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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

The Global Refugee Crisis - Today's International Ed Week lecture by VP of US Committee for Refugees


TODAY – 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in Warshof Conference Center, Flynn Campus Center (Monroe B) and at DCC from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. in Room 4151

Mr. Eskinder Negash, key note speaker for International Education Week

This year’s theme for MCC’s International Education Week is “My Place in the World: Understanding the Local and Global Community”.  Our key note speaker, Mr. Eskinder Negash, will help us understand the global community, specifically the global refugee crisis, and how it connects to us locally.   We are fortunate to have him with us at MCC for the day.

According to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants website, “Mr. Eskinder Negash is a recognized Senior Executive leader and brings over 35 years of proven not-for-profit management experience working on behalf of refugees and immigrants and managing non-profit social service agencies.  Mr. Negash served as Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the largest government funded refugee resettlement organization in the world, within the Administration of Children and Families, at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2009 - 2015.  With a budget of over 1.5 billion, the Office of Refugee Resettlement plays a critical role in providing essential services to a wide range of vulnerable people through the Resettlement Program, Rescue & Restore anti-trafficking campaign, and the Unaccompanied Children's Program.  Under his leadership, ORR has served more than 400,000 refugees, 150,000 asylees, 125,000 Cuban and Haitian Entrants, nearly 21,000 Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders,  3,200 Victims of Trafficking, over 32,000 U.S. repatriates, and almost 116,000 unaccompanied children.  Altogether, that is more than 850,000 people, in six years.

“Prior to his appointment by the Obama Administration, he served as the vice president and chief operating officer of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), a non-governmental, not-for-profit international organization dedicated to addressing the needs and rights of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide.  Before joining USCRI, Mr. Negash served as vice president and chief administrative officer of the International Institute of Los Angeles for 15 years.  Mr. Negash also served as a board member with several non-profit organizations, including two years as chair of the Joint Voluntary Agencies Committee of California, chair of the California State Refugee Advisory Council, and board member of Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).  In 2009, Mr. Negash received an Outstanding American by Choice award from DHS U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which recognizes naturalized U.S. citizens who have made significant contributions to both their community and their adopted country.  In 2010, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) honored Mr. Negash as one of ten distinguished men and women whose stories of hope and transformation epitomize the refugee journey.”

Come early so you can take 10 – 15 minutes to walk among and read the display boards of our Global Faces exhibit which we will temporarily move from the Atrium.  This exhibit gives a local, human face and story to the refugee experience.  We hope that you will see that we are not distanced from these realities.

Gale Lynch
Global Education and International Services
11/18/2015