Lessons on Refugee and Immigrant Livelihood from the West Side Bazaar

Cassandra graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan with a degree in community and global public health. During her time at the University of Michigan, she gained public health research experience supporting the work of agencies local to Southeast Michigan and national health systems such as Kaiser Permanente. Her urban planning coursework during her junior and senior years were transformative in her decision to pursue a career as a city planner. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at the Ford Policy School where she conducted research and made recommendations to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on strengthening work supports, reducing benefit cliffs, and utilizing two-generation approaches to poverty alleviation.

The Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab (‘the UBFood Lab’), a research group led by Dr. Samina Raja, housed in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo (UB) is dedicated to research that critically examines the role of local government policy in facilitating equitable, healthy, and sustainable communities. The Lab is especially focused on community food systems as a space and lever for creating positive change in our backyard (Buffalo) and in the Global South. The Food Lab’s research unfolds in collaboration with other research groups within and outside UB, as well as in partnership with community and planning organizations and local governments in the United States and globally. Drawing on its research, the Food Lab team provides technical assistance to community advocates, planners, and local governments on the use of policy and planning to create equitable food systems and healthy communities.