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Tracing Refugee Resettlement In Vermont

USDA
Somali Bantu farmers sit at the Intervale Center in Burlington.

  This weekend, Secretary of State John Kerry pledged to increase the number of refugees the U.S. will accept each year - up to 100,000 in 2017. Here in Vermont, upwards of 7,000 refugees have resettled through a federal program since 1980: from Bosnia, Vietnam, Somalia, Bhutan, Iraq, Congo, Sudan, and many more.

To discuss the past and future of refugee resettlement here, and the challenges these communities face, we're joined by Amila Merdzanovic, director of the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program. And by Alisha Laramee, a program director at the Association for Africans Living in Vermont - which now serves many different refugee and immigrant populations in the state. 

Also on the program, Bidur Dahal joins us. He's a member of an organization seeking to build a Hindu temple in Vermont for the Bhutanese community and others.

Broadcast live on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Steve has been with VPR since 1994, first serving as host of VPR’s public affairs program and then as a reporter, based in Central Vermont. Many VPR listeners recognize Steve for his special reports from Iran, providing a glimpse of this country that is usually hidden from the rest of the world. Prior to working with VPR, Steve served as program director for WNCS for 17 years, and also worked as news director for WCVR in Randolph. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Steve also worked for stations in Phoenix and Tucson before moving to Vermont in 1972. Steve has been honored multiple times with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for his VPR reporting, including a 2011 win for best documentary for his report, Afghanistan's Other War.
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