Chapter 10: From Idea to Reality: Fostering Refugee Integration

The refugee assistance landscape in the United States is often characterized by complex bureaucracy, prolonged stress, and ongoing challenges. This issue has motivated numerous individuals and organizations to unite in their efforts to facilitate a more seamless and successful resettlement experience for refugees as they arrive in a foreign and unfamiliar country. This chapter details the programs and services of several effective organizations that work in refugee resettlement and integration: Global Impact Initiative (Gii), a nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas, that focuses on refugee stabilization and job-skills training; House of Tutors (HOFT Institute), an educational services provider also located in Texas that leverages its decades-long experience in teaching English as a second language (ESL) to develop targeted English language programming for refugees; the Nazarene Fund, an organization dedicated to providing aid to persecuted ethnic minorities as well as evacuating and resettling individuals who must leave their home countries due to threat of violence; Rescue America, an organization that committed to rescuing, restoring, and empowering victims of sex-trafficking in the United States; and No One Left Behind, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the Special Immigrant Visa program and assisting applicants in evacuation and resettlement. This chapter concludes with a list of practical ways that every American can assist their community's refugees throughout the integration and readjustment process, as well as a list of guiding principles for new organizations seeking to contribute to the refugee resettlement process.