Welcome to our Monthly Newsletter from PCC4Refugees!
In this issue:
Register now for upcoming online events
- Dec 9 – Conversation and Information Sharing (8 pm ET)
- Dec 11 – Community Showcase (8 pm ET)
Read below for more information on monthly webinars and conversations through April 2025.
We need your input!
- Take our short survey
Urgent Advocacy Request – Take Action Now!
- Afghan Adjustment Act
- Let Asylum Seekers Work Act
Community Spotlight
- RPCV Ron Ison
In each issue, you are also able to register for all upcoming events, view recordings of past events, access “Welcoming Refugees: A Guide to Volunteer Opportunities for the Peace Corps Community,” volunteer with our PCC4Refugees team, link to our website, and follow us on social media. All of this is in the issue below!
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Register Now for Upcoming Events
December 9 at 8 pm Eastern – Join the PCC4Refugees Conversation Series to share resources and information in an informal online setting.
December 11 at 8 pm Eastern – Webinar: PCC4Refugees Showcase will feature the important ways RPCVs and RPCV organizations are already engaged in refugee-related activities. Presenters include:
- Chris MacCormack on the RPCVs of Gulf Coast Florida’s tutoring project
- Kate Schachter on RPCVs of Wisconsin-Madison’s refugee-related funding-raising activities
- John Berry on the Seattle Area Peace Corps Association’s (SEAPAX) partnership with World Relief Western Washington to prepare community garden plots for local refugees and immigrant families
- Jon Martin and Kathy Sheppard on Connecticut RPCVs hosting refugees through Welcome Corps
- Jessica Drier and Natalie Moore on a group of RPCVs and others in the Washington DC area hosting refugees through Welcome Corps.
- Anne Baker on volunteering with Homes Not Borders to help set up apartments for refugees in Northern Virginia
NEW! January 13 at 8 pm Eastern – Webinar: Act on Your New Year’s Resolution to Do Something Impactful. The program will explore a range of volunteer opportunities with the Peace Corps Community for Refugees.
NEW! January 15 at 8 pm Eastern – Join the PCC4Refugees Conversation Series to share resources and information in an informal online setting.
NEW! January 28 at 8 pm Eastern – Webinar: Know your rights. Learn about the legal rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and other immigrants.
See below for the full list of upcoming events.
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We need your input!
The mission of Peace Corps Community for Refugees (PCC4Refugees) is to inspire and mobilize the Peace Corps community to help those seeking refuge in our country and to advocate and educate on their behalf.
PCC4Refugees is an all-volunteer organization with limited resources. To help us focus our efforts for maximum impact, we need your input. Tell us what you are doing, the resources you are using, what you find helpful and what you need. And please consider joining our all-volunteer team!
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Urgent Advocacy Request – Take Action Now!
In the PCC4Refugees online advocacy forum on November 18, leaders in several refugee organizations shared the urgent request that all friends of refugees contact their Senators and Representatives to urge passage of two important bills being considered in the US Congress. The time to get these passed is very short, so please contact them now.
The most urgent bill, the Afghan Adjustment Act (S.2327 in the Senate and H.R.4627 in the House), was introduced last year to enable Afghan evacuees, forced by the Taliban to leave their country over three years ago, a path to secure permanent residency or citizenship here in the United States. Because that bill has now lingered in Congress, the humanitarian parole that allowed Afghan evacuees to become refugees here has expired, and they now have no legal residency. The link below takes you off our site to World Relief, which has a simple online click-to-send message to both your Senators and your Representative.
Take Action on the Afghan Adjustment Act
The second congressional action we have been seeking to promote has also been lingering in both chambers for over a year and is also hung up in the Judiciary Committees of both chambers. The Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act (S.255 and H.R.1325) would allow asylees to work 30 days after arrival in the US instead of waiting the current 6 months required for a work permit. The campaign to Let Asylum Seekers Work take action page lets people contact their Member of Congress and urge them to cosponsor H.R. 1325.
For S.255, please contact your Senators to urge them to cosponsor the bill and support its passage.
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Community Spotlight: RPCV Ron Ison
Each month, we highlight groups or individual RPCVs who are supporting refugees in their community to thank them and to perhaps inspire you! To spotlight an individual or group or to share your story, please contact info@pcc4refugees.org.
Ron Ison, a member of Cincinnati Area Returned Volunteers (CARV) and Southwest Ohio Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Organization (SORVO), works with refugees every day. Ron lives in a two-family house. Upstairs, living with him is a 15-year-old boy from Burundi and a 19-year-old from Congo with medical issues, who can no longer live with their parents. Three refugees from Togo live in the downstairs apartment, and he owns several apartment houses that Catholic Charities uses to house refugees when they first arrive. He is a mentor to new arrivals and provides clothing, furniture, and all the things a refugee needs when they first get here, including enrolling them in school, helping them find work, helping with transportation, and addressing medical and legal issues. Every day, he takes kids to soccer, basketball, haircuts, school events, and anything that comes up in their lives. He says, “My life is 24/7 mostly running kids, and even though I am 70 years old, I still work full time. Life is good.”
When asked to share photos, Ron continued: “I have thousands, and each child has their own story. Obviously, I would rather the story be about the success of all the kids. Here is Gustel as a student and then being congratulated by President Biden at his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy. We can all make such a difference, and we do. They lived with me as a family from Congo when Gustel was 5 years old.”
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PCC4Refugees Needs You!
Volunteer Opportunities with Peace Corps Community for Refugees
Join our Advocacy, Communication, Partnership, and Membership teams! We need writers, editors, graphic designers, reporters, advocates, recruiters, speakers, organizers, relationship builders, and innovators. All around, pinch hitters are welcome too! We are urgently looking for the following:
Please email info@PCC4Refugees.org to express interest.
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Welcoming Refugees: A Guide to Volunteer Opportunities for the Peace Corps Community
This Guide, developed by the PCC4Refugees team, is to inspire more RPCVs and others to use their unique cross-cultural and language skills to welcome refugees and help them resettle in the United States. The guide provides information on a wide range of welcoming services that individuals and groups of RPCVs can provide for refugees in their communities and along the border.
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Register for Upcoming Events
- December 9 at 8 pm ET – Conversation and Information Sharing
- December 11 at 8 pm ET – Showcase highlighting RPCV and RPCV group activities supporting refugees
- January 13 at 8 pm ET – Do Something Impactful
- January 15 at 8 pm ET – Conversation and Information Sharing
- January 28 at 8 pm ET – Know Your Rights
- February 12 at 8 pm ET – Advocating at the State and Local Levels
- February 19 at 8 pm ET – Conversation and Information Sharing
- March 4 at 8 pm ET – Serving the Educational Needs of New Immigrant Families
- March 19 at 8 pm ET – Conversation and Information Sharing
- April TBD – Climate Refugees
- April 16 at 8 pm ET – Conversation and Information Sharing
Note that we will add further details on individual sessions as we get closer to their dates. Details subject to change. All conversations are from 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm (note the new time!) in the Eastern U.S. time zone.
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Archived Webinar Recordings
Welcoming Refugees – An introduction to our newly-launched guide and Switchboard, a one-stop online resource hub (recorded Sept. 26, 2024)
Career Pathways in the Refugee Resettlement Sector, co-hosted with RPCVnexus (recorded Oct. 21, 2024)
Advocacy Forum to Review Refugee-related Legislation (recorded Nov. 18, 2024)
(Note: the content of each webinar is as of the dates noted. Some content may now be outdated.)
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Support PCC4Refugees!
PCC4Refugees is run entirely by volunteers, but our website and crucial database are not free. Help us best share key information with you and facilitate networking with your financial contribution.
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The mission of Peace Corps Community for Refugees (PCC4Refugees) is to inspire and mobilize the Peace Corps community to help those seeking refuge in our country and to advocate and educate on their behalf.
Please visit these pages of our website for regularly updated resources and opportunities: