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Engaging Communities

Preferred Communities Program

Program Overview
Some of the most welcoming and best-suited places in the United States for the refugees and immigrants who settle here are the smaller cities and towns beyond the main urban centers in which those newly arrived have traditionally concentrated.  These smaller communities can offer services and opportunities not available or affordable in big cities. These communities are eager to welcome, support and integrate a diversity of foreign-born new residents. With the support of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, USCRI implements the Preferred Communities Program to serve newly arrived refugees in cities and towns that offer them excellent opportunities to achieve early employment and sustained economic independence.   USCRI works with partner agencies in these select communities across the U.S. to bolster their efforts to provide refugees with appropriate social services, secure them quality jobs, and engage residents throughout the community in becoming active participants in their newcomers’ integration. 

USCRI’s Participation
USCRI provides training, technical assistance, and support to ensure the delivery of vital services to refugees as they adapt to their new community. At six sites across the country, USCRI partner agencies implement the program by expanding community resettlement capacity, enhancing delivery of family-centered self-sufficiency services, broadening sources of refugee support by promoting community linkages, and advancing the program’s sustainability through the cultivation of local donors and recruitment of volunteers.

Partner Agencies’ Participation
In preferred communities, USCRI partner agencies help refugees get specialized training, skills development, childcare, transport and other services.  Partner agencies forge collaborative partnerships with local organizations, public institutions and mainstream service providers to aid refugees in accessing training, education and other programs tailored to their needs.  Learn about the USCRI partner agencies that participate in the Preferred Communities Program.  

Communities’ Participation
Many refugees arrive in the United States having suffered much loss and hardship.  They need the support of their new communities as they start anew.  Members of preferred communities volunteer to serve as host families, language tutors, life skills trainers, pro bono attorneys, and fundraisers.  They serve as important community ambassadors who identify and introduce refugees to new friends, resources and opportunities.

Clients’ Participation
In small towns across the U.S. refugee clients have invaluable opportunities to become prominent members of their new communities.  Clients help others in their community adapt services to their needs, and facilitate their social and economic integration. Refugees help communities learn and appreciate how newcomers’ talents contribute to a richer, stronger society. 

 “Akron and Fort Wayne, Ind., are the two main cities where Mon people live in the United States,” said Goran Debelnogich, International Institute of Akron’s Resettlement Services Coordinator.  Nai Soeng, 30, arrived in Akron four years ago, after leaving Burma many years ago and spending several years in Thailand.  Soeng is studying political science at the University of Akron and wants to work for democratic change in Burma. “Akron is a good place for him and his family and the Mon community”, Debelnogich said.   – Edited excerpt from “Mon community celebrates heritage in American home: Burma natives recall plight of their kingdom” By Jim Carney, Beacon Journal, February 20, 2006

These are the USCRI partner agencies currently participating in the Preferred Communities Program:

International Institute of Erie
Nationalities Service Center
College of Southern Idaho Refugee Service Center
International Institute of Akron
International Institute of Buffalo
International Institute of Connecticut
USCRI Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program
USCRI Albany
USCRI Raleigh
Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance