General Information
Dear Friends,
It is my pleasure to invite you to the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) 2011 National Consultation, Bridges to a New Future, to be held at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C. on Monday, August 1, 2011 and Tuesday, August 2, 2011. The annual Consultation provides a unique opportunity for stakeholders throughout the network to share ideas, engage in discussion, and expand the partnerships that form the backbone of the program.
I look forward to your participation this year, to the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. We must not forget, however, that millions of refugees still languish in squalid and overcrowded refugee camps and urban ghettoes across the world. Far from finding asylum, they remain in situations of displacement—hoping for a future that is not only free from persecution but ripe with possibility—just as they did six decades ago.
For more than thirty years, ORR has partnered with states, secular and faith-based voluntary agencies, and mutual assistance associations to help refugees and other vulnerable populations achieve self-sufficiency as they resettle in the United States. Through a variety of programs, including employment services, English language instruction, vocational training, case management, and short-term cash and medical assistance, ORR seeks to bridge the gap for the populations we serve as they work towards a successful future in the United States.
As ORR Director, one of my goals has been to bring the voice of the refugees to the table. For the second year in a row, ORR plans a special focus on consulting directly with refugees. During the Consultation, we will convene a listening session and invite refugees to assess the effectiveness of existing resettlement services, share their vision for an improved resettlement system, and suggest innovative programming to achieve that vision. We will also address some of the concerns raised during last year’s Consultation, and continue the discussion by featuring several small-group dialogue sessions between ORR and its stakeholders and federal agency partners.
As our key partners in resettlement, your participation in these sessions is vital to the success of the consultation. We expect that these dialogue sessions will lead to broad and long-term implications for the funding, operation and management of the refugee program, for which our partners’ active participation is essential. At a time when budget implications are impacting everyone’s planning and projections, your participation in these discussions is more important than ever.
I hope that you will be able to join us at ORR’s 2011 National Consultation and the training days that immediately follow. I look forward to your involvement as we continue the progression of our collective dialogue on the refugee program, highlight innovative programmatic directions, and address the current challenges facing incoming populations.
Sincerely,
Eskinder Negash
Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement |
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