Accessibility Tools

Today is World Refugee Day. There’s a lot in this issue, but we’ll start with some advice from the 6/17/26 State of Play from Church World Service:

World Refugee Day is on June 20. Across the U.S., service providers, governments, congregations, and communities are preparing to observe World Refugee Day on Saturday, June 20. Use this interactive map from We Are All America to find out about events taking place near you, see the top five ways to take action to defend refuge, and reach out to your Members of Congress to urge them to push back against policies that threaten refugees in the U.S. and around the world.

In this issue:

Educate

Almost American Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion
Temporary Protected Status Programs in Flux

Inspire

Mainers for Humane Immigration
PCC4Refugees at Peace Corps Connect

Mobilize

Is Yours a Welcoming Community?
Become a DOJ Accredited Representative
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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Almost American Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion

For our May gathering, PCC4Refugees offered a prerelease screening of a short documentary co-directed by Saritha Rothermel and Sam Soliman and produced by RPCV Baktash Ahadi. The film, Almost American, follows Sam Soliman, a DACA recipient navigating life in the United States without a clear path to citizenship. Sam’s situation becomes urgent when his mother is deported to the Philippines by ICE, leaving their family in a state of uncertainty and separation. Following the film screening (15 minutes), Saritha, Baktash, and Sam discussed the role you as an individual, your Peace Corps community and your other networks can play in shaping a national conversation about the future of DACA.

We invite you to bring the film with a follow-up discussion to your community.

Take action!

Special thanks to our co-hosts for the screening, Alliance for Intercultural Understanding (AIU, Inc.), which is also a fiscal sponsor for the film. To make a donation to support this film, click here and type “Almost American” in the Notes Box.

Please let us know at info@pcc4refugees.org when you schedule a screening so that we can help with promotion. (Let us know if you need financial assistance with that, too.)

Temporary Protected Status Programs in Flux

Because of difficulty gaining asylum in the U.S. or entering the country as a refugee, Congress created a number of programs that provide for legal temporary status in the U.S. These programs include:

Temporary Protected Status (TPS), created in 1990, which grants deportation protection and work authorization to nationals from countries who are unable to safely return to their home countries because of armed conflict, natural disasters, or other crises.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), created in 2012, which protects eligible individuals who came to the U.S. as children from deportation and allows them to apply for work permits; and
Humanitarian parole, which in late 2022 and 2023 was granted to many individuals fleeing unsafe conditions in Ukraine, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

These temporary statuses do not provide a direct pathway to a permanent residence (a “green card”) or U.S. citizenship. Since these protections are not permanent, these temporary statuses must be continually re-registered or renewed. Some TPS beneficiaries have been living with this tenuous status for more than 20 years.

Read an overview of how those with some of these statuses are being affected.

Mainers for Humane Immigration

One of our members from Maine forwarded an inspiring story of how Mainers are stepping up to help those in detention. Does your community or state have something similar?

“Mainers for Humane Immigration grew out of work that started several years ago. What began as an informal, decentralized group of people connected through protests against family separation and detention turned into people stepping in where gaps showed up, from the US-Mexico border to bus stations in Maine, helping with basic needs, resource connections and sometimes opening our homes.

“A few weeks after Trump was sworn in for a second time, I was looking through the Cumberland County Jail inmate list and saw several people being held there for ICE. I kept coming back to the same question: is anyone helping them? I checked that list for several days and watched it grow, with more and more names listed under “INS hold.”

“We started…”

How did they respond and what impact have they had? We encourage you to read the full story.

Learn more and support them

PCC4Refugees at Peace Corps Connect

Be sure to connect with us in person at Peace Corps Connect this summer – July 18-19 at American University’s Washington College of Law. We’ll have a table in the exhibit hall and will facilitate a workshop (exact day/time TBD). Stop by to introduce yourself and pick up additional resources.

The workshop will educate participants on specific challenges newcomers and other immigrants will face in the ensuing months; draw replicable lessons from examples of how RPCVs have leveraged their networks to advocate on behalf of immigrants, defend their civil liberties and provide direct supports to immigrant families. Participants will develop their own initial action plans and take away a wealth of connections and resources to inform their efforts.

Learn more and register

Is Yours a Welcoming Community?

At our June gathering, we were joined by Rachel Perić, Executive Director of Welcoming America, an organization that supports local leaders to advance policies, practices and a culture of belonging for all Americans, including those with immigrant and refugee backgrounds.

As communities work to defend themselves against harmful policies and rhetoric, and to offer a courageous alternative rooted in our shared humanity, Welcoming America’s work and tools offer advocates new approaches to envision, build and sustain support for welcoming as a value and the local policies that can make it real in our own backyards.

Is your community officially recognized as a Welcoming Community? If not, start here.

Learn more

Become a DOJ Accredited Representative

One of our members forwarded this announcement from Interfaith Immigration Coalition:

Want to help address the immigration legal representation crisis? Become a DOJ Accredited Representative through a recognized non-profit this year.

Mennonite Central Committee and World Relief are hosting an in-person Basic Immigration Law Training from September 14-18, 2026, in Akron, Pennsylvania. This is a 40-hour course that provides the necessary training for individuals who wish to apply for accreditation from the U.S. Department of Justice. Find out more about this training and register here. Email immigration@mcc.org with questions. Registration ends August 13.

DOJ recognition and accreditation allow non-attorneys working at non-profit organizations to practice immigration law.

Register for our Next Networking Conversations

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!

Thursday, July 9
Tuesday, August 25* – Advocating for Immigrants and Refugees
Wednesday, September 16

All conversations begin at 8 pm Eastern and will be open for one hour. (* new date)

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

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 maintaining 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: