The Immigrant Flourishing and Belonging (IFB) initiative at Boston College serves as a convening hub that connects faculty, students, and partners across disciplines to understand how immigrant-origin children, youth, and adults—and their families—grow, learn, work, and participate in civic life, and how they come to feel that they belong. Grounded in Boston College's committment to human dignity, formative education, and the common good, the initiative seeks to identify and elevate promising practices and policies that foster flourishing and belonging across institutions.
Our Leadership
The IFB Initiative is led by Senior Fellow Carola Suárez-Orozco, whose scholarship focuses on immigrant-origin children, youth, and families and the contexts that shape their development, flourishing, and belonging.
Meet the Steering Committee
The committee provides guidance in the initiative's inaugural phase, helping to shape priorities, activities, and partnerships across Boston College.
Did you know?
1 in 4
children (birth to 17) lives with at least one immigrant parent
~30%
of working-age adults (ages 16-64) are of immigrant origin
~14%
of adults ages 65 and older are immigrants
Areas of Inquiry
Comparative and International Perspectives
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Community Organizations and Civic Institutions
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Families and Intergenerational Belonging
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Migration and Exclusionary Policies
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Mental Health, Well-Being, and Access to Care
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Schools, School Climate, and Belonging
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Answering the Call
Immigrant-origin communities are central to the fabric of contemporary migration-receiving societies. At the same time, immigrant origin children, youth, and adults are growing up, forming families, and aging in a context of heightened polarization, rising xenophobia, and persistent inequalities in access to education, health care, employment, and legal protections.
Research across multiple disciplines underscores that institutions where people learn, work, live, and receive services profoundly shape their well-being, sense of belonging, and long-term trajectories. Grounded in strong ethics, intellectual rigor, and public engagement, this interdisciplinary initiative enacts Boston College's Jesuit committment to human dignity, formative education, and the common good.