*Go-To Resources

  • At local IRC offices, IRC’s staff, volunteers, and community partners work together to empower refugees to restore their dignity and self-reliance, and participate in their new communities. At your local office you’ll find ways to help like volunteering, donating, hosting a fundraiser with IRC designated as your beneficiary, or rent a house to a refugee family.  You may find the tools to hire a refugee as an employee or volunteer. Find an IRC office location near you on this page.
  • Find a Refugee Processing Center near you in this directory.
  • Find reception and placement agencies near you in this contact list.
  • This is a list of links from the UNCHR and other sources on America’s obligations for refugee resettlement.
  • UNHCR Country Office List.
  • The Refugee Center is a one-stop, comprehensive online center that houses all of the resources and information newcomers need to build successful lives for themselves and their families here in America. Content has been curated by resettled refugees and immigrants and is written for ESL viewers and those with limited formal educations. Programs are further enhanced by both automated and manual translations and the latest in multi-modal learning techniques. We use the proliferation of mobile technology and the power of the internet to provide support where and when it is needed.
  • The Refugee Project looks beyond the crises that are currently making headlines and allows viewers to explore all refugee migrations around the world since 1975. As the interactive map courses through the years, it reveals the growing occurrences of crises and their country of origin along with data revealing the scale of each country’s exodus. The result is a visualization that pairs history with layers upon layers of data, creating a powerful narrative of refugee migration.
  • Use this World Relief map to find their US offices near you. World Relief works in partnership with local churches and faith-based organizations and helps refugees and immigrants from all countries resettle and rebuild their lives.
  • Do a quick Google search for mutual assistance centers near you. For example, the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center gives you the tools to make donations, volunteer, and keep up to date on local events.
  • There are additional ways of finding refugee help centers in your area. Go to https://www.justserve.org and use the advanced search to find volunteer opportunities to help or work with refugees.

Specific to libraries…

These TED Talks offer sentiment and solution, respectively, to the refugee crisis: