Our team at the IRC in Kansas has been working hard to respond quickly to client needs, as everyone in the community is feeling the social, economic, and health impacts of COVID-19. While programming is currently not business-as-usual, we continue to serve refugee families and survivors of human trafficking remotely, many of whom need support from the IRC and neighbors more than ever. 

Throughout the month of September, Charlottesville residents heard stories from over a dozen different community members with lived experience, thanks to a collaboration between the IRC and WTJU, the University of Virginia’s community radio station. The joint project, “Resettled,” gave 17 current and former Charlottesville clients an opportunity to share their journeys in a series of wide-ranging interviews.

From coffee and catering to clothing and jewelry, here are nine small businesses owned by refugees.

“Becoming an American, to me, is the greatest thing I have ever achieved in my life,” says Timothy Cham, who fled violence in what is now South Sudan. After years in limbo, his family have settled in Baltimore, Maryland.

Trump administration's refugee suspension leaves tens of thousands of persecuted religious minorities unable to reunite with family.