News & Blogs

Here you will find the latest updates from the Minnesota Council of Churches

While our CEO was on vacation, the director of MCC Refugee Services spoke at a press conference last week organized in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s upholding the Trump administration’s Muslim ban. Here is his statement:

What does it take to help individuals who recently arrived as refugees find their first jobs in Minnesota? To give you a better sense of what is involved on a day-to-day basis, we asked Refugee Services employment counselor Brittany Esau to take a few notes about some of the activities she does in an average week.

Briana may be new to our staff, but she’s not a new face in the Refugee Services Mankato office.

When a new-comer to Minnesota feels overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to start, Remona can offer empathy and hope based on her own experience.

Riding bikes in the summertime has to be one of the most quintessential childhood experiences in Minnesota, and a new partnership between Refugee Services Mankato and Key City Bikes opened up that opportunity for Somali

Recently-arrived Somali children dashed around the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota with excitement, finding new and imaginative exhibits to explore while their mothers found a much needed space to connect and build community in a new home. 

MCC Refugee Services’ newest employee, Ahmed “Jaffer,” joined the Mankato team just two months ago.

Do you remember when news of the Syrian refugee crisis dominated the news a few years ago? Refugee Services volunteer Aleisha does.

You may have seen this article in the Mankato Free Press on Monday: C

Imagine, if you can, what it was like for a mother separated from her children to hear the news of 3 refugee travel bans and the suspension of the family reunification process she was depending on.

When you move to a new country, there are so many things to learn and you find that there are things that you didn’t even know that you needed to know!

We often share the stories of refugee families who we’ve welcomed, but we wanted to take an opportunity to share about a couple of the people who make our work possible—individual donors!

We recently welcomed Tesfa, a single Ethiopian man who came without any family ties in Minnesota.

The Thursday before the Superbowl brought the world to Minnesota, 130 leaders representing many of the world’s faiths met in Bloomington to generate a state-wide multi-faith network as they marked World Interfaith Harmony Week.

When we went to greet Mariam at the airport, we were told to expect a woman who had lived through severe difficulties and who would come with nothing but the transit center-issued clothes on her back.

On Tuesday, September 12, at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, a sizeable crowd gathered to hear from an esteemed panel of public intellectuals and activists, moderated by professor and activist Rev. Dr. Nekima Levy-Pounds.

The last two weekends remind us that religious intolerance and white nationalism are potent forces that use the methods of fear and terror in the United States.

Early on August 5, 2017 a fire bomb was thrown into the Dar Al Farooq mosque in Bloomington, MN, during the first prayer of the morning.

Early on August 5, 2017 a fire bomb was thrown into the Dar Al Farooq mosque in Bloomington, MN, during the first prayer of the morning.

As you might have read in the Star Tribune, I began my tenure two weeks ago. Rev.

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