News Film Screening Furthers Hartwick-SUCO Collaboration; Topic Resonates Locally
A Hawks in Flight Feature
Hartwick College is working with SUNY-Oneonta to promote a screening of the documentary “Utica: The Last Refuge,” from 6 – 8 p.m. tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 26), at SUNY-Oneonta. The screening will be held in Craven Lounge in Morris Conference Center, and is free and open to the community. Oneonta Public Transit (OPT) is even offering modified bus service for the Hartwick community to attend.
Set in nearby Utica, NY, the documentary tells the story of a Sudanese family of four who arrives at the Syracuse Airport after spending six years in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. With help from Utica’s Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees – regarded nationally as a model for successful refugee resettlement – the family works to build a new life.
Hartwick Professor of French Mark B. Wolff is a member of the steering committee for the Otsego Refugee Resettlement Coalition, a co-sponsor of the screening event. He wants to ensure that the Hartwick community is not only aware of the collaboration with SUCO, but the film’s important (and local) subject matter.
“In the approximately 12 months since we formed, the Coalition has grown to over 70 interested community members, representing academic, business, real estate, health care, public education, social service, and faith sectors,” he said. “Working closely with The Center in Utica, we have been working our way up the refugee resettlement learning curve, and in a relatively short period of time we have been able to raise funds, identify and secure potential employment placements, and build a housing inventory. We hope to welcome refugees in our community very soon.”
OPT has adjusted its Wednesday evening bus route for to make the event more accessible to Hartwick students and city residents. Busses will stop at all Hartwick bus stops beginning at 5:10 p.m. and will add additional pickups at the bus shelter outside SUNY Oneonta’s Morris Conference Center at 8:45 p.m.
The screening event was made possible by support from SUNY-Oneonta, the City of Oneonta, OPT, Hartwick College, and the Otsego Refugee Resettlement Coalition.