On Feb. 10, two Hamilton professors presented the findings of the COVID-19 Refugee Community Impact Study in partnership with On Point for College, a non-profit that supports students in overcoming obstacles to accessing higher education. The report was delivered by Professor of Economics Erol Balkan and Professor of Sociology Stephen Ellingson alongside Rongchen Wang ’25. Caroline Boies ’26 also collaborated on the study. The event took place at the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties’ David and Janet Griffith Innovation Space in Utica, with an online option via Zoom.
Balkan and Ellingson surveyed over 200 Utica refugees from Myanmar, Bosnia and Somalia between May and September 2023 to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical health, emotional wellbeing, work, finances, housing stability and child education. The purpose of the study was to provide recommendations for addressing urgent needs and tackling social and health inequities. “These are very hidden effects of the pandemic that we want our policy makers, our legislators and our school officials to be even more aware of,” Ellingson said.
Utica is home to a large refugee population, with refugees making up nearly a quarter of its 60,000 residents. The most prominent refugee groups are Somali Bantus, the Karens of Myanmar and Bosnians. Once a thriving center for industry and manufacturing, particularly in the textile sector, the city faced a decline in the 1990s. However, in the early 2000s, refugee communities played a crucial role in revitalizing and transforming Utica.
Further, these communities were vital in shaping the city’s evolving culture, particularly through small businesses and restaurants. Professor Balkan said, “having lived in Utica for more than 14 years, we have seen firsthand how the refugee communities actually created a new Utica. It was important to find out the impact of COVID on these communities because it was also about their survival.”
Key findings from the report highlight the pandemic’s long-lasting impacts on housing costs and stability. In the first year of COVID, 72% of participants reported spending over 70% of their income on housing, a trend that continued into 2024. Refugees in Utica spend 40% more of their income on housing compared to the national average.
Other financial effects include over a third of refugees losing their jobs and more than half experiencing a decrease in work hours. Despite a recovery in employment, the persistently high cost of housing has resulted in lasting and severe financial hardships for Utica’s refugee communities.
On a more positive note, the negative impact of COVID-19 on youth education has lessened. In the first year of the pandemic, 61% of participants said their child’s education had suffered due to lack of in-person interaction with teachers, disruptions to online schooling and parents being unable to offer sufficient help or supervision. Many children also missed online school altogether. By 2024, these concerns had eased, with fewer than 25% of parents reporting that their children were struggling or falling behind in school.
Refugees from Myanmar, Somalia and Bosnia were affected by the pandemic in different ways and to varying degrees. For instance, while 95% of Bosnians reported that COVID-19 had a significant detriment on their child’s schooling, they experienced fewer negative impacts on housing and employment. Somali refugees were the most severely affected by job losses, housing instability and reported poorer physical and mental wellbeing. In contrast, Burmese parents had lower unemployment rates and expressed less concern about their children’s educational challenges than other groups.
The presenters highlighted how the cumulative effects of the pandemic continue to impact refugee communities. Ellingson noted that “even though the pandemic was far more severe in 2019 and 2020, we are still seeing the effect, especially in housing and with finances.” He also stressed the “social and communal nature of long COVID,” pointing out that people often focus solely on health impacts when considering the lasting effects of COVID.