Item
‘We don't turn anyone away’: As virus forces some nonprofits to cut hours and services, refugee aid group works overtime
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
‘We don't turn anyone away’: As virus forces some nonprofits to cut hours and services, refugee aid group works overtime
Description (Dublin Core)
by Jessica Myers for the Luce Foundation: Southwest Stories Fellowship
People who seek out Refugees and Immigrants Community for Empowerment often don’t know where else to turn, according to Dominic Braham, executive director of the Phoenix nonprofit.
“A lot of times, when they come to us, it's kind of the last stop. They have no other place to go when they're looking for how to get a driver's license or get medical benefits,” he said. “We don't turn anyone away.”
The 3-year-old organization, led by refugees and immigrants, aims to help those same populations become self-sufficient after their arrival in the United States.
RICE provides employment and housing assistance, English classes, dental care and help navigating the immigration and education systems.
Those services have become even more vital during the COVID-19 pandemic, Braham said: As the virus forced many other community organizations to operate remotely, RICE has kept its doors open.
“Other organizations have cut their hours or gone virtual, and families may not be able to get on with virtual meetings if they don’t have internet access,” he said. “So, they come to us. We've taken a lot more families in.”
In an interview with the Luce Foundation’s Southwest Stories project, Braham discussed the additional hurdles COVID-19 has created for refugee communities and how RICE is responding.
“A lot of times, when they come to us, it's kind of the last stop. They have no other place to go when they're looking for how to get a driver's license or get medical benefits,” he said. “We don't turn anyone away.”
The 3-year-old organization, led by refugees and immigrants, aims to help those same populations become self-sufficient after their arrival in the United States.
RICE provides employment and housing assistance, English classes, dental care and help navigating the immigration and education systems.
Those services have become even more vital during the COVID-19 pandemic, Braham said: As the virus forced many other community organizations to operate remotely, RICE has kept its doors open.
“Other organizations have cut their hours or gone virtual, and families may not be able to get on with virtual meetings if they don’t have internet access,” he said. “So, they come to us. We've taken a lot more families in.”
In an interview with the Luce Foundation’s Southwest Stories project, Braham discussed the additional hurdles COVID-19 has created for refugee communities and how RICE is responding.
Date (Dublin Core)
August 22, 2020
Creator (Dublin Core)
Jessica Myers
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Jessica Myers
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
Cronkite-Luce Fellowship
Partner (Dublin Core)
Arizona State University
Type (Dublin Core)
Text story
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
NGOs (non-profits)
English
Community & Community Organizations
English
Immigration
English
Health & Wellness
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
immigrants
refugees
employment
housing
assistance
CARES Act
Phoenix
Arizona
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
Luce Grant
Collection (Dublin Core)
Luce Grant
Exhibit (Dublin Core)
Southwest Stories>Refugee & Immigrant Communities
Southwest Stories>Jessica Myers
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
09/19/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
09/21/2020
10/22/2020
07/15/2021
This item was submitted on September 19, 2020 by Jessica Myers using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: http://mail.covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.