Our comprehensive Approach
We believe in making the community the primary stakeholder in creating refugee success stories. Our organization has researched and developed a multi-pronged approach to ensure that the needs of refugees are met to the best of our capability. While refugees will always have a home with the Chicago Refugee Coalition, we believe in working collaboratively with community organizations, local businesses, and government stakeholders to foster independence, creativity, and opportunity in an efficient and effective fashion.
Legal
Bridging the gap to equitable access to legal counsel is paramount to social security, economic opportunity, and domestic mobility. We believe in providing these services and aim to break down the barriers of inequity. Through our partnerships with John Marshall School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, and Loyola University Chicago School of Law, we have the capacity to refer cases and work to ensure quality legal counsel is rendered at no cost.
Food Security
At present, nearly one-in-eight of all Americans are at risk of being food insecure. For newly resettled refugees, that risk is nearly double. Yet, in the United States today, nearly 200 billion pounds of food is thrown away annually. We firmly believe in promoting food security in Chicagoland for the refugee community while working to also address system food waste and develop smarter systems of consumption. Through our partnership with Imperfect Produce, we have been able to develop a mobile food banking effort which, since August 2018, has provided over 15,000 meals to the refugee community while saving 18,000 pounds of produce from ending up in landfills. For more information, and to see if you qualify for this program, please contact us at info@chicagorefugee.org
Mental wellness
War, trauma, famine, and violence are scaring experiences. The Chicago Refugee Coalition understands many refugees come to the United States with limited resources at their disposal. Despite this, mental health needs are still a pressing matter and require immediate care and attention. We are pleased to have a dedicated mental health fund to assist refugees and community members in receiving high quality mental health assistance free of charge.
Financial Literacy
Taxes, cash, credit, balancing a checkbook, IRAs, loans, mortgages, investments and much more. Understanding and navigating the financial avenues of the United States is far different than conflict zones and refugee camps. We believe in equipping refugees, and community members, with high quality instruction to judicially manage their financial resources to achieve their goals.
housing assistance
Ensuring safe, clean, and equitable access to affordable housing is the cornerstone of successful resettlement. In order to meet this aim, the Chicago Refugee Coalition has created a rental assistance fund, and partnered with local landlords, in order to assist newly resettled refugees in accessing modest, clean, safe, and affordable housing in the Chicagoland area.