Next Week: Welcoming Our New Neighbors

Public lectures series to cover recent refugee arrival in Central Wisconsin

Join us next week for “Welcoming Our New Neighbors,” a panel discussion on the process of welcoming recent newcomers to Central Wisconsin. The event will take place January 25, 7 p.m. at the UW Center for Civic Engagement and streamed online.

The discussion will be moderated by Wisconsin Public Radio’s Shereen Siewert with guests from the Ethiopian Community Development Council, New Beginnings for Refugees and others. Interpretation will be offered both in-person and for the live stream in Dari, Pashto, Swahili, Hmong and Spanish.

Panelists include, Eric Yonke from the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), Emmanuel Tuyaga, a new neighbor from Burundi, Nasiah Herr from New Beginnings for Refugees and the Hmong American Center, Francisco Guerrero from the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service, and Erik Anderson, M.D., from the ECDC co-sponsorship program.

In 2022, Central Wisconsin welcomed more than 175 refugees from countries like Afghanistan, Congo, Syria and Burundi. In addition, an unknown number of immigrants arrived here seeking asylum from places such as Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The New Neighbors Series examines the histories and political situations in the homelands of our new neighbors. We’ll also find out about their journeys to our area and learn what our communities can do to ease their transitions.

This series is a collaboration between the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service, Ethiopian Community Development Council, and Wisconsin Public Radio. The events are free and open to the public, registration is not required.

To learn more about the New Neighbors Series, or to view a recap of the first event “Forced Displacement – The View from 10,000 Feet,” visit wipps.org. The event will be streamed online at: https://www.youtube.com/user/wippsinfo/.

Click here to view the event flyer.