The fourth annual, Back to School Bash organized by First Presbyterian Church and Grace Presbyterian in collaboration with numerous community organizations will be held on Saturday, August 10 from 10am-3pm. The event provides refugee families with school aged children an opportunity to pick out backpacks and grade appropriate school supplies, as well as a community lunch.

In recognition of National Volunteer Week, beginning on April 17th, the IRC in Silver Spring shares the experience of our Community Engagement team’s Transform Mid-Atlantic AmeriCorps VISTA, Michalina Kulesza, who began her year of service with the IRC in July 2022.

Interested in volunteering, but short on time? Short-term, high-impact service projects are a great way to welcome and support refugees who are new to our community! Team up with a group of friends, family, classmates, coworkers or other IRC volunteers for any of the activities below.

A unique initiative is dismantling barriers and introducing refugee youth to the exhilarating world of indoor climbing. Health promotion program supervisor, Kaitlin Campbell, explains how the partnership with The Front Climbing Club was created and its impact on refugee youth.

The IRC's Client Voice and Choice initiative and Ground Truth Solutions are piloting an approach to better understand and strengthen how humanitarian assistance incorporates the preferences, aspirations, and expectations of the people at the focus of aid. This document details the methodology and findings of the pilot examining the Women’s Protection & Empowerment (WPE) and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) services being delivered in camps serving refugees in northern Greece.

A new era for foreign aid is upon us - whether we like it or not. Global needs and extreme poverty are escalating and increasingly concentrated in countries where we see an alarming convergence of conflict and climate change. At the very moment these needs are rising, traditional donor funding is sharply declining - forcing difficult choices about who receives assistance.