Join us for our Spring Regional Community Advocate Training and Networking event. The first part of this event is shining a light on the Refugee Crisis. Around 10,000 refugees are on course to be welcomed into Michigan. Many of them have been exploited or are at a high risk for exploitation. The first half of the event will feature Ken Fouty of Lutheran Social Services (LSSM). Ken will share with us the plight of a refugee and how we can come along side them and help in their transition to safety.
The second half of our event will be geared toward our Community Group leaders and will focus on training, upcoming events and MAP updates.
Lunch is included.
Some Background…Nearly 4 million Syrians have become refugees, according to the United Nations, and 5.5 million more have been displaced. Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, based in Troy, has been processing most of the refugees arriving in metro Detroit. The agency has helped resettle 62 Syrian refugees so far this year and expect to resettle nearly 1200 in 2016. Refugees headed to Michigan tend to be resettled primarily in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and Catholic Charities are also handling some refugees. Most of the Syrian refugees are from Jordan and are glad to be in the U.S. LSSM relies heavily on its partnerships with local organizations and religious congregations to fulfill new refugees’ needs for housing and transportation. Through partnerships, LSSM also works with employers to arrange job opportunities. (read news)
“The children asked us to escape,” a refugee dad says, who fled Iraq in 2007. “They [my children] said, ‘We can’t sleep. We’re scared.’ “
“We feel safe. We feel we are human again.” – Syrian Refugee