Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, refugee community leaders have helped provide masks, language accessible documents and videos, and put their lives on the line for their community.

The IRC is thankful for our continued partnership with Starbucks, who has agreed to hire 10,000 refugees globally. Through these job opportunities, Starbucks is supporting clients as they rebuild their lives and integrate into their local communities. This month we want to highlight a success story from one of our own clients in Silver Spring who was recently hired by Starbucks.

The IRC in Salt Lake City's education team led a hike to Donut Falls, one of many activities organized to support refugee youth as they settle into life in Utah.

Our work in Afghanistan, which has from the start spanned “the arc of crisis” from conflict to resettlement, has never been more urgent and crucial.

On February 23, more than a dozen speakers testified before the Georgia House Higher Education Committee in favor of House Bill 932, a bill which would extend in-state tuition at Georgia public colleges and universities to refugees immediately upon resettlement, as opposed to the current one-year wait period. The bill would also apply to individuals who risked their lives to support the U.S. military overseas, including our Afghan allies who were evacuated last summer.

Uganda has embraced refugees fleeing war in South Sudan as brothers and sisters who need help and a chance to start a new life somewhere safe. See this welcome in action at a Ugandan restaurant whose owner is proud to count South Sudanese newcomers among her employees and customers.

The IRC in NYNJ will continue to support Afghan individuals and families, and newcomers from across the Globe in their long resettlement journey. The crisis in Afghanistan has shaped the methodology of resettlement case management at the IRC to bolster proactive and client-facing services and programming. With your support, the IRC in NYNY can defy the temporal pressures and limits that inflate the emotional and financial burden faced by newcomers.

Staff at the IRC in Silver Spring welcome a Syrian family to the Washington, DC area amid turmoil surrounding the Executive Order.

IRC and GenR LA held their annual bike event and Halloween carnival for asylum seeking children and refugee families at the IRC office in Glendale.