This is a podcast interview with Rev. Craig B. Mousin, founder and former Director of the Midwest Immigrant Rights Center and an Adjunct Faculty member at DePaul University’s College of Law and The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy. President Biden announced that he would restore the United States partnership in refugee resettlement by inviting up to 125,000 refugees to our nation in the next fiscal year while also exploring increases in the number of refugees previously designated in this fiscal year. This podcast describes the leadership Illinois demonstrated over the four decades since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980. It encourages us to rebuild our local community support for refugee resettlement by strengthening the public-private collaboration that has benefitted our communities. You can find information on the Illinois resettlement agencies and the work they do at: https://rcusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019IllinoisRCUSA.pdf

Chicago programs include:

The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago Refugee Resettlement Program: https://www.catholiccharities.net/GetHelp/OurServices/RefugeeResettlementServices.aspx

Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago: https://www.ecachicago.org/project/give-clean-water/

RefugeeOne: http://www.refugeeone.org/

World Relief Chicagoland Refugee Resettlement: https://chicagoland.worldrelief.org/

Heartland Human Care Services: https://www.heartlandalliance.org/program/rics

HIAS recently invited individuals to urge the new administration to sign a Presidential Determination for resettling refugees and begin the work of rebuilding these programs. You can sign the letter by following this link: https://us.e-activist.com/page/email/click/10027/783130?email=ctK6n2%2BsCqhOiO4f8OZ0W8LMtSVFLyox&campid=JsUx9s5d%2B2Q=.