A Cincinnati nonprofit that connects those forced to flee their countries to essential resources, including food and housing assistance, is the recipient of a national grant.
Kristin Burgoyne, the executive director of RefugeeConnect, said the $25,000 grant awarded to the organization through the 2021 A Community Thrives program will expand an initiative that assists this group.
The grant is a part of a $2.3 million program sponsored by The Enquirer and the USA TODAY Network's parent company, Gannett. In its fifth year, the program awards funds to organizations that address social issues, including education, housing, arts and culture, wellness, and the environment.
In Greater Cincinnati, the grant from A Community Thrives will empower refugees as they rebuild their lives in the United States.
Burgoyne said they started their community navigators program during the pandemic to improve how the organization responded to the needs of their clients during a difficult period that presented unique challenges.
"The navigators are people who are already part of that community. So many of them are former refugees or immigrants, and they speak the native language of the families that they support," Burgoyne said.
The community navigators assist immigrants with essential resources such as health care and enrolling in the school system.
The other exciting aspect of the community navigators program, Burgoyne said, is that community leaders who've been doing this work can get paid for it now.
"Before we hired them, they were cultural leaders in their communities and they were often doing this without pay. So we are able to help them earn an income for something that they have been doing for a long time, for free," Burgoyne said.
She said it's important to understand the difficulties faced by this population. Their journey to the United States is challenging as the average refugee spends an average of 17 years in a camp before being resettled. In camps, refugees may experience violence at the hands of outside militias, food insecurity, and lack of access to sanitation, she said.
The screening process before they're allowed entry to the United States can take anywhere from six months to two years due to the intense vetting to verify their identity, Burgoyne explained. Then begins the challenge of starting a new life with few resources.
Community navigators assist the people they work with in achieving all kinds of goals. Burgoyne said it could be enrolling in a GED program, finding access to mental healthcare, or starting their own business.
"When they get here, they have a lot of hope for their families and want to contribute to their community. These populations that we work with, they have been through so much, so much pain and so much trauma," Burgoyne said. "They're resilient and have so many skills that they bring with them. We're here, so when they have a goal, we're able to help them achieve that goal by removing barriers to their success."
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