June 13, 2019 (MINNEAPOLIS) The City of Minneapolis is celebrating World Refugee Day on Thursday, June 20 with festivities and a speaking program in City Hall’s Rotunda. A panel discussion with community leaders will follow in the afternoon.

World Refugee Day, established by the United Nations, recognizes the many millions of people who are forced to leave their homes because of war, conflict and persecution. The City of Minneapolis World Refugee Day celebration is organized by the City’s Neighborhood and Community Relations Department’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA) and 2020 Census We Count campaign. Learn more about how the City is working to ensure immigrants and refugees are counted in the 2020 census at minneapolismn.gov/census.

World Refugee Thursday, June 20, City Hall, 350 S. Fifth St.

11 a.m.-noon, Rotunda

A speaking program featuring Mayor Jacob Frey, City Council Member Abdi Warsame, City Council Member Phillipe Cunningham, Xailong Yang of the Minneapolis Hmong Leadership Council, Global Language Connections CEO Khadija Ali and Gerardo Cajamarca of SEIU-Local 26.

Noon-1 p.m., Rotunda

Entertainment, food and informational booths featuring organizations and entities working with refugee and immigrant populations, including the Center for Victims of Torture, CAPI, Minnesota Council of Churches, YMCA, Hennepin County Office of Multicultural Services, Lutheran Social Services and the International Institute of Minnesota

1:30-3 p.m., Room 319

Panel discussion on the strengths, contributions and challenges faced within refugee and asylee communities with leaders from Black Immigrant Collective, International Refugee Assistance Project, the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, Isuroon, the Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota and the Minnesota Council of Churches