MARCH 24, 2009--Former National Basketball Association (NBA) star Sudanese-born Manute Bol will keynote the closing session of a national conference in Detroit this week that is focusing on U.S. refugee resettlement and the pressing issues facing new refugees and those who serve them.
Resettlement agencies will address effects of economy on refugee employment, fundraising challenges
DETROIT, MICH--Former National Basketball Association (NBA) star Sudanese-born Manute Bol will keynote the closing session of a national conference in Detroit this week that is focusing on U.S. refugee resettlement and the pressing issues facing new refugees and those who serve them.
The conference, now in progress through Friday March 27, has attracted some 350 refugee resettlement professionals and is presented by humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS), Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM), and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).
Bol's culminating keynote will highlight a closing plenary that is open to media. Other event sessions are closed to media and public in what is intended as a development conference for the staff of more than three dozen local refugee resettlement affiliate agencies nationwide.
WHAT:
Partnering for Successful Resettlement
Tri-Agency National Refugee Resettlement Conference
Keynote Speaker: Former NBA Basketball Star Manute Bol
WHERE:
Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center
100 Renaissance Center
Detroit, Michigan 48243
(313) 568-8000
WHEN:
Mon. March 23 Fri. March 27, 2009
Manute Bol Keynote
Fri. March 27 - 10:30 11:30 AM
and Closing Plenary
NOTE: Interviews can be arranged with Mr. Bol before and after his address.
EDITORS: Interviews, video and still photography with conference leaders, speakers and participants available upon request.
DETAILS:
Manute Bol: Bol's presentation will include his assistance to Sudanese refugees, his work to rebuild Sudan, his NBA career and his family's story.
Born in South Sudan, Manute Bol came to the United States in 1983 to play basketball. Throughout his successful career, he contributed most of his earnings, estimated at $3.5 million, to help southern Sudanese refugees and is credited with drawing international attention to the plight of the Sudanese refugees. He now is raising funds to build a school in his home village of Turalei.
The Conference: Participants in the conference will meet daily in plenary, then choose from among more than three dozen workshops, several of which will address refugee employment and agency fundraising in today's struggling economy.
Other workshops include "New Refugee Groups and Cultural Orientation," "Addressing Anti-Immigrant Bias in Your Community" and "Cross-Cultural Skills for Refugee Resettlement Staff," along with more technical sessions such as "Pre-Arrival Processing," "Matching Grant 101" and "Cultivating an Effective Board."
Each year, the U.S. government invites a number of refugees--people fleeing persecution--to resettle in U.S. communities. After a rigorous screening process, refugees are assigned to Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service or one of seven other agencies for reception and placement. In fiscal year 2008, CWS, EMM, and LIRS and their local affiliates welcomed a combined total of 17,026 refugees (of the 60,192 resettled by all 10 national-level agencies), meeting their clients' basic needs and helping them move as quickly as possible toward self-sufficiency.
Media Contacts: (On site)
Carol Fouke-Mpoyo, CWS Immigration and Refugee Program Information Officer
646-258-8896
John Denaro,
Sponsorship and Media Development
Episcopal Migration Ministries
917-273-6873
Cassandra Champion
Director for Communications
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
410-230-2791
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Refugees from Cameroon carry banners reading "I am Obama" during a protest against the law for refugees in front of Romania's Ministry of Administration and Interior headquarters in downtown Bucharest March ...
