2026 Community Research Symposium
Event Information
Everything you need to know about the 2026 Community Research Symposium.
Date
Friday, June 5, 2026
Time
9 am – 3:30 pm (EST)
Location
Greensboro Central Library, 219 N. Church St. Greensboro, NC 27402
Parking
Free parking available at the church Street Parking Deck
Program
View the Full program and session details
Complimentary Parking
Scan the QR code to view parking location on Google Maps
Session 1
Registration and a coffee hour hosted by Montagnard Association of NC. Get to the heart of the Symposium theme by conversing with key state and local influencers about their reports that inspired today’s sessions.
Bethany A. Wagner, Manager, Office of Language and Communication Access, NCDHHS; Commissioner, Governor’s Commission on Accessibility
Andrew J. Young, Co-founder, MACRDN; Commissioner, Governor’s Commission on Accessibility
Carrie Rosario, Associate Professor, UNCG; Member, North Carolina Institute of
Medicine Board of Directors
Yazmin Garcia Rico, Jamilla Pinder, Christina Yongue, Directors of Community Engagement and Impact, Cone Health Foundation
•Report by the Governor’s Interagency Working Group: State View for New Americans (2024)
•NCIOM/El Futuro, Immigrant Mental Health in North Carolina: A Landscape Analysis (2024)
Session 2
This panel brings together community leaders, funding organization representatives, and demographers to consider how recent political, institutional, and financial changes have impacted our work. How might we locate other sources of (continued) support, and how do we leverage alliances to the benefit of all? We aim to highlight key issues and articulate practical solutions.
Moderators: Becky Butler, Carolina Asia Center, UNC-CH; and Kevin Kim, Asian American Center, UNC-CH
Madison Allen, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
Stacey Carless, NC Counts Coalition
Sachi Dely, Montagnard Association of North Carolina
Marthalenar Nya Mar, Bamboo Roots
Denise Powell, Powell & Associates
Session 3
This session explores how policymakers can help communities share and preserve their narratives and cultural traditions. Speakers will discuss the importance of lived experience, oral histories, and new media alongside academic research in shaping collective memory and identity. Participants will gain practical strategies for engaging communities and integrating community-driven research into programs, partnerships, and policy decisions.
Moderator: Sara Colm, Montagnard/Asian Community Disparities Research Network
Lap Siu, Anthropology Lecturer, Texas Tech University; Creator of the Montagnard Channel
Pastor Prince Mundeke, Mundeke Gospel Mission
Shahpeerai Aimaq, International Advisory Committee, City of Greensboro
Romat Eban, Montagnard Community Assistance
Session 4
A what-if scenario presented by moderator Stephen Sills to role players familiar with recent reports from the Governor’s Office, NCIOM, and Cone Foundation on refugees, immigrants, and communities in order to react, respond, and engage with one another across institutional traditions and silos. What happens when communities come to the table as coequals? How can funding cuts and dramatically shifting politics be opportunities for a fairer, more equitable Triad?
Moderator: Stephen Sills, Innovative Research Insights
Lily Chen, UCA Waves
Vung Ksor, UNCG StrongMinds
Franca Jalloh, Jalloh’s Upright Services of North Carolina
Maria Mayorga, Blueprint NC
Chauncey Greene, Co-Director of Joint Field Instruction, UNCG/NCAT
Mir Habibullah Akhgar, NC Afghan Association
Ivey Ghee, The Hospitality G
Hector Suarez, Siembra
Anna Pennell, Guilford College
The Setting
MacKenzie Scott made national headlines the other day when her foundation announced that a small community nonprofit in the Southern city of Green Acres will receive something north of twenty-five million dollars. Typically her foundation places no strings on grant recipients; they are awarded based on the foundation’s own review and assessment of those who receive these large sum grants.
Green Acres is a medium sized city and one of the state’s earliest communities to resettle large numbers of refugees. It also has a sizable immigrant population. Today Green Acres finds itself an unexpectedly international city. The award recipient, a community-based organization created and controlled by the Highland Folk, a refugee community, has a long record of successes despite the community’s relative poverty when it first arrived decades ago. While everyone is excited that Green Acres has been the subject of positive reporting and media attention, they wonder what the nonprofit will do with this staggering gift.
Round Table Role-Players, what advice would you give?
Breakout Session 5
This session explores creative, culturally grounded strategies for promoting mental health and healing within Southeast Asian communities, especially those with refugee origins. The aim is to address urgent mental health needs while celebrating community strengths and creativity.
Moderator: Ana Sucaldito, UNCG/MACDRN
Laura Mrosla, MPH/MSW and Pany Julia Mounsamlouath, Guilford County Department of Public Health
Hidden in the Data: Disaggregating Southeast Asian Vital Records Data
Khaoula Bouti, PhD candidate, UNCG
Mapping the Gap: Where SEA Communities Live vs. Where Services Reach
Rich Enoul, Community Member & Advocate
After the Rescue: The Mental Trauma Human Trafficking Leaves Behind
Nida Qamar, PhD candidate, UNCG
Toward Healing: Public Health Educators’ Creative Role in Trafficking Trauma Recovery
Htey Meh, MSW, Bamboo Roots
Rooted in Resilience: Culturally Responsive, Community Mental Health Programming
Breakout Session 6
This session showcases models for co-governance in health, education, social services, and civic life highlighting how shared leadership strengthens systems and improves outcomes. We invite policymakers, funders, and institutional leaders to move from token consultation to shared governance with communities that have lived expertise and demonstrated leadership capacity. We emphasize that they are not passive beneficiaries but co-strategists—ready with solutions, insights, and culturally grounded practices.
Moderator: Andrew Young, MACDRN
Bob King, UNCSA (ret)
The Montagnard Community in the Course: UNCSA (2011)
Sharon Morrison, UNCG
From Cultural Brokers to Community Leaders: How Montagnard Youth Are Changing Systems (2026)
Discussants
James Shield, African American Cultural Center
Leslie Garvin, NC Campus Engagement
Session 7
We center on equitable systems change, community-driven history, and healing and wellness that are grounded in partnerships that work for everyone. This is a culture worth creating for all.
Moderators: Sachi Dely, Montagnard Association of NC, Lee Meh, Bamboo Roots
Threads, a movie short by Quyen Nguyen-Le
Glenn Perkins, Greensboro History Museum
Ayla Amon, Greensboro History Museum
My Walk For Change
Jenny Lee, Montagnard/Asian Community Disparities Research Network
The Montagnard/Asian Community Disparities Research Network thanks the Montagnard Association of North Carolina for funding and assistance. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, UNC Greensboro; from the Office of Research in the School of Health and Human Services at UNC Greensboro; from Cone Health Foundation; and from our Research Network members.
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