Community Sponsorship: Partner with IRC to Welcome Refugees to the Bay Area

Community Sponsorship and Co-Sponsorship Defined

Community Sponsorship is a broad term that refers to the pairing of refugees with groups of individuals who commit to providing clearly defined financial and in-kind contributions and volunteer services to support refugees in their welcome and integration.

Co-Sponsorship is the model of Community Sponsorship at IRC in San Jose, which is where a community group signs a written agreement with a refugee Resettlement Agency (RA) and agrees to provide most of the reception and placement services to a refugee family case. The role of IRC as the RA is to oversee these activities, provide training and support to the team, and to ensure that all services are performed in the timeline that is set out in our agency's Cooperative Agreement with the Department of State/PRM.

A community group that is established for the purpose of Co-Sponsorship must agree to the following requirements:

• Each group member submits a volunteer application to the IRC San Jose office
• All team members are background checked before working with IRC clients
• Group representatives sign a Co-Sponsorship Agreement with IRC
• Co-Sponsors commit to raising $5000 total for both the IRC Co-Sponsorship program and their assigned case
• The group collects donations for household setup for their refugee family
• Co-Sponsors agree to a commitment of 6 months working with their assigned case

To learn more about Co-Sponsorship with IRC-San Jose, please contact Elgiva Wood, Community Sponsorship Manager, at: [email protected]