Monthly Program - Their Story Now: Immigrants, Refugees, Asylees
Details
This is a hybrid event, both in-person at the JUC and online on our YouTube Channel. If you can't make it in-person, you can watch the streaming broadcast at https://www.youtube.com/@jeffersonhumanists2779/streams. We will also record the program for later viewing on our YouTube Channel for those who may miss this event.
Apologies to those who tried to attend the April Program on streaming. We had technical problems. We are working on getting a recording of the program up on our YouTube channel.
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Join Jefferson Humanists for our monthly program titled, Their Story Now: Immigrants, Refugees, Asylees presented by Natalie Impraim and Oliver Fon.
Natalie Impraim is the Advocacy Coordinator for the Refugee Action Coalition of Colorado, and Oliver Fon is a refugee, speaker, and storyteller. Both are part of the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning, whose mission is to build a thriving and intercultural community through learning, language access, and advocacy.
- Natalie will facilitate the presentation, starting us off with data and statistics about the status of immigrants, refugees, and asylees in Colorado and beyond.
- Oliver will bring home the realities of forced migration, identity, and survival in his personal story of the perilous journey from Cameroon to Metro Denver.
- Natalie will conclude with information about local and regional organizations that are serving communities and how members like Oliver are being impacted by the current US administration.
Natalie Impraim is a first-generation Ghanaian, born in Tucson, Arizona. She earned her MA in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Assistance at the Josef Korbel School, DU. Natalie has dedicated her career to public service and advocacy. She began her professional journey in the criminal court system and has since transitioned into human rights policy and advocacy, with a focus on refugees and immigration. Before joining the Spring Institute, she worked on the Welcome Corps program, supporting community-based refugee resettlement efforts until the program was discontinued. In addition to her policy and advocacy work, Natalie is a passionate storyteller who centers and humanizes the experiences of refugees and immigrants.
Oliver Fon’s path to the United States was marked by extreme hardship, including crossing the Darién Gap, navigating human smuggling networks, and enduring detention at the U.S. border before eventually resettling in Colorado. Now based in Aurora, Colorado, Oliver has transformed his lived experience into a platform for impact. As a speaker with the Refugee Speakers Bureau and the subject of a documentary project with the University of Colorado Boulder, he uses storytelling to shed light on the realities of forced migration, identity, and survival. His story goes beyond personal struggle, offering a deeper perspective on global displacement and the human cost behind migration.
This program is hosted by Jefferson Humanists, a chapter of the American Humanist Association.
To ensure we set up enough seats, please RSVP on this Meetup or by email to RSVP@jeffersonhumanists.com.
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SCHEDULE
NOTE WELL: New Program Timing in the Summer:
- Gather at 4pm
- Program begins at 4:15,
- Pot Luck following the Program at 5:45.
Please bring food to share.
A small donation is suggested for the food, and wine and beer will be served for a $3 donation.
We hope to see you at 4:00 pm, on Sunday, May 24th, at Jefferson Unitarian Church!
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"We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation." - President Ronald Reagan
"The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges" - President George Washington
"When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong... you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." — Leviticus 19:33-34.