The IRC provides opportunities for refugees to thrive in America. In Los Angeles and many other regional offices across the country, the IRC helps them rebuild their lives and achieve self-sufficiency. To accomplish this, IRC LA relies heavily on efforts by our interns and volunteers.

This briefing paper provides an overview of social accountability approaches and key factors to consider when designing a social accountability intervention.

Living​ ​in​ ​the​ ​USA,​ ​particularly​ ​in​ ​the​ ​nation’s​ ​capital,​ ​provides​ ​endless​ ​opportunities​ ​to dedicate​ ​time​ ​and​ ​effort​ ​towards​ ​the​ ​refugee​ ​and​ ​asylee​ ​community.​ ​Over​ ​the​ ​summer,​ ​I​ ​was lucky​ ​to​ ​continue​ ​to​ ​contribute​ ​to​ ​this​ ​work​ ​as​ ​the​ ​Asylee​ ​Casework​ ​Intern​ ​with​ ​the​ ​International Rescue​ ​Committee​ ​(IRC).​ ​Kind,​ ​genuine​ ​and​ ​dedicated​ ​doesn’t​ ​begin​ ​to​ ​the​ ​scratch​ ​the​ ​surface of​ ​the​ ​IRC​ ​staff​ ​in​ ​Silver​ ​Spring.​ ​I​ ​had​ ​the​ ​privilege​ ​of​ ​witnessing​ ​and​ ​taking​ ​part​ ​in​ ​clients’ transition​ ​to​ ​the​ ​USA,​ ​and​ ​because​ ​of​ ​this,​ ​I​ ​can​ ​provide​ ​testament​ ​to​ ​the​ ​time​ ​and​ ​effort​ ​that caseworkers​ ​commit​ ​to​ ​each​ ​and​ ​every​ ​client.

Community partnerships create a path for refugees to come full circle and aid other refugees resettling in Utah.

With Santa Clara County seeing a continued upward trend in daily positivity rates for COVID-19, IRC San Jose has remained in full-remote work since mid-March. As we delved deeper into the summer of 2020, this reality made us question the future of Vision 2.0: Summer Job Academy (hereinafter referred to as Vision). Vision is an immigrant-female empowerment workshop aimed at allowing participants to learn about different career paths, to reflect on their personal goals, and to work towards envisioning themselves achieving their goals. Read further to see how we navigated the barriers posed by COVID-19 to still offer this workshop this summer!

After his work helping the United States as an interpreter in his native Afghanistan put him in danger, Harris started a new life in America. He shares his story.