Refresher Creating Welcoming Communities for Refugees December 16, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Strategic Communications Refresher

Creating Welcoming Communities for Refugees

December 16, 2016

The Welcoming Refugees Project is supported by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR/ACF/DHHS)

Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will:

• Understand four key messaging strategies for communicating

proactively and positively about refugees

• Articulate two ideas about how to adapt those messaging

strategies to their local audiences

• Identify three resources available in Reframing Refugees and Stand

Together that can assist them in their future messaging

Agenda

• Opening Remarks

Bob Carey, Office of Refugee Resettlement

• Overview & Talking Points

Susan Downs-Karkos, Welcoming America

• Messaging Resources

Amanda Cooper, Lightbox Collaborative

• Moderated Discussion

Opening Remarks

Overview & Talking Points

Overview

Communicate a positive, inclusive vision for your community

• Know your audience
• Have a compelling message
• Include refugee and receiving

community leaders

• Localize your data

Now is the time to commit to deeper welcoming

• Bridging Divides: More than ever, we need to mend the gaps and bridge

the divides among us. We can be beacons for the values and work that helps show all Americans that we can work together to build inclusive communities that welcome long-time and new residents.

• Nation’s founding principles: Our nation’s founding principles, including

freedom of religion, are as important today as they have ever been. Right now, we have the opportunity to reaffirm these values by being more, not less, welcoming to people no matter where they come from or how they choose to worship.

• Committed to listening: We are committed to listening to our neighbors

and building community with everyone who lives here.

Prosperity for All

Every day, communities around the country and across the globe are recognizing that being welcoming makes them more economically competitive and vibrant places for all residents.

• Nationwide, research has shown that refugees are contributors to local

economies; for every dollar spent helping refugees start a new life in the U.S., there is significant economic return to communities.

• A recent study in Columbus, Ohio, resettlement agencies spent about

$6 million a year, but from that investment, the central Ohio community reaps an annual economic impact of $1.6 billion, including nearly $36 million in spending.

United in Compassion for All

• Embrace a vision: Now more than ever, we need to come together

and make sure our communities send a strong message that we all

• belong. This is a country for all of us.
• Hopeful, big-hearted: We must work together to build an America

that’s hopeful, inclusive, and big-hearted.

• Inclusive communities: Our work to build inclusive communities that

welcome long-time and new residents continues today.

Messaging Resources

Reframing Refugees

Stand Together

Messaging for Difficult Situations

• Refugees embody American values: Refugee families who are seeking a

better life embody American values that have guided our country since its

• founding. They’ve defied all odds to arrive in a safe place and our leaders

have the opportunity to reaffirm our American values by responding with

• compassion. Packing up everything and moving to a new place takes

courage and resilience – the same values that define us as Americans.

• By definition refugees are people and families who are here because they

face a threat to their safety in their former homes. They know personally the horrors of these situations.

• Stand united and protect one another: We will stand united as a community,

and we will protect one another.

QUESTIONS?

Stronger Together

Welcoming Refugees Website

Welcoming Refugees Forum

You will have the opportunity to:

• Engage in special discussions before and after webinars
• Have direct access to Welcoming America staff
• Get early peeks at new resources
• Share successes and challenges in welcoming with each other

http://bit.ly/wrforum

We’d Love to Hear From You…

Hannah Carswell, Project Manager - Hannah@welcomingamerica.org

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