>> Thank you, Renee.

Always nice to get inside.

Skate.

Well, Kentucky Refugee ministries celebrated 10 years of the Kentucky refugee and Immigrant Inclusion Summit this Thursday.

The annual event provides health care professionals.

Educators and others, an opportunity to share ideas about how Kentucky can better accommodate and welcome newcomers.

>> So this is the Kentucky Refugee and Immigrant Inclusion summit.

That's the 10th year.

We've had it.

It's a wonderful event that brings together people from across all kinds of different sectors.

And all kinds of different communities who care about working towards more inclusive communities, especially for refugees, immigrants and other newcomers.

>> Im in associate professor in the history Department.

So I teach and Africa.

I forget history.

African coach has suffered its worse.

It is.

But my own research focuses on my My questions with feeding and out of the African continent have been also court met teen program that the iPhone did called step up.

So the this type of program this of this lending program that we you know, permanently for a UK students to be involed in the communities.

But we just seeing getting up to students to be in full to the community.

In general.

We got a good team.

Students, the Supreme College students from refugee and immigrant feminist.

So the idea here is to get UK students to go into the schools and the community organizations like I'm going to ministry is that we have a number of organizations that we're working with.

2 provides mentorship and to turning 70 says 2 students, what in high school and middle school been in the middle schools will come from a families.

And of course, you know, Im a good friend of this.

So here in Central Kentucky, we have been welcoming refugees.

>> Since 1998, which a lot of people maybe don't realize I'm but in the past few years we have a strong growth in the arrivals that are coming in both with refugees and folks that are coming through other programs known as humanitarian parole.

And then we also work folks that ours.

>> I have received asylum or may be eligible for other services on other immigration statuses.

But everyone we work with has been forcibly displaced in some way from their home.

One of the biggest challenges that I think a lot of our clients face and that a lot of people maybe have misconceptions about is how.

And work toward self-sufficiency.

So most folks are eligible for public benefits, an R on public benefits for a little while but very quickly, all of the investments that are made by the government and community members and nonprofits around in the area translate into significant economic returns for whatever community is welcoming them.

It has been shown over and over again that immigrants are a net benefit for communities, not just for economic development, but also for making communities more helping to push communities to be more inclusive of others.

>> So so this this summit is a great opportunity to for him to 2 men about my and also the contribution immigrants arriving in and protect it.

You know, full intent on me, but also those who have no choice but to leave the out their countries of origin who >> the Immigration Research Initiative says Kentucky ranks 4th per capita for refugee