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Feb 24, 2016

Jewish Journal: This is What it Takes to Resettle a Refugee

“Six months ago, we felt we were shouting into the wind trying to get people to understand there’s a refugee crisis,” Riva Silverman, vice president of external affairs for HIAS, a Jewish refugee aid organization, told congregants at a Shabbat lunch in January at Temple Beth Am on La Cienega Boulevard.

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Feb 22, 2016

Students and Holocaust Survivors Team Up for Refugee PSA

The Holocaust survivors in the Righteous Conversations Project are very aware of the experience of the refugee and those who seek asylum and rescue from murderous regimes. For them, this is more than a problem that is unfolding on the other side of the planet. It is a story with kinship to their own. Recently, Los Angeles area high school students and Holocaust survivors teamed up to make a series of video public service announcements.

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Feb 18, 2016

Refugee Coalition Heads to Capitol Hill

I am on Capitol Hill right now along with not only other HIAS staff but with representatives from many of the top NGOs working on refugee issues. We're here, pounding the pavement and filling the halls of the various House and Senate office buildings, for two days of intense advocacy organized by Refugee Council USA, a coalition of 20 U.S.-based refugee protection NGOs.

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Feb 16, 2016

For Refugee Co-op in Ecuador, Self-Sufficiency Through Plantains

Working with the Agrollipteños Business Association is just one example of how HIAS Ecuador helps engage refugees in entrepreneurial initiatives, encouraging groups of Colombians and Ecuadorians to collaborate in order to grow the scale and presence of their businesses. Such cooperative ventures are important because so many Colombians living in Ecuador are trapped in informal, unregulated jobs.

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Feb 9, 2016

What Does the President’s Budget Mean for Refugees?

Even though it may feel like 2016 has just begun, the federal appropriations process for 2017 is already underway. President Obama revealed his budget request today, and deep within the charts and appendices lies his plan for refugees.

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Feb 8, 2016

Aviva’s Bake Sale

"Even though I am only 9 years old, unfortunately I know about not such great things happening in the world. My parents told me about the war in Syria and about how there are many refugees not just coming from there. I did some research and really wanted to help," Aviva wrote.

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Feb 7, 2016

Times of Israel: The Rabbi Who Rallies American Jews for the Global Refugee Cause

"The Syrian refugee crisis keeps Rabbi Jennie Rosenn up at night. However for her, the worry goes beyond personal concern to professional responsiblity. As the relatively new vice president for community engagement at the refugee assistance organization HIAS, she is tasked with mobilizing the American Jewish community in the face of the world’s largest refugee situation since World War II."

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Feb 4, 2016

Statement to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration & Border Security

HIAS submitted the following statement into the Congressional Record for the House Judiciary Committee's Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee hearing on Central American migrants on February 4, 2016.

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Feb 4, 2016

WATCH: Discussing the Syrian Refugee Crisis at JTS

On February 2, HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield joined members of the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees and the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City for a discussion of the ongoing Syrian Refugee Crisis.

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Feb 2, 2016

Salvadoran Sisters Reunited with Parents in Charlotte

The biggest difference between North Carolina and El Salvador? “It’s safer here. You can walk around at night,” Vanessa says. The 19-year-old has been in the U.S. for only a few months, but the words fly out almost immediately. “It was such a drastic change… I felt safe right away here.”

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