Church World Service (CWS) in Lancaster and Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition (PIC) will be honored with PennLive’s 2025 Peace & Justice in PA awards for their dedication to helping refugees and people trying to survive emergencies and disasters.
Phuong Truong, Executive Director of the International Service Center, will receive the individual award for his profound trust in American ideals and his dedicated leadership in helping thousands of refugees settle in Central Pennsylvania for almost five decades.
The awards will be presented at the 2025 Peace and Justice in PA forum that will be held from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, at the Kulkarni Theatre on the campus of Penn State Harrisburg.
Chad Dion Lassiter, executive director of the Pa. Human Relations Commission, offers remarks. The fourth annual Peace + Justice in PA program honors groups and individuals fighting for diversity and inclusion, racial justice and equity.
October 9, 2024.
Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comDan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com
The event is being held in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC), the state’s civil rights enforcement agency, led by Executive Director Chad Dion Lassiter, who will provide a report on efforts to protect Pennsylvanians from discrimination and extremist violence.
PennLive’s Editorial Board selected those being honored at this year’s Peace + Justice in PA forum from nominations our readers submitted. The Rev. Sandy Strauss was the individual recipient of last year’s Peace & Justice Award.
The 2024 nonprofit awards were presented to the Pennsylvania Prison Society and Wildheart Ministries, organizations supporting some of the most vulnerable people and communities in Pennsylvania.
Sarah Towle, author of “Crossing the Border: Finding America in the Hinterlands,” will be keynote speaker at this year’s event.
Sarah Towle, award-winning author of “Crossing the line: Finding America in the border lands,” will be the keynote speaker at the Peace & Justice in PA event, scheduled for Oct. 13 at Penn State Harrisburg.Submitted photo
Based in London, Towle is an educator, researcher and human rights advocate who has documented the experiences of immigrant and refugees, including the process of deportation, which she describes as mean, cruel and inhumane to people simply trying to survive.
Each of the organizations being honored at this year’s Peace and Justice Awards have served thousands of refugees and immigrants in our region as well as people in need during emergencies. Each of them has been severely hurt by the recent cut in federal funds that supported their work and the people they serve.
Afghan refugees, who agreed to be photographed on the condition that they not be identified because of security concerns, sit during an interview with an Associated Press journalist in Bensalem, Pa., Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)AP
CWS and the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition (PIC) know the trauma refugees have endured leaving their native lands and try to help them find new homes in what can seem a strange land.
Church World Service Lancaster has welcomed thousands of people from around the world for more than 35 years. The Harrisburg office opened in 2022 specifically to help new Afghan refugees in our region. The organization works with faith groups, nonprofits and government agencies to help new immigrants find housing, schools, jobs, medical care and to understand Pennsylvania’s unique culture and people.
PIC began as an informal interfaith coalition in 1998 to serve as advocates for new immigrants. It now includes more than 50 member organizations and hundreds of supporters who help educate new residents about their rights and responsibilities in a democracy, including the right to vote when they become citizens.
A refugee from Vietnam who came to the United States in 1967, Truong has led the International Service Center since its founding in 1976.
Behrooz Ahadi and Executive Director Phuong Truong, of the International Service Center, wait for a famly to arrive from Afghanistan, via Charlotte, at Harrisburg International Airport in Middletown, Pa., Nov. 24, 2021.
Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com
Truong has worked for decades to help ease the suffering of people desperate to leave war, famine and political persecution and make better lives for their families. That used to be possible in the United States, even for the poorest and most downtrodden people on earth.
Truong’s International Service Center operates out of the basement of Market Street Presbyterian Church and has helped to acclimate not only refugees from the Vietnam War, but people from throughout the world who have been officially invited to settle in the United States. This includes recent refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Truong is well-educated with a PhD and speaks several languages. He has worked as a translator-announced for Voice of America and worked as an Associate-Professor of Foreign Languages, for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Language Institute in Washington D.C and Monterey, Calif.
He helped found the Spirit of Vietnam Radio Program, the Mutual Assistance Association Technical Assistance Consortium, the Asian-American Business & Professional Association, and the New Americans Leadership Council.
He also served on the Pennsylvania Heritage Affairs Commission, the Governor’s Commission on Children and Families, the Pennsylvania Department of Aging’s Cultural Diversity Council, the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian American Affairs, and the Attorney General’s Advisory Commission on Asian and Pacific Islanders Affairs.
Truong and each of the organizations being honored are now struggling to continue to support people who need their services more than ever. And each of this year’s honorees is more than worthy of our esteem and PennLive’s Peace & Justice in PA award.
Joyce M. Davis is PennLive’s Outreach & Opinion Editor. Follow her on Facebook, Bluesky @joycemdavis.bsky.social, and on Twitter @byjoycedavis.
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