Our weekly program, Making Democracy Work, is a collaboration between KSMU Radio and the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri. It's hosted and produced by volunteers from the LWV, and it airs each Monday morning at 9:45 a.m. on KSMU.
In this episode of our local program Making Democracy Work, host Debbie Good speaks with Mitch Brashers, community engagement specialist with International Institute of Southwest Missouri.
Brashers says the agency assists an average of 500 refugees a year that have been displaced from their country of origin. He says the two to three-year process has many stages including health and background checks. He talks about the many ways the institute supports families throughout this difficult process. Brashers reflects on the rich diversity families coming from all over the world bring to local communities and discusses the upcoming Culture Fest on September 30.