Equity Workshop Two

Building Bridges into Immigrant Communities

December 11th  |  9 - 10:30 am
Click to Watch/Register 

“How can we serve the immigrant populations in our cities? What questions should we be asking them? Who do we ask?” Dr. Ryan Pennington will address these questions by showing the complex network of immigrant communities in Amarillo. Understanding these communities will enable us to discuss how to build bridges into these communities and work collaboratively to identify unique solutions to our shared problems. The discussion will be illustrated by Amarillo College’s involvement in community needs assessments with the local Somali community.

Pre-Workshop Reading:

Please read the article "The Lie of Travel" written by Dr. Ryan Pennington.

Additional Resources: Refugee Language Project Newsletters

 

Guest Speaker

Dr. Ryan Pennington Executive Director, Refugee Language Project Dr. Ryan Pennington is the founder and executive director of the Refugee Language Project, a non-profit organization focused on "removing language barriers, building leaders, and cultivating community among refugees in West Texas." Previously, Dr. Pennington spent 9 years living in the nation of Papua New Guinea, working as a field linguist under the auspices of Wycliffe Bible Translators. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in linguistics from James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. He and his wife, Crystal, have three children and they reside in Amarillo, Texas.