2023 has been a turbulent year, and the IRC predicts humanitarian crises like Gaza and Sudan will worsen in 2024. But while the headlines worldwide may be dire, there are still many positive stories and uplifting moments from 2023 worth remembering.

Several young students enrolled in the IRC in Atlanta’s Dental Assistant program—a successful collaboration between our Career Development and Adult Education teams and partners at Gwinnett Dental Career Academy—were spotlighted by local TV news channel, 11Alive in March!

Our team at the IRC in Kansas has been working hard to respond quickly to client needs, as everyone in the community is feeling the social, economic, and health impacts of COVID-19. While programming is currently not business-as-usual, we continue to serve refugee families and survivors of human trafficking remotely, many of whom need support from the IRC and neighbors more than ever. 

“This work has put it all in perspective for me. What I once only read about or heard about in the news, now has a face to it. The struggle refugees and immigrants go through, how much they want to contribute to their new country – they just want a normal life. A safe life.”

It is with great pleasure that I share with you the news that IRC has welcomed Sarah Terlouw as the new executive director of the IRC Northern California offices. Sarah is not new to the IRC family. She most recently served as the country director for the IRC operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), consisting of 6 offices and a team of more than 700 staff across the country.

Clemencia Morales, who received her citizenship with the help of IRC's citizenship class program, embodies everything it means to truly be American. Her selflessness, compassion, and desire to give back to the community that welcomed her (by handing out over 5,000 homemade face masks to those in need), is an American ideal we can all agree on.

Wondering how you can help refugees remotely? There are several ways to get involved and help give refugees the warm welcome they deserve this year!

In 2022, the IRC in Silver Spring supported over 150 Ukrainians who came to the U.S. since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While each newcomer has a different story, they share in the experience of fleeing their home country for fear of violence and persecution. In recognition of the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, we spoke with client, Zhumaima, who came to the U.S. in July 2022 after leaving Ukraine.

Annette Voth and Annette Hunt are a dynamic duo reminiscent of Mario and Luigi, Sherlock and Watson, Abott and Costello or any other favorite pair you can think of that can exist independently of each other, but, when coupled together, deliver a value greater than the sum of their parts. Both women share a tenacity and a clarity of focus when it comes to taking care of clients’ immigration needs.