150 Afghan refugees coming to Rhode Island in first wave of resettlements

Photo: Welcome.US

Headed by 3 past-presidents and their spouses, Welcome.US has been formed to help manage the resettling of over 37,000 Afghan refugees – to date – into America. An estimated 70,000 may need to be resettled in coming months. The organization was formed this week and is a Coalition of over 250 NGOs, business and leaders of diverse faiths, politics and backgrounds. President/Mrs. Obama, President/Mrs. Bush, and President/Sect. Clinton serve as honorary co-chairs.

Welcome.US, a non-profit, non-partisan initiative of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), whose goal is to galvanize additional private sector support and resources for arriving Afghans and harness the goodwill of the American people, building on our country’s cherished tradition of private philanthropy contributing to the public good.

The State Department will coordinate with the group for Afghan refugee placement. Over the past several weeks, according to the State Department, there has been “an enormous outpouring of commitments from the private sector and other non-governmental actors to support the arrival of Afghans in the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome.”  

The initiative will “catalyze support from Americans from all walks of life to support newly arriving Afghans, engaging a range of private sector actors including companies, non-profit organizations, resettlement agencies, Afghan-American organizations and leaders, faith-based communities, refugees, community sponsorship groups, veterans, universities, governors and mayors, and many others”.

Operation Allies Welcome, will be run by Jack Markell, with interagency partners, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, and the State Department.

In New England, Massachusetts will take the most refugees, with 900 – followed by Connecticut with 310. Rhode Island is next with 150. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are each set to take 100. These are estimates and reflect first flow of refugees.

California will take the most with 5,255 and Texas, the next most, with 4,481.

The District of Columbia, Hawaii, South Dakota and Wyoming have no refugees scheduled there.

Massachusetts is expecting their resettlers within days and the local United Way in Worcester is raising funds in their community to support local efforts, having already raised over 1/2 million dollars. Massachusetts has designated other funds and block grant money towards the effort, as well as dedicated staff to help with housing, appointments, etc.

To see each state, click on the link below the map for an interactive map of states:

Welcome.US is now recruiting host families, contributions towards housing, AirBNB owners who will give their housing over, and general contributions. The group wants people to join the national effort to welcome and support Afghan families as they build new lives in communities across America.

For more information and details as this initiative expands, go to: https://welcome.us/