1. Welcoming Refugees in Rural Areas
Welcoming America received $225,000 through competitive funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Grant #90RB0050. This project is financed with 100% of Federal funds. The contents of this PowerPoint are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
Welcome, everyone! Thank you for joining us for today. My name is Molly Hilligoss and I will be facilitating today’s webinar.  This Webinar is made possible by a grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement and so we thank them for their support
Before we get started, I would like to cover a couple of housekeeping items:
The webinar is being audio recorded. It and the slides will be available on the Welcoming Refugees website after the webinar is finished.
All participants are muted. We will have time for questions and answers at the end of the webinar- if you have any questions during the webinar, feel free to chat them in at any point of the webinar.

2. Today’s Objectives
Participants will understand how rural communities are coming together to support refugees.
Participants will learn about four ways rural communities are welcoming refugees.
Participants will understand how to utilize partnerships, community building, and messaging best practices in their local context. -

3. Today’s Presenters
Molly Hilligoss, Welcoming America Sara Karki, Austin Area Minority Business Project Christa Yoakum, Nebraska is Home
So as I mentioned before my name is Molly Hilligoss and I am the Midwest Regional Manger with Welcoming America, and I have been working over the past year to recognize, support and share the stories of smaller and more rural communities who are committed to creating thriving places where people of all backgrounds can realize their potential.
I am joined by Sara Karki, from the Austin Area Minority Business Project- Sara Karki is a Spanish speaking staff attorney at Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota and provides legal services to immigrants and refugees in greater Minnesota.  She is involved in the community on the Human Rights Commission, as an interpreter trainer and as a board member of Welcome Center.
And, by Christa Yoakum from Nebraska is Home. Christa is the Coordinator of Nebraska Is Home, a grassroots movement promoting mutual respect and cooperation among US-born and foreign-born neighbors, creating safe, strong, and robust communities for all.
Within the Immigrants and Communities program at Nebraska Appleseed, Nebraska Is Home advocates for local pro-immigrant policies and practices, arts, positive messages, community engagement, and improving local policies to support new neighbors and promote immigrant integration.

4. Agenda
Overview of the Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities Toolkit Molly Hilligoss, Welcoming America Innovative Program Highlight Sara Karki, Austin Area Minority Business Project Incorporating Promising Practices in Everyday Welcoming Christa Yoakum, Nebraska is Home
As we get started, I’d like to provide a quick review our agenda for today.
After brief introductions, I will provide a brief overview of the Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities toolkit. We will then move into the featured speakers section of our webinar, and will hear from Sara Karki and Christa Yoakum about some of the work they are doing in rural communities and the promising practices that support welcoming efforts.
Again, We will have time for questions at the end- and, participants are muted, so please feel free to chat any questions to me throughout the webinar!

5. Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities
The Welcoming Refugees in
Rural Communities toolkit is available for download at
WHY WE WROTE THIS TOOL
Molly –
Ultimately, welcoming refugees wrote this tool to share some promising practices and lift up the conversation about how smaller and more rural communities are really supporting and engaging refugees. We know that Refugees come to this country searching for safety and then for opportunities for education, employment, and ultimately to be part of a thriving community. We also know that some newcomers make the large cities of the United States their new homes, and some follow the opportunities that present themselves in smaller and more rural parts of the country. Rural communities often have quite a bit to offer these newcomers: steady employment, a reasonable cost of living, social cohesion, and for many, the chance to live in a place that is similar in size to where they come from. While newcomers are usually drawn to rural places out of economic necessity, they stay when these smaller and more rural places start to become home. Refugees and immigrants feel welcomed when smaller and more rural communities have created programs, partnerships, policies, and opportunities that engage them. Rural areas also thrive because their U.S.-born population is typically older, while the younger generation is drawn to cities; refugees and other immigrants represent an opportunity for addressing population decline and revitalizing communities. .
In particular, we know that sharing the stories and replicable model programs can shift the narrative– we know that refugees and immigrants are making smaller and more rural communities home and that those communities are embracing those newcomers. And wanted to share some of those models with you.

6. Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities
Economic Development: Austin Area Minority Business Project - Austin, Minnesota
Community Building: Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees - Cazenovia, New York
Ethnic Community-Based Organization: Karen Society of Nebraska - Madison, Nebraska
Faith Community: Cactus Nazarene Ministry Center - Cactus, Texas
Molly-
Specifically we are sharing how different types of community actors are working together to create more vibrant communities for all. This includes four examples of model programs from that are supporting refugees and immigrants in a number of different ways: First the toolkit explores innovations in the Economic Development programming with a profile of the :Austin Area Minority Business Project  Austin, Minnesota, Second we share some really original Community Building strategies from: Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees Cazenovia, New York. Third we move on to a really great example of Ethnic Community-Based Organization that is taking the lead in in refugee services : Karen Society of Nebraska Madison, Nebraska and finally we discover how one faith based organization - Cactus Nazarene Ministry Center has changed the community of cactus Texas through service and mission. The tool then examines some cross-cutting themes and promising practices that all the programs are utilizing for success - we will examine those a bit later. Now I’d like to take the opportunity to dig a little deeper into the Austin, Area Minority Business Project and welcome Sara Karki to share a little more in depth about Austin and the fantastic programming happening there.

7. Innovative Program Highlight
Sara Karki, Austin Area Minority Business Project

8. Austin Area Minority Business Project

9. Austin, MN
24,718 population

10. l

11. Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

12. Small Business Consulting

13. Pro-Bono legal help for businesses
Longitudinal research to measure impact

14. La Sureña Co-op Knyaw Grocery

15. Incorporating Promising Practices in Everyday Welcoming
Christa Yoakum, Nebraska is Home

16. Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities
WHY IT WORKS:
Molly- Thank you Sara, I had the opportunity to visit Austin in the spring and was just so impressed by the all the coordinated Welcoming efforts.
While highlighting these community based programs, partnerships and polices, it became abundantly clear that while all of the initiatives are very different they all incorporate some of the same promising practices around community engagement and sustainability. For the next part of our webinar I’d like to take the opportunity to explore a couple of those practices with Christa Yoakum, From Nebraska is Home, and see how she sees these practices playing out in the communities where she works.

17. Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities: Why it Works
Building Partnerships:
Working together creates more sustainable projects. Partnerships are defined as “a collaborative relationship between entities to work toward shared objectives through a mutually agreed division of labor.”
Molly- One of the first things that we noticed while exploring these community initiatives is that partnerships are incredibly valuable. We defined partnerships as a collaborative relationship between entities to work toward shared objectives through a mutually agreed division of labor.”
Christa, Can you share your experience with successful partnerships in rural and small communities in NE?

18. Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities: Why it Works
Engaging Refugees In Community Building:
Refugees come to this country with skills and talents to share, and engaging refugees in the projects and programs that serve their communities—and the broader receiving community—can be a positive experience.
Molly- Thanks Christa I appreciate how small and rural communities in NE and all over are utilizing partnerships to tackle complex community challenges and to create more welcoming places for all.
Another thing that rose to the top during our investigation was that engaging refugee or immigrant communities in this community building work can be really profound, how has that engagement led to large scale change in communities you work with?

19. Welcoming Refugees in Rural Communities: Why it Works
Focusing on Positive Messaging and Communications
Refugees add value to our communities, and rural and small communities are no exception. Sharing the value newcomers bring to their community is an important part of how programs, organizations, and initiatives can build support and engage the broader community in their work.
Molly- Ok, I think we have time to chat about one more promising practice and I’d like to have Sara weigh in on this one as well -
We see the power of communications and messaging everyday and I think positive communication and messaging strategies about our programs as well as about the value that newcomers bring to our communities can really impact receiving community members/longer term residents.
Sara, Can you share how you think all the positive media attention the Austin Area Minority Business Project receives has made Austin more Welcoming?
Thanks Sara, …….
And, Christa – I know that much of the Welcoming work you are involved in focuses on this topic – can you give us one high level take-a-way that might be useful to our audience when it comes to positive messaging and communication strategies?

20. QUESTIONS?
Wow – what a great discussion- we have several questions in the chat box so we will start with those and if you have a question you’d like to ask either of our speakers please send them our way and we will try to tackle as many as we can in the remaining minutes we have.

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