Spotlighting the Political Science and Sociology Department
Queens University is a few miles from the Uptown skyline, but students’ work reaches into the heart of the city. Colette Brooke, a student majoring in Political Science and Sociology, is working on a commission for Charlotte’s Office of International Relations (OIR), mapping organizations that serve the Charlotte immigrant community. She will be presenting her research to city officials.
As a quickly growing city, “Charlotte has a significant community of immigrants,” said Brooke. The support systems in place are still catching up. OIR “loosely kept track of organizations that offer resources, social connections, and services to the foreign-born residents” reported Brooke. Until now “the information was not organized well or publicly available.”
Brooke’s work catalogues existing resources and helps people connect. “[W]e created an interactive map that will be for the public’s use” said Brooke. Not only does it backlight a variety of hidden aids in one accessible platform, it “is extremely user-friendly and can be searched either by type of service, name, or even organization logo,” Brooke explained.
In order to create this map, Brooke worked directly with local establishments. She described the process as “first verifying [that] the organizations are currently operating” and confirming that “they agree to be included in the database.” The map includes “mission statement[s], contact information, and social media handles and links” all of which are “published on the map using ArcGIS software” Brooke said.
Brooke is conducting socially and politically relevant research with tools from the College of Arts and Sciences at Queens. For her, “the most valuable asset . . . has [been] the amazing faculty.” Professors’ “devotion to developing course materials and teaching classes that encourage critical thinking” have “open[ed] up [Brooke’s] perspective on social issues and policy.”
During her time at Queens, she has worked closely with Dr. Maggie Commins and Dr. Jerimiah Wills, both professors in the Political Science and Sociology Department. Brooke said that conducting research with Wills, combined with his Sociology courses “gave [her] the skills to examine social phenomena empirically.”
Working with Commins gave her a strong sense of direction. “[Commins] is brilliant at policy evaluation” and always “encouraging her students to craft policy briefs that have thoughtfully researched the social concern and current policy, and then offer plausible solutions or improvements towards the issue.”
Those classroom conversations sparked Brooke’s own research. She noted that “analyz[ing] the U.S.’s current and past policies on immigration . . . captivated [her] enthusiasm to not only research immigration phenomena, but advocate for change.”
Now, that passion and education will be impacting Charlotte. Once the map is complete, it will be presented “in front of City Council members, the Charlotte International Cabinet, and key leaders within the immigrant communities,” said Brooke.
Brooke’s project will continue as a Queens Legacy in new hands. She explains that under Dr. Commins’ oversight, “the database will be maintained by current Queens political science or international relations students until the OIR is prepared to transfer [it] to City servers.” The completed database will offer context for other communities’ efforts to serve immigrant populations.
Brooke’s work will not only provide immediate aid, it will be a tool to incite positive change. “It will also help us identify the areas of service or resources that are lacking. This information will inform the OIR where Charlotte can improve the integration experience of the city’s foreign-born population,” observed Brooke.
She hopes that this project will help people “search and find the resources they need to integrate into . . . the Charlotte community successfully.”
Already off to a fantastic start, Brooke feels that her “Queens experience has prepared [her] well to continue [her] work in public policy.”
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