UB Receives $500,000 Mellon Grant to Analyze Immigration’s Effects on Local Democratic Norms

The faculty of the University at Buffalo’s Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) program have been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to support a research project examining how inclusive immigration practices in Rust Belt cities, like Buffalo, affect democracy and democratic norms.

This innovative project aims to test whether new immigrants and refugees can create opportunities for democratic revival, with a focus on identifying promising innovations that could be shared with other communities. The findings will provide policymakers, civic leaders, and others interested in immigration with empirical and qualitative insights on how new arrivals shape and potentially strengthen key components of local democracy.

According to Alexandra Oprea, PhD, assistant professor of philosophy at the UB College of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator of the grant, the time is right for such a project. Immigration has never been more politically salient in the United States than it is now.

“Our project’s goal is urgent, given the high levels of political polarization that have eroded national-level democratic norms and made it even more difficult for people to address long-standing issues like poverty, racial segregation, and xenophobia,” says Oprea, an expert in democratic theory. “But at the local level, if a community can accommodate and embrace people who come from very far away with different norms, it’s a strong indicator of health that can lead to positive changes in other areas.”

While much research has focused on immigration and democracy at the national and state levels, this project specifically targets the local level, aiming to demonstrate that cities are primary sites for shaping democratic identities.

Buffalo, like many Northeastern industrial cities, began experiencing economic decline in the 1950s and 1960s, a trend that lasted for decades. However, Oprea suggests that immigration, along with the city’s openness to welcoming newcomers, could be driving the city’s revival. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 10% of Buffalo’s population was born outside the U.S., and nearly half of these immigrants arrived after 2010.

“Buffalo can serve as an important test case for other cities,” Oprea says. “It’s Buffalo’s willingness to embrace immigration that we hypothesize is creating new opportunities in places that were once in decline.”

The PPE research team will study three types of communal spaces – the bazaar, the museum, and civic organizations – by conducting focus groups, showcases with local organizations, and interviews with community leaders. These efforts will provide first-hand perspectives on immigration and democracy, perspectives that are often missing from studies of traditional centers of democratic power, such as political party conventions, polling places on election day, the halls of Congress, and Supreme Court hearings.

“We will focus on the West Side Bazaar, the Buffalo Museum of Science, and local civic organizations that work with immigrants and refugees,” Oprea says. “Our goal is to listen, observe, and understand.”

The grant will fund the hiring of a full-time civic engagement coordinator to help plan and oversee the project’s activities, as well as a postdoctoral fellow to help bring the project’s findings to a broader audience.

Oprea emphasizes that the bazaar is an often-overlooked space for democratic engagement, one that draws people into low-stakes interactions through universal experiences like sharing food, enjoying music, and contemplating art. The museum, she adds, is distinctive as a democratic space that prioritizes family participation, particularly for young children learning through guided exploration and free play. Finally, civic organizations often serve as a f irst point of contact for new arrivals, providing opportunities for newcomers to engage with their community and shaping their perception of it.

“As we hear these stories and learn about local problems that require collective input to solve, we can identify templates for collective action – a core component of local democracy,” Oprea says.

In addition to Oprea, the project team includes UB colleagues Justin Bruner, PhD, associate professor of philosophy; David Gray, PhD, associate teaching professor of philosophy; Ryan Muldoon, PhD, professor of philosophy; Jacob Neiheisel, PhD, associate professor of political science; and Alexander Schaefer, PhD, assistant professor of philosophy.