Immigrants and refugees make up a sizeable minority of businesses for California and the Turlock/Modesto region. In that vein, the IRC in Turlock/Modesto is spotlighting refugee-owned businesses here in the Central Valley. The following is an interview with Baktash Rafiqyaar, owner of Mr. Gil's Market & Grill in Modesto.

Each year on June 20—World Refugee Day—the world commemorates the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees. At the IRC in Atlanta, we also take this time to celebrate the vast contributions that refugees have made to our state for more than 40 years and advocate for refugees, asylum seekers and the restoration of the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

Utah remains committed to being a welcoming community for the world’s refugee population—get involved and send a message of hope to refugees arriving to the Beehive State!

Nine New Roots gardeners took photos to document the impacts the program has on their lives as part of a participatory action research method, PhotoVoice.