Advocacy Sessions
Making Change through Civic Engagement
During this session, we will discuss with newcomers and long-term residents how to address the issues facing your community at the local, state, and federal level. We will focus on the impacts of understanding how the civic process works, developing networks of leaders and engaging in activities such as voter education, meeting with elected officials or joining local welcome councils. We will discuss how faith allies and immigrant leaders can collectively collaborate to make effective change they want to see within their communities. In addition, we will also discuss how to utilize varying skills within communities to better their communities through civic engagement.
This is a joint session with Advocacy & Refugee Resettlement & Community Sponsorship track.
Following this session, participants will:
Understand the basics of how civic engagement and voter education can develop new leaders.
Understand how civic engagement can create meaningful change in their communities.
Presenters
Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea, Director of Refugee & Immigration Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Sharon directs Refugee & Immigration Ministries (RIM) for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)/US & Canada; mobilizing Disciples congregations to offer hospitality to immigrants, resettle refugees, advocate with immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, and seek justice for farm workers. An ordained PCUSA clergy with standing in the CC(DOC), she holds a Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary and Masters of Divinity, Summa Cum Laude, from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Sharon previously pastored in California and North Carolina, served in mission in South Korea, worked internationally in Laos, lived in refugee communities, and is a nationally trained community organizer.
Dauda Sesay, National Network Director, African Communities Together
Dauda Sesay is the National Network Director for African Communities Together (ACT). A former refugee from Sierra Leone, Dauda fled his homeland at the age of 16 due to a terrible war and resettled in the U.S. in 2009. He earned a degree in Applied Science in Process Technology and is currently going for his Bachelor Degree in Administrative Management with a concentration in International Business at the Louisiana State University-Shreveport. Dauda is presently the Vice-Chairman of the Refugee Congress Board of Directors. Prior to working for the ACT, Dauda worked as a Process Technician at Dow Chemical Company and volunteered with various local and national nonprofit organizations.
Dauda is a community advocate and founding member of the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants (LORI,) assisting other refugees and immigrants with integration into the United States. He is also a member of Mayor Sharon Weston Broome International Relations Commission and Chairperson of the Commission Culture and Art Engagement. Recently Dauda was appointed as the United States Advisor at the UNHCR High-Level Officials Meeting on Global Impact on refugees. Dauda speaks Sierra Leone Krio and Temne.
Hyun Ja Shin Norman, Executive Director, Woori Juntos
Hyun Ja Shin Norman (she/her) is a community organizer, who took the lead on the 2020 Census, the 2020 Presidential Election, and the vaccine drive for the Korean community in Houston. She studied at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Korea, and majored in Political Science at the University of Houston. She is the Executive Director of Woori Juntos, a grassroots-based organization by local community members to project a progressive voice and promote the full participation of Asian Americans and all Texans within the social justice movement. As a community organizer, she organizes the Korean American Early Voting Day every election cycle and assists members of her community to vote. Her desire is to enable people who have limited English proficiency to vote confidently.
Ahmed Ahmed, Volunteer Community Organizer and Refugee Leader
As a former refugee from Chad, Africa, my family and I arrived to Lancaster in 1997. We became refugees after my father’s uncle was deposed as president of Chad. I am a volunteer community organizer and refugee leader in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. My life’s work is the commitment to our newest neighbors and championing the refugee and immigrant story.
Watch Session
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