World Refugee Day: Secy of State Blinken and Ed Secy Cardona Highlight So.VT Innovations

In recognition of World Refugee Day, U.S Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona encouraged higher education institutions across the country to play a larger role in supporting refugees and immigrants. As a part of this memo, the Secretaries pointed to the innovative and collaborative strategies and partnerships here in Windham County.

You can read that letter here.

As a part of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Working Communities Challenge, in late 2019 BDCC convened partners across Windham County to explore participating in the Challenge with the goal to create a more welcoming and inclusive community and economy for immigrants and refugees. From the very start, World Learning/SIT have been innovative partners and an invaluable institution for the success of the initiative. When World Learning opened their doors and dorms to our New Vermonters, it created a time and space for our community members to adjust to Vermont, gain english and intercultural communication skills, and prepare to enter the workforce.

Two years later, this model has been promoted by our national leaders in education and diplomacy, and we’re excited to see this model be adopted by leaders like World Learning and the So.VT Working Communities team across the country.

Special thanks to Refugee Welcome Collective, Refugee Housing Solutions, and Jacklyn Bunch from Bunch Media for capturing our work on video.