When the initiative was born, Guilford College created various opportunities for educating the community about the refugee crisis. One important way we did this was through a public panel.
The panel was well attended by Guilford students, faculty, and staff as well as local community members. We learned about the refugee crisis and the resettlement process and heard personal testimonies of refugee experiences. Our college newspaper, The Guilfordian, further educated the community on these issues by publishing various pieces throughout Fall ’15.
Once the community was provided with important background and context information, we held two public meetings with refugee resettlement agencies. These were well attended. We learned about the process of resettlement and the needs and challenges the agencies face. We then brainstormed on how to design the initiative to meet those needs.
