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<TITLE>New Americans Agenda public hearing Wednesday Feb. 18</TITLE>
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<FONT COLOR="#FE0000"><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:18.0px'><B>New Americans Agenda Public Hearing<BR>
Wednesday Feb. 18, 2009<BR>
5:30 – 7:30 <BR>
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St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church<BR>
840 Page Boulevard<BR>
Springfield <BR>
</B></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'>The New Americans Agenda NAA is a comprehensive statewide initiative to better integrate refugees and immigrants into the economic and civic life of the Commonwealth.
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We strongly encourage you to attend this public hearing for Western Mass. Residents and leaders to share with us: what it would mean for MA to be a welcoming state for immigrants and refugees; challenges to integration currently faced by immigrants and refugees and their receiving communities; strategies to overcome those challenges. The <FONT COLOR="#0000FE">meeting will include <B>roundtable discussions</B> where you will have the opportunity to discuss your ideas directly with members of the Governors Advisory Council</FONT> for Refugees and Immigrants.<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FE">Over the next year, the MA Office for Refugees and Immigrants (MORI) and the Governor’s Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants (GACRI) will develop a series of policy recommendations to Governor Patrick on integration challenges and solutions. <B>Ideas arising from the Springfield Public Hearing will provide the foundation for these recommendations</B>.<BR>
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The Springfield public hearing is being co-convened by the Alliance to Develop Power and the Center for New Americans. <BR>
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To register to attend or to co-sponsor contact William Cano, director of the ADP Worker Center at 413-739-7233 (<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U>william@a-dp.org)</U></FONT>.<BR>
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Caroline Murray, Director<BR>
Alliance to Develop Power (formerly the Anti-Displacement Project)<BR>
ADP Worker Center / Casa Obrera<BR>
130 Union Street<BR>
Springfield, MA 01105<BR>
(413) 739-7233 phone<BR>
(413) 746-3012 fax<BR>
(413) 219-1108 cell<BR>
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