Walking United: Refugee Belonging through Social Exercise Platforms

Abstract

Federal refugee resettlement programs in the United States were inconsistent and insufficient to meet the social needs of refugees between 2016-2024. Because of this, much of the resettlement experience was dependent on the social welcome refugees received by their host communities, outside of mandated federal programs. I explored how discrimination, interpersonal communicative competence, and group walking influence refugees' perceived sense of belonging. I also coined the term “social exercise platform” to refer to spaces where people engage in both physical activity and community building. In this paper I sought to answer the following question: In what ways can participation in walking groups promote a sense of belonging for newly arrived refugees who are integrating into the Twin Cities community? I hypothesized that walking groups had the potential to foster belonging by providing spaces for multicultural human connections. Through a comparative case study of 10 social exercise platforms including my own participatory action, I found that social exercise platforms increased participants' sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and social networks. I identified barriers of financial burdens and childcare named considerations of religion, walking routes, recruitment, social events, and intercultural communication that affect participant retention and sense of fulfillment in these groups. Using the results of these data I created a set of design considerations for social exercise platforms to optimize refugees' sense of belonging in the resettlement process. Specifically, I crafted a startup plan for a group walking program called United Walkers Collective that puts the recommendations into practice.