Refugees in Worcester

Local Community Partners

Refugee Resettlement Agencies:

• Ascentria Care Alliance

• Catholic Charities

• Refugee & Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC)

Additional Agencies and Organizations:

• African Community Education (ACE)

• LGBT Asylum Support Task Force (Hadwen Park Congregational Church)

• Refugee Artisans of Worcester (RAW)

• The Southeast Asian Coalition (SEAC)

• Worcester Alliance for Refugee Ministry (WARM)

• Worcester Interfaith

• Worcester Refugee Assistance Project (WRAP)

Background Reading on Refugees in Worcester:

"Understanding Refugees in Worcester" (Clark University, 2015)

"Worcester is state's top destination for refugees" (Telegram & Gazette, 2015)

"With more than 2,000 refugees from 24 countries settling in Worcester during five years surveyed, Worcester is the state's leading destination for people escaping persecution in their homelands."

"Worcester refugee services could become national model" (Telegram & Gazette, 2016)

"Ascentria is the lead organization to pilot the Partnership for Refugee Wellness, a client-centered, collaborative model of care for refugees resettling in Worcester. Funded with a $456,695 grant from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, the program will use a new intake process that will allow participating organizations - health care, education, legal and other community nonprofit, governmental and private groups - to share information and coordinate care and support for participating refugees who come to Worcester."

"Coming to America: Syrian refugees in Worcester" (Worcester Mag, 2016)

"Unless you work for Walt Disney, life rarely ends “happily ever after.” Like the “American Dream” it is a happy ideal, but not always achievable. For many Syrian refugees, this is the dream they come to America searching for. They have been searching for that elusive happy ending since war broke out in their homeland five years ago, in 2011."

"Syrian refugees flee ISIS, make new home in Worcester" (Telegram & Gazette, 2016)

"While Noor Kawmi, Maritta Kawmi and Ms. Hanna are thrilled to live in the United States and practice their religious beliefs without fear of persecution, they feel the United States is not doing enough to help Syrian refugees. The three women said one thing hurting their cause is the misconception that all people from Syria must be terrorists."

"Worcester Branch of Mandaen Faith Works to Plant Roots" (Telegram & Gazette, 2016)

"The Salmans are among 800 Mandaeans directly resettled to Worcester since 2007 in what has become the largest concentration of Iraqi Mandaeans in the United States. Leaders here believe the population, with births and interstate relocations, has swelled to more than 2,000."