Five ways you can support refugees right now
At the end of 2020 there were 20.7 million refugees of concern to the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee Agency). The bar graph above shows the number of refugees from ten countries under UNHCR’s mandate at the end of 2020. While this number can seem overwhelming, there are many ways to support refugees and/or organizations that work with them. Here are five ways you can support refugees right now*:
Advocate:
Earlier this month, Representatives Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced the Welcoming Evacuees Coming from Overseas to Mitigate Effects of Displacement (WELCOMED) Act of 2021. The WELCOMED Act seeks to provide assistance typically given to refugees resettled in the U.S. to Afghan nationals who enter the country under a status known as humanitarian parole. Humanitarian parole is a status that one is eligible to apply for when there is a “ compelling emergency and there is an urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit to allowing [the individual] to temporarily enter the United States.” (USCIS) While humanitarian parole allows an individual to enter the U.S. faster than if they had to wait until they were granted refugee status, it does not give the parolee access to the same resettlement assistance normally afforded to refugees. This bill seeks to provide parolees with access to those benefits.
Learn more about the WELCOMED Act here and here, and contact your senators and representatives and ask them to support the Act.
Donate:
In addition to monetary donations to any of the organizations featured in this post, another way to support refugees is by donating frequent flyer miles to an organization called Miles4Migrants.
Miles4Migrants is a non-profit that gives donated frequent flyer miles to partner organizations who pass the miles on to refugees and asylum seekers all over the world who have been approved to travel but are unable to afford airfare. Supporters can also donate money to help cover the taxes associated with purchasing the plane tickets.
This is especially impactful as refugees settled in the U.S. are required to pay back the cost of the plane tickets used to resettle them in the country within the first six months after their arrival (the flights are initially covered by the International Organization for Migration on behalf of the U.S. State Department). This is meant to help individuals establish credit in their new country, although because language skills or other barriers to employment exist, this is not always a simple process. Miles4Migrants eliminates this need as the flights are covered with no requirement to pay the organization back.
Mentor:
- The Refugee Response, an organization based in Cleveland, OH, provides opportunities for individuals located anywhere in the world to act as mentors to young refugees resettled in the Cleveland area. The goal of the program is to help students “achieve their own academic, language and social-emotional goals, nurture a growth mindset, and build confidence in their skills, abilities and identities.” (Refugee Response) Mentors and mentees meet twice a week via Zoom, and the partnership lasts for at least a year.
- Hello Neighbor, located in Pittsburgh, PA, offers a Family Mentorship Program where refugee and immigrant families are matched with local mentors to help ease the adjustment to life in the U.S. The initial time commitment is a minimum of ten hours a month for six months.
- Hello Neighbor also offers an opportunity that connects volunteers with refugee and immigrant mothers to help these mothers better navigate motherhood in their new city/country. Called the Smart Start Program, the program aims to “reduce periods of isolation, provide community support, and ensure that both mom and baby have everything they need.” (Hello Neighbor) Volunteers help new moms with tasks such as scheduling doctors appointments, setting up meal trains, and connecting to other local resources.
- English as a Second Language/English to Speakers of Other Languages:
As most are aware, one of the biggest challenges of resettling in a new country is dealing with the language barrier. Fortunately, there are numerous opportunities for interested individuals to learn English, with a number of these classes being led, or in some part taught, by volunteers. Below is a list of some organizations that offer English classes to immigrants and/or refugees.
World Relief is a “global Christian humanitarian organization whose mission is to empower the local church to serve the most vulnerable.” (World Relief) Along with assistance finding housing and employment, World Relief offers English classes for clients and volunteers often act as class assistants. Visit this page for current volunteer opportunities.
International Rescue Committee:
International Rescue Committee (IRC), founded in 1933 as the American office of the International Relief Association, “responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster.” (IRC) Like World Relief, English language classes are one of many services IRC offers its clients, and volunteers opportunities are available to help with the classes and/or to act as an English as a Second Language tutor with individual clients. IRC has 25 offices across the U.S., with nearly all classes now being offered online. Volunteer opportunities and information on applying to volunteer can be found here.
Other:
Local community colleges and libraries commonly host English as a Second Language classes for interested students. While community colleges may not offer the opportunity to volunteer in a class, conversation groups are usually held outside of class for further practice. Similarly, local libraries usually host English classes that may be open to volunteers, along with additional conversation groups that are open to the general public. Contact the continuing education departments at nearby community colleges and your local library to inquire about volunteer opportunities.
Employ:
NaTakallam, or “We Speak” in Arabic, is a business that hires refugees and displaced people around the world to teach and/or translate Arabic, Armenian, English, French, Kurdish, Persian, and Spanish. Individuals interested in learning one of these languages can purchase sessions with one of the conversation partners (CPs) and participate in tutoring sessions or conversational practice online. Opportunities are also available to hire CPs to complete translation work, speak at schools and universities, or give virtual presentations to businesses and other organizations.
Educate:
Last but not least, one of the most important things you can do to support refugees is to educate yourself on the conflicts and disasters that are creating refugees in the first place. Learn about the refugee resettlement process in the U.S. and what resources are offered to those resettled here. Find organizations, like those mentioned above, that assist refugees and look for ways to support them. To put it broadly, learning about conflicts around the world and how they produce refugees makes you better equipped to advocate on their behalf. I have included some additional resources below to get you started:
Council on Foreign Relations’ Global Conflict Tracker
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
*I’m based in the U.S. so this list is very U.S.-centric. Please comment with any information you have about opportunities in other countries and I’ll add them here.
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Become a youth mentor. Refugee Response. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.refugeeresponse.org/become-a-youth-mentor.
History of the International Rescue Committee. International Rescue Committee (IRC). (2020, December 1). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.rescue.org/page/history-international-rescue-committee.
Humanitarian parole. USCIS. (2021, August 26). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.uscis.gov/forms/explore-my-options/humanitarian-parole.
Moulton, Bacon introduce welcomed act so Afghan evacuees received refugee benefits. U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton. (2021, September 3). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://moulton.house.gov/press-releases/moulton-bacon-introduce-welcomed-act-so-afghan-evacuees-receive-refugee-benefits.
Smart start. Hello Neighbor. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.helloneighbor.io/advocate-program.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (n.d.). Refugee statistics. UNHCR. Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/.
US locations. World Relief. (2021, February 9). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://worldrelief.org/us-locations/#locations.
Who we are. International Rescue Committee (IRC). (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.rescue.org/who-we-are#content.
