June 20 is recognized worldwide as World Refugee Day. It’s a time to honor and acknowledge the refugees around the world.
This year, World Refugee Day focuses on the power of inclusion and solutions for refugees. The 2023 theme is “Hope away from Home: A world where refugees are always included.”
“That includes financial inclusion, educational inclusion, employment or financial viability inclusion," said Ross Fackrell, the director of refugee resettlement for Jewish Family Service of San Diego. "I think that when I hear things like inclusion, I'm thinking about the people we serve, the burdens they carry, but the opportunities that they're seeking to take up once they get to San Diego, and I think that we can't do that without the inclusion of everyone of all backgrounds. And it's women. It's youth.”
Fackrell described their post-arrival services for refugees: “Housing, permanent and temporary, employment which ranges from the first job to mid-career and helping people re-establish themselves, depending on where they're at,” Fackrell said. “(We also offer) language acquisition, education not only for youth, but for adults as well.”
Some services are only available for the first 90 days after arrival to San Diego, but other services are provided for years.
“We walk with families and individuals through longer periods of time, particularly in the area of economic empowerment. So that includes everything from financial coaching to finding a job, maybe getting a new job after one job was either outgrown or wasn't the right fit career tooling,” Fackrell said.
World Refugee Day celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.
“A lot of people have been forced to flee their homes and no one flees by choice,” Fackrell said.
According to Fackrell there are currently over 60 million displaced people worldwide and that number is not going down.
“Refugees are a very special group of people, for the fact that they have been put in this position that you and myself could find ourselves in,” Fackrell said. “We don't often think about it in those terms, but I think it's really important for us to be cognizant of that.”
Fackrell said during this last quarter, San Diego welcomed over 400 refugees.
“The triumph of families and individuals, that, despite their circumstances of really being able to alleviate and rise to the occasion of settling down in a new place, acclimating, raising families, getting jobs, starting businesses, buying homes, a lot of things that you know in American terms we would consider to be the dream,” Fackrell said.
For those who want to help the refugee community in San Diego, Fackrell said to make yourself available, be open minded and welcoming.
