Boise Mayor Spotlights Refugees’ Welfare
Molly Messick / StateImpact Idaho
Iraqi refugee Qusay Alani with Dhiaa and Ahmad, two of his three sons. They, along with Alani's wife and older son, came to the U.S. with travel loan that totaled more than $4,000.
The issue of refugees’ economic well-being has been a focus of ours here at StateImpact. This week, Boise Mayor David Bieter made refugee resettlement and employment one focus of his annual State of the City Address. Bieter had this to say:
Over the last few years, in this tough economy, it became obvious to me that the challenges refugees face are compromised further in a tough economy. So we convened a roundtable of the Idaho Office for Refugees, refugee agencies, our partners in the community, and the result of that is a refugee resettlement comprehensive plan and a way forward to help them with housing and transportation, social integration. We don’t just benefit them, but we benefit our community as a whole, to the extent that Boise has been recognized as a model for how you successfully bring refugees to your community. – Mayor David Bieter
