team Brownsville, the Humanitarian Respite Center, La Posada Providencia, and LUPE.”