Established 1936 – John A. Collins, President

EMBASSY SUITES BY HILTON, GRAND RAPIDS DOWNTOWN

Big E's Sports Grille

710 Monroe Avenue NW, Grand Rapids

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2025 – 7:00 AM

Western Michigan has not been affected to the extent that some areas of the country have with the flood of immigration. The problem with many refugees is that their knowledge of English is quite deficient. The goal of the Refugee Education Center is to ameliorate that deficiency as the Centers support refugee children and their families.

45 years ago, teachers struggled with the influx of Vietnamese refugee children and their issues that they had in integrating them into the mainstream of learning. The Center was not around then to assist as it was founded in 2006. Since that date, more than 6000 refugees have been assisted.

Meg Derrer, the Chief Executive Officer of Refugee Education Center will present From Arriving to Thriving: How Refugee Education Center supports refugee children, their families, and the West Michigan schools they attend.

Invocation: Eric Nelson
Introduction: Paul Chardoul

1. More than half of all school-aged refugee children globally are not enrolled in school.
2. 2. Education helps refugees to become self-sufficient, enabling them to learn about themselves and the world around them, as they strive to rebuilt their lives and communities.
3. 3. Education reduces risks of forced recruitment, child labor, sexual exploitation and child marriage.