The immigrant and refugee community was rocked last week by the news that the International Institute of St. Louis had parted ways with its CEO and president. After a week of silence, Arrey Obenson said he resigned because his vision and the institute's for immigrants and refugees were misaligned.
“You can only achieve so much within the confines of a mission and vision of an organization," he said. “In the last nearly four years, we accomplished so much within a short period of time, to the extent that it was about time for me to move on to do other things in this community that couldn't be done within the confines of the International Institute.”
When Obenson started with the nonprofit organization in February 2021, his focus was to change the narrative around immigrants and refugees, build a coalition of community members and organizations to help change that narrative and put the organization on a pathway to financial sustainability. He said he communicated these goals with the institute during his interview process before he took over the organization.
He planned to accomplish his goals by 2030, but Obenson said as with every organization, there are disagreements in the boardroom. “We may be going down one path and not everybody sees that as the same, and so when faced with that kind of situation, you have to do what is right for yourself, as well as for the organization.
“When I started out at the organization, we were 92% dependent on federal funding, and as I left the organization, we're down to about 69%, which means that I spent so much of my time investing in this community, in building relationships within this community and changing the narrative around the work of the International Institute,” Obenson said.
To Obenson, the decrease in dependency on federal funding proved that the International Institute of St. Louis had outgrown being simply an immigrant and refugee service provider.
“St. Louis cannot only be dependent on refugees that are sent to St Louis by the federal government. That, in itself, is important and significant but does not meet the trajectory of growth that is necessary for us to turn around the declining population of settlers,” Obsenson said. “There is much more than just welcoming and putting refugees in homes.”
The institute was founded in 1919 to help displaced and refugee women from Europe. Over the years it evolved to assist immigrants and refugees from various countries with housing, employment and other social services. It started receiving federal funding about 45 years ago. Obenson said since its beginning, the institute has been focused on building a multicultural society, which can only be done if it is not restricted to servicing.
“You cannot dissociate that from what's happening in the larger community, because if we don't grow as a community in the next 10 years, we may not be able to welcome refugees and immigrants,” he said.
According to recent U.S. Census Bureau data, the region dropped from being the 21st-largest metropolitan area to the 23rd largest in the year ending July 1, 2023. Orlando and Charlotte surpassed St. Louis in population. St. Louis lost about 3,250 residents last year, and St. Louis County lost over 3,730 residents.
Even though there is population loss, immigrants are calling the region home. They make up nearly 5% of the area’s population. But to compete with other thriving metropolitan areas, immigrant leaders say the region must first improve housing, education, health care and other social services to help retain immigrants and attract more.
The region is also getting older, and demographers say it is experiencing a demographic winter, in which there are more deaths than births. To try to offset this decline, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones created the Office of New Americans in 2023 to help streamline resources for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Business leaders and community organizations are also trying to provide resources that lure more Hispanic and Latino residents from heavily populated cities to the St. Louis region.
Creating momentum
Under Obenson's leadership, the institute launched its Latino Outreach Program to attract more Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to the region. The foreign-born community is seeing historic population growth, particularly the Hispanic or Latino population. Census data show that about 13,900 more Hispanics or Latinos are living in the region now than in 2022. The institute plans to bring in more from cities like El Centro, California; Yuma, Arizona, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Over the past three years, Obenson also helped the institute create the Afghan Community Support Program, which is accompanied by an Afghan Chamber of Commerce, and develop the Anna E. Crosslin Center for Multicultural Excellence, a space that connects people with other cultures.
“We have to create momentum around attracting immigrants, not just refugees, to St. Louis, in numbers that will help us close the gap between our birth rates and our death rates and outward migration of particularly young people,” Obenson said. “We have to look beyond just the federal programs because there's no federal program that provides for that.”
He also challenges the region’s private sector to start investing in ways that attract millions of immigrants. He hopes the area will be inclusive enough that immigrants who come to the area can find jobs at prospering companies and afford to purchase a home.
“These things that I'm talking about are things that could be done with the International Institute, but currently, in the context of the confines of the organization, [it] cannot really be accomplished,” Obsenon said.
Rising costs
Many federal resettlement agencies and local immigrant and refugee organizations are bracing themselves for the next presidential administration. Obenson said before he resigned that the institute was preparing a contingency plan because it has experienced several administrations over the years under which federal funding to resettlement agencies was cut and the number of immigrants and refugees admitted to the U.S. was limited.
With the rising cost of expenses and the influx of immigrants, the institute this past summer called on the community to help fill some of the financial gaps. Obenson said in June that the federal funding the institute receives does not cover all the expenses for refugees and immigrants. The institute had a funding gap of about $3,500 to resettle a family of two or three and about $4,300 for a single person.
Its 2022 federal tax return shows the institute had about a $131,000 deficit. This year’s budget was $26 million, which Obenson increased from $8.5 million in 2021. The institute served about 1,200 people that year, which increased to 4,600 this past year. He said the organization had reduced its spending and should be able to balance its budget by the end of the year.
Typically when leaders of major corporations or organizations leave without notice, the community speculates that the sudden departure is about money. Obenson said his salary of $202,540 was not an issue, but there was some question about the recent budget deficit.
“Every time there is a deficit in any organization, there's bound to be conversations and frustrations, but a growing organization like the International Institute, obviously, you can't just judge the organization from one fiscal year, especially with the pace at which we were accomplishing things.
"It's more complex than you can see on the 990 because we have two calendar years that we work with. … Sometimes you receive money in one year and you're spending in the next year, in the year in which you're spending and you're growing, it means that your expenses are tripling,” he said.
Although there was a deficit, Obenson was able to get the $385,000 debt of the institute’s building at 3401 Arsenal St. written off this year by its owners. Also, earlier this month, he obtained 24 homes in the Soulard neighborhood from a private donor — the organization’s largest corporate gift.
Community surprised by decision
Over 130 people signed an online petition to encourage the board to reinstate the former leader. It also demands that the board be transparent about why Obenson was no longer with the organization.
Geoffrey Soyiantet was shocked when he heard about the transition in leadership from Blake Hamilton, the institute’s interim director, on Dec. 7. Hamilton called to reassure Soyiantet, who runs Vitendo4Africa, that the partnership his organization has with the institute will not be affected. Obenson’s resignation caught Soyiantet off guard because he said he had only seen progress from the previous leader.
Without Obenson as the institute’s head, Soyiantet said many immigrant nonprofit leaders who work with the institute fear the organization’s board may choose a new director who does not understand the challenges of the immigrant communities in the region.
“Arrey was able to build trust with the community on the ground, and I think now [the institute] may lose that trust,” Soyiantet said.
The International Institute of St. Louis said in a statement last week that its board members are actively searching for a permanent president and CEO.
"While we will certainly miss his leadership, I want to assure you that the talented and dedicated team at the International Institute remains committed to advancing our mission," Hamilton said in the statement.
The next chapter
Obenson said the institute’s mission is profound and necessary in the community. He is proud of the work the institute has done in the area under his leadership. He calls on the community to continue to support the institute because thousands of people look to the organization in hopes of living the American dream.
As Obenson transitions into his next career, he said he wants to be in a position where he can continue to help address immigrant and refugee housing and change the region's narrative about the new arrivals.
“This is much more than just service provision,” he said. “This is driving behavior. This is working with investors. This is working with the private sector. This is working with all stakeholders to really build a solid partnership around a prosperous future for this community, and I hope that I have a role to play in that.”
