How can cities implement effective responses to migration and displacement?

When it comes to migration and displacement, no level of government bears the weight like local governments do. From fostering inclusion and social cohesion to balancing shared flourishing, cities across the globe are encountering economic, political, and social challenges and opportunities stemming from migration. So, how can cities implement effective responses to migration and displacement?

ABOUT SAMER SALIBA

Samer Saliba is Director of City Practice at the Mayors Migration Council, where he leads a global team that provides technical assistance and financial resources to enable cities to design and implement locally led responses to migration and displacement with global impact. His work focuses on helping mayors and municipal leaders translate complex migration challenges into practical solutions through policy support, implementation, financing, and cross-sector collaboration.

ABOUT STANFORD IAJS
The Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) produces cutting-edge knowledge and bold solutions to realize racial and ethnic justice. We envision a world where race and ethnicity no longer adversely impacts people’s security, health, freedom, opportunity, political self-determination, or life experience.

Follow us to stay connected to this work. Join us to accelerate it. https://justsocieties.stanford.edu

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Production Company: Ethography
Producers: Georgia Limcaoco, Nikolas Liepins
Editor: Declan Franey
Music: Caleb Liu

What does it take to build a world grounded in the inherent value of every person?

Racial inequality is not just a policy problem — it is rooted in deeply held beliefs about human value that have shaped our institutions, our health systems, and our communities for centuries. Addressing it requires more than new laws or programs; it demands a transformation of the narratives and relationships that sustain it. This conversation explores what that transformation looks like in practice — in communities, in institutions, and in the connection between health and justice.

ABOUT DR. GAIL C. CHRISTOPHER

Dr. Gail Christopher is a nationally recognized leader in health equity, racial healing, and social change. She is the visionary architect of the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation framework and currently serves as Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity.

ABOUT STANFORD IAJS
The Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) produces cutting-edge knowledge and bold solutions to realize racial and ethnic justice. We envision a world where race and ethnicity no longer adversely impacts people’s security, health, freedom, opportunity, political self-determination, or life experience.

Follow us to stay connected to this work. Join us to accelerate it. https://justsocieties.stanford.edu

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Production Company: Ethography
Producers: Georgia Limcaoco, Nikolas Liepins
Editor: Declan Franey
Music: Caleb Liu

How can we learn from what’s working in thriving communities to build replicable models, so we can help everyone flourish? American cities sit at the intersection of immense opportunity and deep inequality — much of it traceable to decisions made generations ago that are still shaping who builds wealth, and who doesn't.

This episode of IAJS' One Question explores what it means to take stock of multiple truths about racial inequality and what it requires of government, financial institutions, universities, and communities to build the conditions for everyone to thrive.

ANDRE PERRY is a researcher, author, and commentator whose work has reframed how America understands wealth, race, and cities. His groundbreaking research on asset devaluation in Black neighborhoods — showing that Black-owned homes are underpriced by 23%, amounting to $156 billion in lost equity nationwide — has shaped policy debates at the highest levels of government. Perry is the author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities (2020) and Black Power Scorecard (2025). He is a regular contributor to MSNBC and a professor of practice of economics at Washington University in St. Louis.

ABOUT STANFORD IAJS
The Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) produces cutting-edge knowledge and bold solutions to realize racial and ethnic justice. We envision a world where race and ethnicity no longer adversely impacts people’s security, health, freedom, opportunity, political self-determination, or life experience.

Follow us to stay connected to this work. Join us to accelerate it. https://justsocieties.stanford.edu

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Production Company: Ethography
Producers: Georgia Limcaoco, Nikolas Liepins
Editor: Nikolas Liepins
Music: Caleb Liu