Note: We are closely monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and will resume in-person services when determined to be safe by local health authorities.
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.
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 65,000 meals to the refugee community while saving 78,000 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
Clothing & Essentials Provision
Through our operation of an innovative, and highly elevated, resource center at Sullivan High School, the Chicago Refugee Coalition collects, manages, and distributes new and gently used clothing items and essential personal care products. We are proud to be a national partner of Bombas, a social enterprise clothing company, for the donation and distribution of over 5,000 new pairs of socks annually. We also operate an annual coat drive campaign, The Bundle Barrel, to bring in new and gently used coats to Chicagoland refugee students.
Legal referrals
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 dedicated referral network, our goal is to ensure that cases are provided the quality and equitable counsel they deserve.
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.