Thought Leadership

This month’s thought leader piece is by New AP Board Member, John Pinkard. John joined the New American Pathways’ Board of Directors in 2018.  He has volunteered with the Clarkston community since 2012 through All Saints’ Episcopal Church and currently facilitates a Saturday morning tutoring group open to New American Pathways volunteers and All Saints’ parishioners.  John currently works in the McDonald’s Division at Coca-Cola and is a co-founder of the Curren Foundation which is dedicated to raising awareness for paraneoplastic syndrome.

Refugees are brave. They have to be. They are forced to leave behind everything and everyone they know for an uncertain future. After a perilous journey and an excruciatingly long stay in a refugee camp, even life in the relative safety of the United States requires courage.

We asked some of our middle school students in our Bright Futures Afterschool Program the question: “Why is education important to you?” Below are their responses. We are so proud of our students, they are working hard to acheive great things!

I am an Iraqi-American. Neither identity outweighs the other, but rather, both are infused within me. Depending on the environment and whom I am interacting with at a given moment, the balance can shift a little to the appropriate one.

Faratiana likes going back to USCIS where she and her husband were sworn in just last year. When people go through their naturalization ceremony, it’s a happy moment.

This month’s thought leader is Adamou Mohamed. Adamou led the efforts with our national affiliate, Church World Service, for the advocacy trip several of our staff members and community leaders

Bombs are not unusual in Baghdad, but this one sounded close. Too close.