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
KEEP UP WITH WELCOMING AMERICA WelcomingRefugees.org WelcomingAmerica.org Like us on Facebook facebook.com/WelcomingAmerica Follow us on Twitter @WelcomingUSA Subscribe to our YouTube Channel youtube.com/WelcomingAmerica Connect with us on LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/welcoming-america
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