OUR NEXT MEETING
When: January 13, 2010
Where: City Hall Philadelphia
Caucus Room
4th Floor - Room 401
On the eve of Live 8, an international celebration to raise awareness about poverty on the African continent, and in preparation of the 4th of July Holiday, the Mayor’s creation of this Commission reaffirmed to the world Philadelphia ’s historic commitment to tolerance, freedom and democracy.
Philadelphia is home to over 200,000 African and Caribbean immigrants, many who were resettled here by local humanitarian organizations under the Refugee Act of 1980. The first wave of African immigrants under this Act came seeking refuge from the famine and civil war in Ethiopia and other parts of East Africa under the sponsorship of the Nationalities Service Center, Lutheran Children and Family Services, Church World Services Affiliate, Catholic Social Services and the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society. The impact of political unrest, civil war, and genocide in the 1990’s fostered many new refugees and political asylees from the nations of Liberia , Haiti , Sierra Leone , Congo , Angola , Rwanda , Nigeria , Somalia and the Sudan