World Refugee Day 2020: Celebrate Refugees and the Communities That Welcome Them

Dear JFI Members

June 20th is the 20th Anniversary of World Refugee Day. This year we are also celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Refugee Act of 1980, and the creation of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

It's a big date to celebrate!

As we stand in solidarity with our refugee brothers and sisters, we are mindful of the larger context of American life right now, in which we are all working together to halt the spread of COVID-19 and restore our nation's health and economic well-being. To this end, we are mindful of the many refugee contributions to the COVID 19 response, including 161,000 refugees working as health care workers and 170,000 laboring as part of the food supply chain.

Please see the following tools to help you participate, lead and create World Refugee Day activities:

JFI World Refugee Day 2020 Toolkit with prayers, backgrounders, talking points, and community engagement ideas.
In-district "virtual" meetings includes tools: (1) to help urge members of Congress to co-sponsor the bipartisan resolution supporting refugees, House Resolution 902 / Senate Resolution 545 / Resolution Talking Points and (2) to encourage Congress to support Supplemental Funding for refugees impacted by COVID 19 in the U.S., Talking points to fund ORR's COVID-19 Response.
USCCB/Catholic Charities USA/Jesuit Refugee Services USA webinar for Hill staff: "World Refugee Day Webinar: Refugees in the time of Covid-19." Register now!
World Refugee Day list of events organized or promoted by local Catholic Charities
"COVID-19: We are all in it together," JFI's Faces of Migration blog post on Ahmad, recently resettled from Afghanistan, who is helping support U.S. COVID-19 health efforts.

In closing, we are also mindful of the larger national context concerning racism as we work together to build welcoming and safe communities. To this end, USCCB President Archbishop Gomez encourages us "to fulfill our nation's sacred promise - to be a beloved community of life, liberty, and equality for all."

In Solidarity,

Tony Cube