On September 28th, IRIS held a workshop event at Southern Connecticut State University that convened community sponsorship group leaders from across the country who share in IRIS’s mission to assist refugees and other displaced people as they reestablish their lives in our communities.

In attendance were sponsor group leaders from WelcomeCorps, a new national resettlement program that launched in 2023.  These leaders came from Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada.  They were joined by community co-sponsor group leaders located in Connecticut who helped inspire the national program..

“These are Americans who do what our team does: secure housing, help register kids in school, connect adults to employment and to English classes – they sometimes even teach English themselves!  Even more important, they welcome newcomers into their communities,” said IRIS’ Executive Director Maggie Mitchell Salem.

During the workshop, community group leaders shared their experiences on how to best support refugees and other displaced people. Contributing to the conversation were our keynote speakers Anna Greene,Resettlement Officer at UNHCR, and Basma Alawee,Deputy Executive Director of the Community Sponsorship Hub, who were able to share their experiences in the refugee community and the resettlement process as a whole. Community Sponsorship Hub’s master storyteller Sarah Hunaidi led a session on how expanding outreach and awareness through communications connects audiences to the importance and impact of refugee resettlement.

During the workshop, IRIS also highlighted and celebrated the work and dedication of the CT Co-sponsor group, Jewish Community Alliance for Refugee Resettlement (JCARR), a partnership of six New Haven-area synagogues, as well as the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven. As an IRIS co-sponsor, JCARR has helped  nine families – comprising over 40 individuals – resettle in our local communities. Over the past 9 years, JCARR has supported families from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Angola, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

IRIS awarded leader, Jean Silk, and JCARR with the inaugural Golden Door Leadership award. This year’s award consisted of a hand-painted calligraphy of Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” by a local community artist Alibaba Awrang. Alibaba is a former refugee from Afghanistan who was resettled by a local community sponsor group in Washington, Connecticut. The selection of Emma Lazarus’ poem is  a depiction of the poem written on the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of the American heritage and tradition of welcoming refugees, displaced people, and those fleeing persecution from around the world.

Jean Silk, in response to receiving the award stated that “I am pleased to accept this award on behalf of JCARR.  This award truly goes to all the volunteers who do the work for JCARR.”

In presenting the first Golden Door Leadership Award to JCARR,  IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigration Services), told JCARR that they were the first group to form a coalition (in response to the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015),  they were the first group to receive a family as a co-sponsor of IRIS, JCARR has strong leadership, and has worked hard in full partnership with IRIS, through many crises over the last 9 years.  JCARR has always taken the approach of asking, “How can we help?” 

Jean concluded her remarks with, “JCARR leaders are looking forward to welcoming our TENTH family in our TENTH Year – 2025!”