Welcome to the IRC in Los Angeles

Dear Friends of the IRC in Los Angeles,

On behalf of our staff and volunteers, I want to thank you for your interest in the IRC’s work in Los Angeles.  For more than 35 years, the IRC has helped refugees find a home in Southern California.  We began supporting the exodus of Vietnamese at the end of the war in Southeast Asia and continue today helping resettle persecuted religious minorities from Near East Asia.  

In the coming months, we intend to expand our activities.  We are going to build our existing program, which already provides:

• Housing, health care and other essentials to create a home
• English language, financial literacy and other classes to establish comfort in a new culture
• Access to social services, including children’s education, to secure a stable beginning
• Support for employment, residency and citizenship to insure a bright future

And we are going to broaden our existing network, learning more from the Armenians, Russians, Vietnamese and other refugees we have served, and then apply those lessons to help others who find refuge here.

But we can’t do it alone.

Our staff and volunteers are committed to making sure people suffering persecution can find solace and security in our neighborhoods.  But the IRC in Los Angeles is rooted in this community, and it can only succeed with the support of this community.  So we need your knowledge, wisdom and advice.
 
I encourage you to keep up with us on our web site, to participate in our events and, if you have time, to volunteer.  There is no joy like the joy of helping a newly-arrived refugee, and you have that unique opportunity at the IRC.
 
And always, if you have questions, please feel free to call me directly at (818) 550-6220 or send an e-mail to Martin.Zogg@Rescue.org.  I look forward to hearing and learning from you.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Zogg
Executive Director
The IRC in Los Angeles