Washington, DC - Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to California, April 6-7, to attend the 2016 Global Philanthropy Forum and to convene the third session of the State Department’s Innovation Forum.

On April 6, the Deputy Secretary will give remarks on the global refugee crisis at the Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, CA. As the world’s leading humanitarian donor, the United States has provided more than $5.1 billion in humanitarian aid since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, including food, shelter, medical care, and educational support for millions of Syrians. This coming September, President Obama will host a summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly to secure new commitments toward three critical goals: increased and sustained support for UN humanitarian appeals; greater opportunities for resettlement; and expanded opportunities for refugee self-reliance through access to education and employment. Deputy Secretary Blinken will discuss these efforts, as well as our work to engage new communities, including philanthropists, entrepreneurs, faith leaders, and students, in the global refugee response.

On April 7, the Deputy Secretary, along with Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Rose Gottemoeller, will lead a day-long workshop at Stanford University on innovation and arms control entitled “The Hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction: Leveraging New Technology.”

This workshop is the latest installment in the State Department's Innovation Forum launched in January of this year to convene regular conversations between senior policymakers and global innovators to spark and accelerate new approaches to foreign policy challenges. Through workshops, roundtable discussions, and other events, the Innovation Forum allows the State Department to see more clearly around the innovation corner, while providing others a window into what we are trying to achieve and opportunities to join us.