The UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) reported on a donation the agency received from the 2016-17 semifinalists of the Brewer Foundation / New York University (NYU) International Public Policy Forum (IPPF). After debating the topic of refugee resettlement, the students from duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky, donated their $1,500 in IPPF winnings to assist refugees.
The article, “With Heads and Hearts, Five Kentucky Teens Rally for Refugees,” discusses the students’ involvement in the competition and their backgrounds as first-generation Americans “with deep personal connections to global migration, refugee issues and generous communities that warmly welcome strangers.”
In a letter to the teens, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi praised their “spirit and goodwill." He also commended NYU and the Brewer Foundation for “fostering such a timely debate” and allowing students to “explore the refugee issue and other important topics with rigor and reflection.”