Ithaca Welcomes Refugees Inc

RESPONSE PROJECTS - Response Projects are teams of 1-4 IWR volunteers assigned to each family or individual with whom IWR works. Each Response Team works with new arrivals towards self-expressed resettlement goals for a period ranging most commonly from 6 months to 2 years and represents the bulk of IWRs work. In 2024, Response Team volunteers supported 95 people. While volunteers are unpaid, through this program IWR provides newcomers with welcome cash assistance when they first arrive 9,000 in 2024, housing aid 29,524.21 in 2024, and miscellaneous financial support, most commonly used for driving lessons 7,144.20 in 2024.

IWR established a crisis fund in 2023 to respond to the loss of a father of a family of 6 who had arrived in the US mere weeks earlier. The father was meant to be the familys sole income earner. All four children were still in grade school in 2024. We continued to use the fund to cover some of the familys basic living expenses utilities, medical expenses, costs of paying for a pro bono lawyers fees related to court documents in the suit against the driver involved in the fathers accident in 2024 and the fund is available to help others in our service population during times of crisis.