Overview:
Over 40 people gathered to tour the welcome center, hear from FIRM staff, community leaders, and recent refugee arrivals, and witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Armando José arrived from Costa Rica three months ago to start over in Fresno with his wife and children through the support from Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries (FIRM).
“I just want to thank FIRM,” said José in a news conference “We’ve come here before as tourists, we would have never thought we would come here as refugees. It has not been easy since we’ve left. We left everything behind, our belongings, our families.”
José is a refugee who receives support from FIRM’s Family Welcome Center—a new hub dedicated to providing essential services to newly arrived refugees and immigrants in the Central Valley.
During a news conference on Sept. 18, officials said the center will provide resources for refugees, immigrants, asylees, parolees, individuals with temporary protection status, and other eligible populations in Fresno.
This includes initial assessment of needs and status, cultural orientations, job skills training, help with grade school enrollment, assistance with public benefits applications including social security and Medi-Cal, career development, and healthcare access, all aimed at helping families establish their lives in Fresno.
Linda Renland, a program manager for FIRM’s refugee success program, told Fresnoland in an interview that FIRM started to set up the welcome center in July and planned to launch it during Welcoming America’s Welcoming Week, an annual national campaign that celebrates the work in communities to become welcoming places for all.
Renland said the center receives some funds through FIRM’s local affiliation with the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC). The center will administer programs funded by both federal and state governments.
Christine Barker, FIRM’s executive director, started off by welcoming community members to the celebration of the center and welcoming week, a time where “the entire country takes this week every year to stop and remind ourselves how much better our lives are when we welcome others.”
Barker introduced Dalya Hussein, FIRM’s cultural orientation coordinator and senior case manager, to discuss the refugee experience and the process they undergo before arriving in the U.S.
Hussein points to The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’s definition of refugees “as a people who have left their countries to escape conflict, violence or persecution and have sought safety in another country.”
Hussein explained that refugees endure a lengthy process before resettlement. After arriving at borders, they are placed in camps and undergo monthly reviews and document collection. Once approved, they are resettled, with agencies like the International Organization for Migration assisting in further interviews, security checks, medical exams, cultural orientation, and flight arrangements. Even after reaching their destination, challenges continue, including finding housing, applying for social security, work permits, health insurance, and navigating language barriers.
“We know that FIRM is helping, but just imagine a refugee that has to go through all these stages within three months of arrival,” said Hussein. “I wonder if we consider what it means to be forced to leave your house, family, country, memories, and all what you worked hard to achieve, just to stay alive. We at FIRM feel happy when we receive a new case, but behind the scenes, there are sad stories that need support of all kinds, including all aspects of mental and financial relief.”
Salim Syoufi, FIRM’s resettlement and placement program manager, shared the history of FIRM, which began in 1994 to support Southeast Asian refugees by offering essential resources, now centralized in the new welcoming center.
José shared how FIRM has helped with housing, provided support when his mother passed away in May and he couldn’t be there, and how FIRM’s assistance has allowed him and others to move forward with their lives.
Barker said she “feels like the luckiest person in the world, because I get to meet amazing people like José.”
“National rhetoric around refugees and immigrants is consistently repeating untrue, harmful and dangerous things about welcoming,” said Barker. “We are here today because we choose to welcome and know in our hearts all the beautiful and good things that welcoming has brought us as a community. It is more important now than ever that we continue to demonstrate the welcome that makes Fresno, Fresno. We don’t get a lot sometimes, but what we have is community. We have one another, we have smiles, we have relationships.”
Barker said FIRM is looking for volunteers to assist with airport pick-up of families, donation sorting, grocery shopping and delivery, and other areas to support refugees. Barker said FIRM is especially interested in K-12 after school tutors who can serve as mentors for young people to encourage them in their dream careers.
The center is looking for donations of mattresses, large furniture, clothes, baby wipes, kitchen supplies and all other apartment supplies to help families.
Barker said FIRM will celebrate its 30th anniversary with an event titled “Home is Possible Here” on Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the San Joaquin River Parkway. General admission tickets for the event are available on Eventbrite.
Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza, congratulated FIRM and its staff on reaching another milestone with the opening of the welcome center which “reiterates FIRM’s unequivocal commitment to Fresno” to serve around 10,000 people every year.
“Their tireless efforts continually reap great rewards for our communities, pushing our city in a very positive direction by helping many individuals and families acclimate and adjust,” said Esparza. “’Family Welcomes’ is truly a fitting name.”
The celebration closed out with Persian poetry from Abdul Wajid Yaqubi to celebrate National Persian literature day in Afghanistan, which Barker said is “not necessarily celebrated under the current regime.”
“There is no other wall that is alive in the hands of my land,” recites Wajid Yaqubi. “The sound is drowning on my senses. Your tears are not water, it’s history.”
Disclosure: Christine Barker, FIRM’s executive director, also serves on Fresnoland’s Board of Directors.
