This World Refugee Day, we examine the pressing challenges that refugees face around the world and consider how we can address them.

Meet Sylvia, our Housing Support volunteer! She works with our housing team to help secure financial support for clients. As a daughter of immigrants, Sylvia recalls some challenges her parents faced as they built their lives in Clinton, a small town in New Jersey. "My parents came from Germany in the 1950s, and although they weren't refugees, I saw as a child what it was like for them to try to adapt to a new country," she shared. Learn more about Sylvia and her volunteer work.

Meet Sylvia, our Housing Support volunteer! She works with our housing team to help secure financial support for clients. As a daughter of immigrants, Sylvia recalls some challenges her parents faced as they built their lives in Clinton, a small town in New Jersey. "My parents came from Germany in the 1950s, and although they weren't refugees, I saw as a child what it was like for them to try to adapt to a new country," she shared. Learn more about Sylvia and her volunteer work.

For the last four years, the IRC in Dallas has been holding a Robing Ceremony the night before graduation to honor fifteen high school graduates who started their journey in the US as refugees. Since we are unable to gather this year, we are sharing the great accomplishments of these remarkable students here.

Refugee families, survivors of human trafficking and other vulnerable populations that we serve will be disproportionately affected by the impact of COVID-19 on our community in the coming weeks. Please donate to the IRC in Florida’s Crisis Prevention Fund and help us ensure our newest neighbors have the resources and services they need to get through this trying time.

As the IRC in Northern California observes World Refugee Day on June 20, we are inspired by the resilience and creativity of survivors of conflict and persecution who are making a new home in the U.S. It's a time to remember the 79.5 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes while also celebrating the accomplishments of those who are starting their lives anew. Here are ways that you can get involved!

Thank you for your interest in providing in-kind donations to the IRC! Community assistance with early resettlement in the form of donations is an amazing way to immediately impact the lives of newly arrived refugees, and we welcome your help.

The 2400 Miles Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the international refugee crisis and supporting organizations like the IRC in Silver Spring. In the summer of 2018, the organization will participate in the Great Pacific Race, rowing from California to Hawaii in order to raise awareness of the refugee crisis.

Olive Cicon may only be 9 years old, but the Tracy resident already has amassed a team of volunteers to assist refugees and other special immigrants as part of her "passion project"--and she's giving $5 of her own money to kick off her campaign. The following interview between Olive and her mother, Nettie Cicon, details how Olive plans to assist beneficiaries from the International Rescue Committee in Turlock/Modesto, and how others can help: