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U.N. Ambassador Touts Rutland's Plan To Host Syrian Refugees

United States U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, shown here on June 22 in New York, gave a shout out to Rutland during a speech Wednesday on the global refugee crisis.
Bebeto Matthews
/
AP
United States U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, shown here on June 22 in New York, gave a shout out to Rutland during a speech Wednesday on the global refugee crisis.

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, gave a shout out to Rutland during a speech Wednesday on the global refugee crisis.Power was speaking in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Institute of Peace about the importance of the United States taking in more refugees 

“The small Vermont town of Rutland has committed to taking in 100 Syrian refugees,” Power said. “The mayor [Christopher Louras], whose grandfather came to the U.S. after fleeing Greece, said of the decision, ‘As much as I want to say it’s for compassionate reasons, I realize there is not a vibrant, growing successful community in the country right now that is not embracing new Americans.’”

Rutland has been working with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program to create the state’s first settlement for Syrian refugees — an effort that has stirred up significant support and protest.

Copyright 2016 Vermont Public Radio

Nina has been reporting for VPR since 1996, primarily focusing on the Rutland area. An experienced journalist, Nina covered international and national news for seven years with the Voice of America, working in Washington, D.C., and Germany. While in Germany, she also worked as a stringer for Marketplace. Nina has been honored with two national Edward R. Murrow Awards: In 2006, she won for her investigative reporting on VPR and in 2009 she won for her use of sound. She began her career at Wisconsin Public Radio.

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