Three local colleges, all actively engaged in assisting refugees in Utica, have joined together as sponsors of a photo exhibit, "Many Cultures, One Community," a visual presentation of the city's cultural diversity presented by the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees (MVRCR). The exhibit's opening was held on World Refugee Day, Monday, June 20, in the Red Room Gallery in the Stanley Theatre in Utica. The exhibition will run through July 20 and is free and open to the public. It is hosted by MVRCR in conjunction with The Central New York Community Arts Council.
Hamilton College, Colgate University and Utica College have joined together as sponsors of this photographic exhibition of Vincent Winter's portraits of refugees and of historic buildings unique to Utica, "the town that loves refugees." Each of the three institutions is engaged with the refugee and immigrant community and MVRCR in unique ways. Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research at Hamilton College, is MVRCR's board president; Government Professor Alan Cafruny is the immediate past president; and Economics Professor Jeff Pliskin serves on the finance committee.
Hamilton College and Colgate University jointly maintain a Community Outreach Office at MVRCR, where students tutor adult learners in English as a Second Language. Hamilton College and Utica College participate as partners in Project SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders), a service-learning initiative that has placed 186 college students in the community in this year to assist refugee and immigrant elders with English language and citizenship skills.
Photographer Winter visited Utica in February along with Ray Wilkinson, editor of Refugees, a magazine published by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees. Refugees magazine, with a distribution of 300,000 worldwide in eight languages, dedicated its spring issue to coverage of Utica and its refugees and included Winter's photographs. He has donated these photographs to MVRCR to raise funds for center building improvements and program services. The exhibit will travel to Baltimore and Washington D.C. after being viewed by the Greater Utica community.
Hamilton College, Colgate University and Utica College have joined together as sponsors of this photographic exhibition of Vincent Winter's portraits of refugees and of historic buildings unique to Utica, "the town that loves refugees." Each of the three institutions is engaged with the refugee and immigrant community and MVRCR in unique ways. Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research at Hamilton College, is MVRCR's board president; Government Professor Alan Cafruny is the immediate past president; and Economics Professor Jeff Pliskin serves on the finance committee.
Hamilton College and Colgate University jointly maintain a Community Outreach Office at MVRCR, where students tutor adult learners in English as a Second Language. Hamilton College and Utica College participate as partners in Project SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders), a service-learning initiative that has placed 186 college students in the community in this year to assist refugee and immigrant elders with English language and citizenship skills.
Photographer Winter visited Utica in February along with Ray Wilkinson, editor of Refugees, a magazine published by the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees. Refugees magazine, with a distribution of 300,000 worldwide in eight languages, dedicated its spring issue to coverage of Utica and its refugees and included Winter's photographs. He has donated these photographs to MVRCR to raise funds for center building improvements and program services. The exhibit will travel to Baltimore and Washington D.C. after being viewed by the Greater Utica community.
