Immigration is transforming communities across the country; St. Louis is no exception. Special challenges exist for social service professionals as they seek to serve a community of people from extremely diverse backgrounds who speak in a wide array of languages with varying language skills. This half-day conference will look first at broad issues related to immigrants and narrow the focus with each successive speaker. Jennifer Rafanan of Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates will help dispel a number of myths often associated with immigrants. Pam DeVoe, presenting research conducted in collaboration with Ron Mertz, will explore the relationship between immigrants to the St. Louis area and the social services available to them. Finally, a panel of experts in mental health, education, and employment will examine challenges, barriers, and issues specific to each of those areas as they relate to immigrants. A question-and-answer session will follow each presentation.

Speakers

Jennifer Rafanan
Jennifer Rafanan, a native St. Louisan, has been involved in community organizing and issue and electoral campaigns for more than 10 years. Most recently, she has worked for congressional races as well as issue organizations like MoveON Political Action. Currently, Jennifer serves as the statewide coordinator for Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, a coalition with more than 30 organizational affiliates across the state of Missouri.

Pamela A. DeVoe
Pamela A. DeVoe is currently an independent consultant who specializes in cultural competency training--designed to develop cultural competency for professionals working with multicultural clientele--and research. For nearly 30 years, she has carried out research involving immigrant/refugee populations in the Midwest on a variety of issues: religion, economics, health, education, conflict resolution, gender, and change. She has developed programs, written curricula, presented, and facilitated leadership and organizational workshop series for ethnic nonprofit organizations and their leaders in her capacity as Community Connections Manager for the International Institute of St. Louis. Dr. DeVoe has more than 25 publications to her credit, including The Role of Ethnic Leaders in a Refugee Community. She is a postdoctoral fellow with the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, Center for Policy Research and Training, and holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Arizona.

Sponsored by
University of Missouri-St. Louis
School of Social Work
College of Arts & Sciences
Social Work Alumni Board
Division of Continuing Education

Registration:
Fee: $30 (includes CEUs)

You have four ways to register. Choose the one that's most convenient for you.

Online -- Register online for the Immigration Conference with your MasterCard, Visa, or Discover credit card.

By Fax -- Complete the Immigration Conference registration form and send by fax to (314) 516-6414.

By Mail -- Complete the Immigration Conference registration form and mail to the address indicated.

By Phone -- Call (314) 516-5974 or TDD (314) 516-5961.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
Participants who attend the entire conference will be awarded 0.3 CEUs. A Continuing Education Unit is defined as one unit for each 10 hours of classroom instruction.

Cancellation Policy
The University reserves the right to cancel any program. In the event of cancellation, you will be notified immediately, and all program fees will be refunded or applied to a future program at your request. If you must cancel a registration, you are entitled to a full refund only if you cancel prior to the conference.

More Information
For more information, contact Ashley Patterson at (314) 516-5974 or pattersonam@umsl.edu.