Announcement
On Valentine’s Day, the IRC in Atlanta’s staff, clients and volunteers joined nearly 300 fellow advocates at the Georgia State Capitol for the tenth annual New Americans Celebration (NAC).
Photo: Marcus Tanner
On Valentine’s Day, the IRC in Atlanta’s staff, clients and volunteers joined nearly 300 fellow advocates at the Georgia State Capitol for the tenth annual New Americans Celebration (NAC). Hosted by the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies (CRSA), the New Americans Celebration is the annual day of education and outreach for refugees, immigrants and Georgia community members who support them.
With “Georgia Loves Refugees” t-shirts and red bags spread throughout the Capitol all morning, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were able to engage with Georgia’s community of new Americans and hear their stories and contributions first-hand.
Photo: Marcus Tanner
With “Georgia Loves Refugees” t-shirts and red bags spread throughout the Capitol all morning, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were able to engage with Georgia’s community of new Americans and hear their stories and contributions first-hand. Attendees spent the morning ensuring that the CRSA 2022 Annual Report—which highlights the cultural, social, and economic contributions of refugees and immigrants in Georgia—was delivered to all 236 offices in the Georgia General Assembly. Also in our educational packets was information on legislative priorities including H.B. 131, S.B. 264, and H.B. 520, which would provide in-state tuition to DACA recipients, in-state tuition to students with refugee, special immigrant, or humanitarian parolee status, and mental health licensing reform, respectively.
The priority of IRC staff and volunteers was ensuring as many of our refugee and immigrant clients as possible were able to attend the event, engage with lawmakers, and know that the Capitol is as much for them as it is for all other Georgians.
Photo: Marcus Tanner
Photo: Marjan Nadir
The priority of IRC staff and volunteers was ensuring as many of our refugee and immigrant clients as possible were able to attend the event, engage with lawmakers, and know that the Capitol is as much for them as it is for all other Georgians. Adult students from our English-as-a-Second-Language and Citizenship Preparation classes attended the NAC alongside their IRC teachers, and were able to pull lawmakers out of session and share their personal stories and concerns in brief but meaningful conversations. Our Youth program staff were also able to bring 13 Clarkston High School students to the event for a civic engagement field trip! These young people had the chance to share educational materials with lawmakers, take lots of pictures with elected leaders, and discuss issues impacting their school and neighborhoods with their own representatives and senators, including Senator Kim Jackson—a long-time refugee advocate and supporter—who represents the community of Clarkston. Over the buzz of excitement in the Capitol during our group photo, one high school student even shouted: “I shook Governor Brian Kemp’s hand!”
Adult students from our English-as-a-Second-Language and Citizenship Preparation classes attended the NAC alongside their IRC teachers, and were able to pull lawmakers out of session and share their personal stories and concerns in brief but meaningful conversations.
Photo: IRC Atlanta
The IRC in Atlanta's Youth Futures students got the chance to speak with their State Senator, Kim Jackson.
Photo: IRC Atlanta
Most notably, two of the IRC in Atlanta’s Microenterprise Development (MED) program clients, Abdul Jalil Ishaq Zai and Baseer Basil, joined the NAC event as special guest speakers, sharing their stories as refugee business owners at both the opening training and closing press conference. In 2021, Abdul Jalil and his family were evacuated from Afghanistan and spent time in Germany before being welcomed to the U.S. as Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients. After arriving in Georgia, Abdul Jalil worked with the IRC in Atlanta’s MED program to launch a drop-shipping small business. He shared, “People like me, who are ready to open new businesses and create new jobs in the market, need support and resources. With the right support and resources, we can play a positive role in strengthening the economy.”
Before being welcomed to the U.S. through the refugee resettlement program in 2014, Baseer worked in Afghanistan as a journalist, businessman and artist, and was heavily involved in Afghanistan’s arts and culture scene as a chairman in national theatre. As an active member of Atlanta’s Afghan community, Baseer noticed a lack of access to traditional Afghan products and—working with the IRC in Atlanta’s MED program—opened Kabul Market. At the NAC press conference, he emphasized the importance of education for newly arriving refugees and immigrants and urged the audience to support in-state tuition access for noncitizen students: “Please give sponsorship for all the students to continue college. You have intelligent, educated people.”
Thank you to all who joined us at the Capitol on February 14—especially our hard-working clients!
Photo: IRC Atlanta
Thank you to all who joined us at the Capitol on February 14—especially our hard-working clients! We are proud that the refugee resettlement program has such strong, bipartisan support from Georgia's elected leaders.
Read more about the NAC in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Relive the NAC in pictures: New Americans Celebration 2023
To learn more about the work of the IRC in Atlanta and for information on how you can get involved with the IRC as a donor or volunteer, please contact Development Director, Heloise Ahoure, at [email protected] or 678-636-8941.
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