Oregon lawmakers created the state’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement in the 2021 legislative session with the goal of streamlining support for newcomers to the state, such as the 1,200 Afghan refugees expected this year. In early March, the office got its first director. Toc Soneoulay-Gillespie has most recently served as director of community health for Health Share of Oregon, the state’s largest coordinated care organization and before that, she worked as the director of refugee resettlement for Catholic Charities. Soneoulay-Gillespie came to the U.S. as a refugee from Laos with her family when she was a small child. We’ll talk with her about her lived experience, her career as an advocate for immigrants and refugees and what she hopes to accomplish in this new role.
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