September 21, 2005

NEW YORK – Global humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) announced details today of a national program to help relocate people still displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The program, says Erol Kekic, Acting Director of the CWS Immigration and Refugee program, "is intended to assist uprooted people recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency in communities where they have found their way or been relocated."

Church World Service – the only agency responding to Katrina that has both an in-house domestic emergency response unit and a refugee resettlement program – is applying its professional refugee case management experience to help meet the particular needs of Americans displaced by the hurricane.

Services are being provided in nine states through CWS's established network of local agencies normally serving refugees resettled from around the world. Giving priority to people most in need, the program is helping Katrina evacuees connect to resources offered by such agencies as FEMA, HUD and the Red Cross on the local level; find affordable housing, jobs and health care; get their children enrolled in school; and get oriented to and integrated into their new communities – whether their stay ultimately is short or long.

"The people we serve are not and will not be left to fend for themselves as they navigate their new surroundings," said Erol Kekic, Acting Director of the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program. "We are committed to serving people professionally and in a uniform, not ad hoc, way." The new CWS program also includes training for volunteer faith groups in how to best help those who are relocating, who may have lost everything, and may be suffering trauma.

Each year, the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS/IRP) helps about 5,000 refugees from other countries – people fleeing persecution and who often have lost everything – rebuild their lives in the United States. Since 1946, CWS has helped more than 450,000 refugees resettle in the United States.

This work is a "public-private partnership." One of nine voluntary agencies through which the U.S. State Department resettles refugees, Church World Service, in collaboration with eight participating denominations and their congregations, and 42 local refugee resettlement agencies in 25 states, works hand-in-hand with national, state, and local governments and community organizations.

"It's not a big leap for us to be able to adjust those resources to fit the needs of American citizens who have also lost everything and are starting over in new places," Kekic said. "We'll help these newcomers connect into the rich fabric of social contacts, engaging local church and other partners in facilitating their integration through the gift of attention, friendship and time.

"The U.S. government has asked CWS and other resettlement agencies to consider using its expertise to help Katrina evacuees," Kekic noted. "Similarly, local and state authorities and consortia are turning to our refugee resettlement affiliates. Our network feels privileged to be able to lend a hand in responding to Katrina survivors' needs and give something back."

CWS/IRP is supporting relocation services being provided through its field office in Miami and through the following eight of its local affiliates:

GEORGIA: Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (serving Athens, Atlanta, Dalton, Macon, and Savannah)

ILLINOIS: Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries (serving Chicago and Champaign/Urbana)

KENTUCKY: Kentucky Refugee Ministries (serving Danville, Lexington, and Louisville)

MICHIGAN: Programs Assisting Refugee Acculturation/Bethany Christian Services (serving Grand Rapids, Holland, Kalamazoo, & Traverse City)

NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA: Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas (serving Asheboro, Burlington, Charlotte, Greensboro, High Point, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem, N.C., and Columbia, Irmo, Spartanburg, and West Columbia, S.C.)

TENNESSEE: Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services (serving Bristol, Greeneville, Johnson City, Kingsport, and Knoxville)

TEXAS: Refugee Services of Texas (serving Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, and Fort Worth)

VIRGINIA: Virginia Council of Churches (serving Harrisonburg, Newport News, and Richmond)

CWS's relocation assistance to evacuees is being funded by the humanitarian agency's supporting member denominations and by contributions to the agency's $9.5 million public appeal for funds for Katrina survivors. The relocation program is being conducted in close working relationship with FEMA and the Red Cross.

The CWS relocation program "is strictly voluntary on the part of the beneficiaries," Kekic said. Katrina evacuees will be free to "opt into or out of" the program. Potential participants will get full information about the program, and individual needs will be assessed. Clients' confidentiality will be respected.

CWS is particularly concerned to help reunite families separated during the evacuation, said CWS/IRP Associate Director Jennifer Hendrick.

Church World Service is also supporting trauma care through its Interfaith Trauma Response Trainings (ITRT) for Katrina caregivers and direct trauma care through its Spiritual and Emotional Care Response (SECR) cadre of volunteer professional counselors.

To date, Church World Service has shipped more than $900,000 in donated material assistance to affected areas, including 14,670 CWS Blankets; 47,190 "Gift of the Heart" Health Kits; 704 CWS "Gift of the Heart" Children's Kits; and 3,360 "Gift of the Heart" School Kits. CWS also partnered with UNICEF, distributing school and recreation materials in Meridian, Mississippi.

Church World Service