IRC in the news

Immigrants key to reaching Mayor’s population goal, Baltimore Sun, Jan. 7
 

The International Rescue Committee, which has a resettlement center in Baltimore, estimates that over the past 10 years more than 3,000 refugees and roughly 1,000 asylum-seekers have moved to the city. The group has helped nearly 1,000 people from Bhutan and resettled hundreds from Burma, among other countries.

 

Security hurdle keeps U.S.-bound Iraqi refugees in limbo, CNN.com and CNN Radio, Dec. 23

 

“When the newest layer went into place, it brought the whole system more or less to a halt,” said Bob Carey, vice president of Refugee Resettlement and Migration Policy at the International Rescue Committee. The non-profit agency works on refugee issues around the world.
 

 

Migrant registration programs targets children, Myanmar Times, Dec. 26
 

MAE SOT (Thailand) – For decades, children of Myanmar refugees and migrants in Thailand could not obtain an official birth certificate, vital to access healthcare and education.
 

 

'Out of Africa' Abilene churches embrace those relocating here, Abilene Reporter-News, Dec. 29
 

In Abilene, a number of churches have embraced [Christian] refugees relocated from African countries through the International Rescue Committee
.

 

IRC Bus Tour Shares Tasty and Exotic Eateries in El Cajon and City Heights, East County Magazine (San Diego) December 2011
 

In the last 10 years, the IRC has helped 175 San Diego-based refugees become small-business owners. To showcase some of the great refugee-owned eateries of East County, the IRC hosted a Micro-finance bus tour, offering patrons a chance to sample some delicious cuisine from Iraq and East Africa. 

 

 

Poverty Stricken: A new report shows that Oakland's refugees from Burma are stuck in extreme poverty, with up to 80 percent unemployment, East Bay Express, Jan. 4

[IRC Executive Director Ken] Briggs hopes the International Rescue Committee will be able to offer long-term case management in the future (the Oakland office currently has three full-time direct-service staff). "I would like to see services within the resettlement agencies that provides support for a longer period [than six months], particularly with job search and case management.

 

Eastleigh: A new beginning for refugees in Kenya, UNIVISION, Dec.15

First part of a three-part series on Somali refugees looks at IRC programs for refugees in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya. 

 

More than 200 Somalis arrive in Arizona in search of a 'New Beginning', UNIVISION, Dec.16

Report on Somali refugees who been resettled in Phoenix including IRC staff member Mohamed Abdullahi.

 

Christmas surprise for refugees in Arizona, UNIVISION, Dec.17

Several Somali families and a Cuban family receive gifts as part of the IRC’s holiday giving campaign in Phoenix.

 

The Billion Dollar Woman, Marie Claire, January 2012

In 2006, the Buffetts [Jennifer and Peter] established the NoVo Foundation.  . . .  NoVo invests in a wide range of initiatives, from working with the International Rescue Committee on a grassroots effort to end violence against women and girls in Liberia, to supporting centers for rape victims in Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, to helping to keep children in the slums of red-light districts in Bangladesh and India in school.

 

Snow blower and shovels ‘to get through the winter,’ Fukkou Kamaishi Shimbun (Japan), Dec. 21

The Association for Aid and Relief, Japan and the IRC (International Rescue Committee) donated 5 snow blowers made for households and 1,000 shovels to the city of Kamiashi City on the 18th of December.  . . . Shinko Tana, Japan advisor for the IRC who provided the funds, said, ‘Many individuals and companies from around the world sent donations after the disaster. The people who know Japan are worried about the situation as though it is happening to their own country. While the media continues to focus their attention on the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, we hope to report on what is happening to the other areas devastated by the tsunami.’ 

 

Actress Romola Garai, star of the BBC’s “The Hour” writes about her recent visit to IRC programs in the east-African country of Burundi. “Sometimes a trip can change your life as the visit I made to Burundi with the International Rescue Committee did.  . . . The sight of 20 women in a tiny shack [at an IRC-sponsored Village Savings and Loan Association] laughing and fist-bumping, as they competed in an exercise to see who could save the most, was truly inspiring.”