Program areas at LIRS
Resettlement: in fy 2022, lirs resettled 5,868 refugees, unaccompanied Refugee minors and sivs (afghan special immigrant visas who served overseas alongside the us armed forces) from 39 countries through its network of local social ministry organizations in 51 locations across the united states, preparing a place of welcome to meet the particular needs of the refugees and engaging local churches and communities to assist refugees to become self-reliant members of their new communities. The top five countries of origin of resettled refugees in fy22 were afghanistan, democratic republic of congo, burma, syria, and ukraine. In response to the afghan evacuation, lirs resettled 12,021 afghan humanitarian parolees in 53 locations across the us in fy 2022. Lirs Refugee resettlement programming includes: 1. Reception and placement (r&p) lirs provides life-saving protection and stabilization support to refugees during their first 90 days in the united states. 2. Matching grant (mg) - this lirs early employment program is an alternative to public cash assistance. In fiscal year 2022, 75% of the 9,112 individuals enrolled in matching grant were self-sufficient (employed) on or before the 240-day mark. 3. Preferred communities (pc) lirs provided intensive case management to the most vulnerable refugees and asylees to ensure access to critical, life stabilizing services and resources. This helped move 1,117 participants toward self-sufficiency in 27 locations. 4. Afghan placement and assistance (apa) lirs provided placement and basic needs assistance to afghans evacuated to the us following the us withdrawal from afghanistan.
Migrant services: in 2022, lirs continued implementing the following Refugee related programs and initiatives: new american cities (nac) (funded by walmart, church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, iconiq) - targeted career upskilling support and planning for new americans who have been in country for 20 years or less. Lirs operates the program in six locations and had served 341 clients in 2022.community engagement:1. Circle of welcome (cow) - facilitated volunteer church/community teams who are matched with Refugee households to provide structured, ongoing support.2. Volunteerism technical assistance (ta) - served as in-house volunteerism and mentorship technical assistance providers to the affiliate network and internal program managers.3. Employer engagement worked with national and local companies to become "preferred Refugee employers" (pre) by followed a minimum amount of hiring and retention best practices.3. Lirs' respite services program offers immediate support to people recently released from Immigration detention. The program is currently operating in three border-adjacent locations and served over 15,000 individuals in 2022. 4. Lirs' welcome center program offers six months of trauma-informed, wraparound case management support to newly arrived asylum seekers. The program is currently operating in six locations and served over 800 individuals in 2022.6. Lirs' mental health program offered therapy and clinical case management services to 67 individuals in 2022. In addition, lirs conducted mental health workshops that supported 63 afghans.n 2022, lirs released "bring the sky: the lirs detention visitation guide," a five-module series to help community groups understand the issues and establish their own detention visitation programs. Bring the sky was downloaded by leaders in 53 communities across 20 states and dc (az, ca, co, dc, de, fl, ia, il, la, md, mn, nc, ny, oh, ok, or, pa, tx, va, wa, wi). Lirs also connected with 325 volunteers interested in detention visitation efforts in 2022. Additionally, lirs launched a new toolkit for volunteer-led pen pal programs and recruited 514 pen pal volunteers nationally. Through lirs' hope for the holidays program, more than 25,000 handwritten cards were shared with immigrants in 16 Immigration detention centers.
Children and family services: lirs partners with the federal agency the office of Refugee resettlement, state and local governments, and community child welfare and Refugee organizations to serve the best interests of Refugee and migrant children. Lirs provides a full spectrum of child services, with a network of 43 partners and a total of 62 sites across the country. In 2022, lirs provided homes for 1,443 newly arrived unaccompanied children. This included short and long-term foster care (basic and therapeutic care) and group home care. To facilitate the reunification of unaccompanied children with sponsors, the safe release support program fingerprinted 4,289 sponsors and provided packet assistance to 1,660 individuals. For more than 40 years, lirs has provided child welfare services to Refugee and migrant children who are unaccompanied or separated from family. Lirs provided community based case management services to 8,430 newly reunified children and families. These children have typically fled war, civil conflict, persecution, trafficking, extreme poverty, or maltreatment. Lirs approaches its work with integrity and upholds the following principles in serving children: decision-making based on the best interests of the child; preserving family unity; placements of children in the least restrictive setting; prioritizing child protection; and providing services with quality and innovation.
Other program services:lirs services travel loans issued by the international organization of migration to transport lirs-sponsored refugees from their original location to their resettlement location in the united states. Collections from these non-interest bearing loans are, in part, used to offset loan servicing expenses of lirs, with 75% of the collections returned to the international organization of migration to replenish the loan fund, which finances transportation for resettlement of future refugees.lirs north dakota (lirs nd) state programs Refugee support services program (rss): rss supported refugees and other orr eligible populations gain economic independence by helping them find and maintain employment leading towards economic self-sufficiency and successful integration into local communities. Rss services included employability assessment, training and job development, job placement, and job maintenance. In addition, services included referrals to address barriers to employment including social adjustment, english language classes, day care, as well as citizenship classes and naturalization support. Lirs nd served 314 rss clients in 2022.services for older refugees (sor): sor provided support for eligible refugees aged sixty and older and ensured they have access to applicable services for the aging. Sor services included case management, transportation, interpretation, referrals to supportive services, connection to community resources, volunteer engagement, social activities, and citizenship and naturalization preparation services for eligible Refugee elders. And to provide qualifying refugees with appropriate services not currently available in the community. Sor services supported overall physical and emotional health, help integration into new communities, and supported independent living. Lirs nd served 35 sor clients in 2022.increasing health equity and immunization rates amongst new americans/foreign born/immigrant (vaccine equity): lirs-nd acted as the fiscal agent and collaborated with ethnic community-based organizations (cbos) who worked to increase health equity and immunization rates amongst new americans in north dakota through outreach and public education. Lirs nd supported 16 cbos in 2022.the Refugee mental health initiative: the project served male members of the recently arrived afghan communities in the fargo area, providing an opportunity to engage in sport and physical activities to enhance their mental health and stay connected with each other. Lirs nd served 24 clients in 2022.