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Welcome to our Monthly Newsletter from PCC4Refugees!

In this issue:

Educate

Global Rescue Policy Asks and Message Guidance

Inspire

New Beginnings for Refugee Families to Share their Experience

Mobilize

RPCVs Assist National Sanctuary Community Movement
Register for our Next Networking Conversations

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, donate to support our work, link to our website and follow us on social media. All of this is in the issue below!

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Global Rescue Policy Asks and Message Guidance

Reposted from Global Rescue:

In recent months, the world of immigration and refugee resettlement has undergone unprecedented changes at the administrative and legislative levels. After their August recess, members of Congress have returned to Washington, D.C. to take critical votes, including to fund the government. The time to advocate for moral funding and legislation is now!

Click here to access Global Refuge’s Action Center and advocate with one of our action alerts. To find out who your Members of Congress are and how to contact them, click here, and input your full street address in the right column that says “Contact Your Member”. To call your Member’s office and speak with a staff member or leave a voicemail, call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Member’s office.

Please visit the Global Refuge website for the full document with the policy asks and message guidance.

New Beginnings for Refugee Families to Share their Experiences

New Beginnings for Refugee Families is a volunteer group working with the Community Sponsorship Hub (“the Hub”) and several Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to help resettle refugee families in Virginia. The Hub matched the group with an Afghan family of five (2 parents and 3 children) who arrived on April 10 under the Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program. The SIVs were granted because of the support given to the United States government in its mission in Afghanistan.

This family’s journey has been long: from their flight from Afghanistan over 12 years ago, to refugee recognition in India, to their final arrival in the U.S. They are now grateful to call the United States home!

In a specially-focused monthly conversation in January, members of the New Beginnings group will share the story of how they prepared to receive this family: from arrival, to setting up a household, to public benefits applications, education, family finances, fundraising, and more. This is a valuable opportunity to learn first-hand from those in the New Beginnings group!

Please join us on January 7, 2026 at 8 pm Eastern for a discussion of the groups’ efforts. Be prepared to ask questions to help you or your group contribute to the welcoming of new refugees and SIVs arriving in the United States!

RPCVs Assist National Sanctuary Community Movement

A new idea is taking hold across the country as many groups and organizations are participating in a national movement to establish Sanctuary Communities. The idea is now of interest to numerous RPCV groups. While the current administration has been targeting cities as sanctuaries for immigrants and refugees by limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities, private citizen groups can establish themselves as Sanctuary Communities that work to help those threatened by federal immigration enforcement actions. Providing such help is a First Amendment right that places them out of reach of the federal government.

“The president’s immigration policies threaten not only immigrants but citizens as well,” noted J. Larry Brown, RPCV, India-39. The idea of Sanctuary Communities, first published by Robert Reich, led to more than 450 people across the country expressing interest in setting them up in their own areas. “This idea,” Brown noted, “has the capacity to coalesce the many disparate resistance efforts across the nation into a national movement to counter ICE.”

In a specially-focused monthly conversation on October 27 at 8 pm Eastern, Larry Brown will join us to describe this movement more fully and to answer questions on sanctuary communities. Please use the link below to register for this special conversation.

NPCA Advocacy Day

On Monday, July 21, about 170 National Peace Corps Association advocates were on Capitol Hill urging Congress to support no less than current Peace Corps funding and to honor nearly 250,000 Returned Volunteers with a Congressional Gold Medal. Thank you to our advocates for their incredible work this week!

Congress is on recess in August, which makes it a good time for you to catch up with members in their home offices and to brush up on legislation. We recently learned that the The Dignity Act was reintroduced with bipartisan support. According to the National Immigration Forum, the Dignity Act of 2025 (H.R. 4393) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 15, 2025, “a bipartisan effort to strengthen border security in the United States, provide undocumented individuals with an opportunity to obtain legal status if they meet certain requirements, and update aspects of the U.S. legal immigration system. … It is a revised version of the Dignity Act of 2023.”

One-pager on the Dignity Act, click here.
Detailed summary of the Dignity Act, click here.
Section-by-section breakdown of the Dignity Act, click here.
The Dignity Act Media Kit, click here.
Full text of the bill, click here.
Listing on Congress.gov

Stay tuned for updates and calls to action.

Register for our Next Networking Conversation

PCC4Refugees Conversation Series continues, with our schedule set for the upcoming months. Register to join us in sharing resources and information in an informal online setting. No agenda. No recording. But great networking!

October 27, 2025 – we will be joined by Larry Brown to answer questions on building sanctuary communities
November 17, 2025
December 16, 2025
January 7, 2026 – we will be joined by members of New Beginnings for Refugee Families to share their experiences supporting a family who arrived under the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program
February 3, 2026
March 4, 2026

All conversations begin at 8 pm Eastern and will be open for one hour.

Our mission

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.

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)

RPCV/RPCV Group Showcase (recorded Dec. 11, 2024)

Know Your Rights (recorded Jan. 28, 2025)

Advocating at the State and Local Levels (recorded Feb. 12, 2025)

Serving the Educational Needs of New Immigrant Families (recorded Mar 4, 2025)

Federal Advocacy on Behalf of Refugees, Asylees, and Other Immigrants (recorded April 8, 2025)

(Note: the content of each webinar is as of the dates noted. Some content may now be outdated.)

Webinar Recordings

Updated! 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.

Read the guide

Register for Upcoming Conversations

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 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm (note the new time!) in the Eastern U.S. time zone.

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!

Please email info@PCC4Refugees.org to express interest.

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.

Donate

Please visit these pages of our website for regularly updated resources and opportunities: