Refugee families are headed to St. Louis with the help of Welcome Neighbor STL. The local immigrant and refugee nonprofit will resettle 18 refugees sponsored through the International Rescue Committee.
People should begin arriving in St. Louis by mid-December.
Since Welcome Neighbor STL is not a resettlement agency, it typically has to wait 90 days for the resettlement agency to set up social services for the families before it can provide additional support. Now, the nonprofit is speeding up that timeline through the International Rescue Committee’s Remote Placement Community Partner Program.
The nonprofit has always wanted to do more for the refugee community but was limited, said Ann Wittman, program director at Welcome Neighbor STL.
“We're really excited to pick them up from the airport and meet them and help them from Day 1 and beyond and do everything that we've been doing, but we want to do it better because we will have access to the family from Day 1,” she said.
The International Rescue Committee reached out to nonprofits and organizations, including Welcome Neighbor STL, last year to help resettle more families. The agency wanted to partner with groups already assisting refugees but not as an official resettlement agency. The nonprofit applied for this sponsorship through the Missouri Office of Refugee Administration this summer, but the state officials denied the application. State officials said then that St. Louis could not resettle more families because the education and medical systems were overwhelmed and did not have enough resources to support more refugees. The nonprofit reapplied in October, and the application was later approved.
Wittman believes the application was processed once the state realized that area nonprofits and resettlement agencies are all working together to bring more refugees to the area and support them.
St. Louis is home to two resettlement agencies — the International Institute of St. Louis and ICNA Relief. From Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, the two have resettled 1,464 refugees in the area through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. And since Oct. 1, the International Institute of St. Louis has already settled 179 refugees in the city.
“It is so unimaginable to arrive with nothing and to have to start your life completely over in a new place,” Wittman said. “My hope is that they feel immediately a sense of relief that they have finally made it somewhere safe … and we can introduce them to other people from their country and their culture to make them feel the promise of their new life.”
Through the partnership, the agency will teach Welcome Neighbor STL leaders how to temporarily resettle people and guide them through the process. Besides assistance with social services, refugees will receive help with setting up doctor appointments, finding transportation, applying for colleges and universities and locating housing and other resources needed to resettle in a new country.
The goal is to help get more refugees resettled in the country. However, there is a sense of urgency now because of potential cuts to funding and arrivals that the next administration has promised, said Una Bilich, new resettlement pathways deputy director at the International Rescue Committee.
“The families that will be received by Welcome Neighbor STL will be supported, will be connected, will be integrated, and hopefully will be self-sufficient in a short time after arrival,” she said.
