From his practice experience, Dr. Benjamin Roth has learned about the challenges faced by immigrants in the United States. Now, as an Assistant Professor at the College of Social Work, his research is broadly focused on poverty and inequality among immigrants. More specifically, he studies Latino immigrant youth and how the places where they grow up influence their identify formation and key outcomes, such as high school graduation and getting a job.
Dr. Roth looks at how local organizations such as schools, youth programs, and social service providers shape the day-to-day lives of immigrant youth, and how these organizations are themselves influenced by larger laws and policies. He provides fresh insights into questions of immigrant integration by focusing on suburbs and the American Southeast—places that have come to represent the changing geography of poverty and immigrant settlement in the United States.