Tech For Refugees, the global refugee initiative launched in 2022 by Julia and Yuri Milner in cooperation with major technology partners, and funded by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, is making a multi-year commitment to support the humanitarian efforts of the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

The IRC in Seattle's citizenship classes support immigrants of all backgrounds as they prepare to take the naturalization test to become a United States citizen. Students in the class study for the test - but also learn about US history, how they can participate in their local government, and the power of civic engagement!

Community Sponsorship offers an exciting opportunity for a group of community members to support resettlement efforts and to engage in deeply impactful work with one of our family cases. Following the higher volume of arrivals experienced recently and an increase in community attention toward assisting refugees, the IRC in Oakland is seeking volunteer groups who are interested in becoming Co-Sponsors.

Learn about Colorado Gives Day, and support the IRC in Denver with your donation!

On Thursday, June 20th, 2024, the IRC in Silver Spring celebrated its first annual Beacons of Hope Gala in celebration of World Refugee Day. With over 200 guests in attendance, the event brought together refugees and the individuals and organizations who support immigrants who serve as beacons of hope in Maryland.

The South Florida Human Trafficking Task Force (SFHTTF) was established in 2018, by the IRC in Miami with support from the Department of Justice and in collaboration with service providers, law enforcement agencies and individuals from the community. The purpose of the SFHTTF is to identify and protect survivors of human trafficking, prosecute traffickers and educate communities across South Florida about the impacts human trafficking has on the community.

Nolasque Balitebya began working for the IRC as a Swahili interpreter in 2019 shortly after he and his family were resettled in Missoula by the IRC. His 'can-do' attitude and eagerness to support newly arriving refugee families stood out to all staff at the IRC, and he was promoted to Caseworker in 2021. Now, Nolasque has begun the next step in his IRC journey. In March, Nolasque began serving as a Roving Direct Services Program Manager for IRC's Reception and Placement (R&P) programs. We sat down with Nolasque to reflect on his journey with the IRC in Missoula and what he is looking forward to next.

In September 2021, Suzy Stutzman of Golden Optimists reached out to the IRC in Denver, offering refurbished bicycles to refugees. Golden Optimists, a volunteer-run non-profit in Golden, Colorado, has been transforming donated bikes into sustainable transportation for those in need for over 35 years. During the pandemic, they pivoted to support incoming refugees, including many from Afghanistan. This partnership has provided over 100 bikes to IRC Denver clients, enhancing their mobility and integration into the community. The collaboration highlights the profound impact of community support and the ongoing need for volunteers to sustain these efforts.

Protection monitoring is the systematic and regular collection, verification, and analysis of information over an extended period of time, in order to identify violations of rights and protection risks for populations of concern, in order to enable prevention and inform effective responses. It means collecting primary and/or secondary data and analyzing it over time to identify trends in the needs expressed and risks faced by the populations of concern. Protection monitoring is an important tool for both interventions and advocacy. Collecting and sharing high-quality information on these issues is essential to making sure that we are able to continue to improve our ability to respond to these needs through programming, referrals, and advocacy activities. The Protection Monitoring Report is produced on a quarterly basis, representing the result of IRC Italy's endeavors to enhance its protection monitoring activities, aiming to systematically and regularly monitor the protection situation of people met and supported. The report captures the profiles, vulnerabilities, protection risks, and needs of people supported by IRC in Italy, together with significant migration-related context updates covering the whole country. In particular, it focuses and provides numbers and insights on people supported by IRC's digital information service, Refugee.Info and individuals arriving from the Balkan route via land in the city of Trieste, at the border between Italy and Slovenia.