Resources by librarians – for everyone
Provides free support to those seeking asylum in the U.S. and Canada. Services include housing, food, clothing, legal aid, medical care, mental health care, English as a Second Language classes, education, job training, recreation, transportation, and offsite housing after asylum is gained. Located in Detroit, MI; hours and contact information available on website.
https://www.freedomhousedetroit.org/index.php/services
Direct link to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Michigan listing of refugee service agencies. Includes addresses and telephone numbers.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/state-of-michigan-programs-and-services-by-locality
Vive is a program of Jericho Road Community Health Center, a nonprofit organization with no connection to the U.S. government. Vive provides shelter and assistance to refugees seeking asylum in Canada. The organization assists adults and families who have an anchor relative in Canada, and unaccompanied minors with parental permission but without anchor relatives, in obtaining asylum. Vive schedules appointments and interviews with the Canada Border Services Agency and houses refugees who are waiting for those appointments or interviews.
Vive charges $100 per week, a fee that includes registration, housing, meals, and access to medical care, legal services, and Wi-Fi. For taxi services to and from appointments with Canadian Border services, Vive charges $30 on the day of the appointment or interview.
The website provides a list of suggested documents, contains special information for children, and explains who Canada considers to be an “anchor relative” for purposes of asylum.
The Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees (MVRCR) assists refugees and immigrants, and individuals with limited English proficiency. MVRCR is partially accredited by the US Department of Justice and thereby authorized to represent clients before US Citizenship and Immigration Services and to complete immigration forms on clients’ behalf. MVRCR provides advocacy, counseling, information, processing, and referrals for citizenship and immigration issues. It has a refugee resettlement program in Utica that has resettled more than 15,000 individuals in the city since 1981.
The organization also provides interpretation and translation services and training in cultural competency (for interactions involving health care, education, government services, and more).
MVRCR seeks to help its clients achieve independence and self-sufficiency.
Provides refugees and legal immigrants with shelter, food, clothing, employment training & assistance, English language classes, translation, and referrals. Also provides help with relative petitions, citizenship, permanent residency, replacement of lost or stolen documents, special protected status deferred enforced departure, and family unification.
CUNY Citizenship Now! provides free, high quality, and confidential immigration law services to help individuals and families on their path to U.S. citizenship. The organization has 40 locations across New York City. Its attorneys and paralegals offer one-on-one consultations to assess participants’ eligibility for legal benefits and assist them in applying when qualified.
The website lists the immigration issues handled by by CUNY Citizenship Now! They include many routine and complex issues apart from employment-related cases such as visas (immigrant or nonimmigrant, including H1B and the like) or employment related adjustment of status, change of status, or extension of status.
At an Immigration Rights Workshop in Queens, NYC Legal Aid attorneys mentioned this organization as an excellent resource for free legal help in an environment where many pro bono legal organizations suddenly have a big backlog.
CUNY Citizenship Now! Is actively soliciting volunteers.
Languages: English, Spanish
Quick and easy access to resources for refugee families in Spanish, Somali, Nepalese, Arabic, Karen, and Burmese on the topics of family life and parenting, early childhood, the U.S. school system (K-12), children’s books, and health/mental health.
Organized and hosted by Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, a project of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Languages: Arabic, Burmese, Karen, Nepalese, Somali, Spanish
Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS) is a project of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS). BRYCS maintains the nation’s largest online collection of resources related to refugee and immigrant children and families. Pages can be translated into numerous languages with a single click. The BRYCS web site and clearinghouse is geared towards front-line workers, program planners, and administrators as well as researchers and policy-makers. The purpose of the Clearinghouse is to facilitate information-sharing and collaboration among service providers, disseminate information on evidence-based practices, and to improve institutional memory on refugee and immigrant family issues. It is designed to meet the information needs of professionals who encounter refugee and immigrant children and families in their work.
Online training modules are available on topics such as Discrimination & Bullying of Refugee Youth, Raising Children in a New Country, Raising Young Children in a New Country: Supporting Early Learning and Healthy Development, Refugee and Immigrant Family and Community Engagement in the Schools, Preventing Child Maltreatment in ORR/DCS-Funded Care Provider Programs and Refugee 101: With a Special Look at Child-Specific Issues . Also available are archived webinars on a variety of refugee issues specific to children.