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Local symposium explores the future of refugees in Utah

Utah Council For Citizen Diplomacy

Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, a local nonpartisan nonprofit, welcomes leading experts to explore critical questions about the future of refugee resettlement and integration in Utah through its Ambassador John Price & Marcia Price World Affairs Symposium Series.

DATE:             Thursday, 2.16.2023

TIME:              1:00 PM – 5:30 PM 

LOCATION:    Utah Cultural Celebration Center 1355 W 3100 S, West Valley City

GUEST SPEAKERS: 

●      Sarah Cross, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of State


●      Eskinder Negash, President & CEO, United States Committee on Refugee & Immigrants


●      Jennie Murray, CEO, National Immigration Forum

●      Asha Parekh,  Director of Refugee Services Office and Refugee State Coordinator, Department of Workforce Services

●      Aden Batar, Director of Refugee Resettlement, CCS

With a focus on the vetting process of refugees, the benefits refugees contribute to host communities, and how host communities and refugees can work together to strengthen integration and opportunity, this symposium is an opportunity to bring together service providers, nonprofits, businesses, policymakers, students, and the broader community to learn current policy updates and initiatives on refugee resettlement and explore possible solutions to some of these challenges refugees and the host community face.

Anticipated attendance of more than 200 individuals, The Future of Refugees in Utah Symposium aims to strengthen the collective impact in addressing this topic by bringing people together. Furthermore, attendees will expand their knowledge of the subject, obtain new tools, resources, and best practices regarding refugee resettlement and integration, meet and network with those working on refugee integration, and learn how to get involved with nonprofit organizations working with the local refugee population.  

Felecia Maxfield Barrett, Executive Director of Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, shares, “In 2022, the world saw more than 100 million forcibly displaced people with more than 40 million of these individuals being refugees, asylum-seekers, and in need of international protection, and Utah has been a unique national and global leader in demonstrating how everyday people come together to welcome these individuals into our community.” 

Maxfield-Barrett continues, “We at Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy are honored to offer our Ambassador John Price & Marcia Price World Affairs Symposium Series as a platform to discuss this topic. We are excited to welcome leading experts working in refugee resettlement and integration, exploring the resettlement process, the benefits that refugees bring to our community, and ways that people can get involved in these efforts, especially after the influx of people resettling from Afghanistan and Ukraine. Most importantly, we want the broader community to learn that refugees are welcomed into the United States by our federal government and that the number one thing they can do to help refugees resettle is be a friend.”