The Electric City: Refugee Resettlement in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Diverse refugees form new communities in their new home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. However, economic uncertainty and pervasive anti-refugee rhetoric stand as barriers to seamless refugee integration.

by Elena Habersky

Nestled in the Lackawanna River Valley of northeastern Pennsylvania, Scranton has historically been an attractive place for new immigrants thanks to its once vibrant industries. Known colloquially as the Electric City, Scranton fell into hard times following the Second World War, when it was robbed of its important anthracite coal minin…