Join Episcopal Migration Ministries on Thursday, December 12, 4-5:30pm ET, for an overview and introduction to the new resource, Supporting Asylum Seekers: A Toolkit for Congregations. Presenters and practitioners from across the country and The Episcopal Church will speak to group discernment, ministry models, and important considerations when engaging in ministry with asylum seekers.  

Registration is required and is available here.  The webinar will be available on-demand following the event. 

Webinar presenters include:
Lynn Clarke is an attorney at the firm of Bowles Rice, LLP in Charleston, W.V. She is  active in many community activities, including serving as volunteer board president of the West Virginia Interfaith Refugee Ministry (“WVIRM”).

Dax W. Crocker (He/His) is the lead organizer at Episcopal City Mission. Dax has been an immigrant justice organizer for three years. He recently graduated from Yale with a master in divinity degree. Crocker’s work focuses on building local accompaniment networks with and for our immigrant neighbors.

Heather Cronk is a founder of the Asylum-Seekers Sponsorship Project, which matches asylum seekers in need of a U.S. citizen sponsor with a volunteer sponsor and community of support. She also serves as the political organizing director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Leeann Culbreath is a deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and a founding leader of South Georgia Immigrant Support Network, a humanitarian nonprofit supporting individuals and families impacted by immigrant detention through hospitality, visitation, pen-pal, post-release, and advocacy programs. She also serves on the Georgia Detention Watch Steering Committee. 

Michelle Gealy, Psy.D. is a member of “Constanteam” – a group of individuals affiliated with St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in North Park — who successfully worked to get Constantin Bakala released from his 22-month detention and back with his family in San Diego.

Emily Jones is the senior immigration attorney at Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) in Lexington, Kentucky. Emily practices in the areas of humanitarian and family-based immigration law, primarily aiding refugees on the path to citizenship and family reunification and those seeking asylum.

Debbie Smith is from the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. She has worked in refugee resettlement professionally and as a congregational volunteer, and currently teaches English to adult speakers of other languages, and has been a freelance writer and editor.

Natalie E. Thomas (She/Her) is the director of engagement for Episcopal City Mission. Natalie has worked in domestic and international contexts as a faith-rooted organizer and congregational consultant for ten years and is a candidate for the diaconate in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

Episcopal Migration Ministries is a ministry of The Episcopal Church and is one of nine national agencies responsible for resettling refugees in the United States in partnership with the government. Episcopal Migration Ministries currently has 13 affiliate offices in 12 states. In addition to its long-standing work in refugee resettlement ministry, Episcopal Migration Ministries is The Episcopal Church’s convening place for collaboration, education, and information-sharing on migration. To directly support EMM and its life-changing work, visit www.episcopalmigrationministries.org/give or text ‘EMM’ to 41444 (standard messaging and data may rates apply).