Regional Approaches to Refugee Challenges

In wake of the Middle East’s refugee crisis, this project brought together 7 professionals from countries across the region working in refugee integration to share best practices on regional approaches to refugee challenges. In addition to programming in Washington, DC, the group also traveled to San Francisco, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Burlington, Vermont. The program sought to address the following objectives:

• Expose participants to forms of outreach by Federal, State, and local authorities to traditionally marginalized communities, providing successful models of refugee integration in a multiethnic context;
• Examine legal and social service programs for refugees/immigrants, including case management and job training programs;
• Explore the structure, budgetary status, and legal basis of the federal, state, and local government agencies that support refugees;
• Review successful practices to integrate refugees into democratic institutions and contribute to economic growth;
• Review political, social, and economic policy formulation and the various players who influence the decision making processes regarding cooperation and coordination to support refugees;
• Discuss factors that determine the success and failure of refugee resettlement; and
• Discuss mental health care programs for refugees/immigrants as well as victims of human rights violations.