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This post was originally published in The Culture-Ist in March 2016 after the author, Amber Dunlap, attended a roundtable about refugee resettlement and integration hosted by SWB Colorado. Below is an excerpt and link to the full feature.
In October, I wrote an article about a non-profit organization serving the growing number of refugee, asylee, and immigrant youth in Greeley, CO called Soccer Without Borders. In the couple of months since that article was published, the conversation regarding refugee resettlement has come to a head in the wake of the November Paris attacks and a Syrian passport found lying next to one of the attackers. During this time of misinformation and fear, Soccer Without Borders decided to host a round-table discussion for the Colorado community as a way to take back the conversation and shed light on some of the positive refugee resettlement stories unfolding closer to home.
Globally, there are more than 59.4 million displaced persons, 51 percent of which are children under the age of 18. In 2015, the United States resettled 70,000 refugees. In 2016, that cap has been raised to 85,000 refugees. As the number of displaced persons continues to climb, it’s important that the effective programs and support are in place to help them. That is the conversation Soccer Without Borders set out to initiate at their event in Denver on December 11, the first of many discussions to come...