The IRC welcomes hundreds of refugees to Northern California each month and needs household donations to make their new house a home! Check out our urgent needs and rally your network to join us in giving our newest neighbors a warm welcome.

We are continuously addressing the current and potential impacts this outbreak will have on IRC programs in Northern California (Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Turlock/Modesto). IRC is providing critical information in all relevant languages to IRC employees, volunteers, refugees, victims of trafficking, asylees, and other hard-to-reach populations. We are working hard to ensure families have access to life essentials: food, internet and devices, cash assistance and all eligible public benefits.

Together We Welcome is an ode to tradition and cultures from around the world that arrived with people who now call Utah “home.” Despite hardships and a long journey, refugees and other immigrants contribute to and enrich their new communities in the United States. The installation invites you to learn more about our newest neighbors and listen to their stories.

This year’s Holiday Drive was met with excitement and joy. Every year, the IRC in NY hosts a Drive to support refugee and immigrant families preparing for the winter season. Having to resettle or navigate a significant wave of economic insecurity, many families are in need of warmer coats and winter accessories.

A young Somali refugee shares her story in hopes of raising awareness to improve the lives of youth around the world. "We all deserve to live in peace…free from fear…but we also deserve to be contributing members of society, no matter where we live."

In 2015, the IRC in NY began a new program to serve unaccompanied minors as part of a partnership with Heartland Alliance.  Unaccompanied minors are undocumented children who have entered the United States without a parent or legal guardian and then enter the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.  

This month Haben, an Eritrean refugee who was resettled by the IRC to Missoula three years ago, tells us abut her experience. When she arrived she spoke only a handful of words in English, but now speaks well enough to be interviewed for this story without interpretation.