Community Sponsorship: A Look at Fulton, Missouri
By Marisa Tesoro
Courtesy of the Fulton MO Afghan Resettlement group Facebook. Members of the Afghan Women’s Language Club visit a local florist.
In August 2021, people all over the world watched in horror as the U.S. and their allies withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban seized control, province by province. Many wondered what they could do to support some of the tens of thousands Afghan allies being rapidly evacuated to the US.
One such group looking to lend their support was the Fulton Rotary Club.
Joan Morris, the group’s treasurer, remembers watching the news unfold at a Rotary meeting and wondering, “Is there anything we can do?”
Within a month, they were working with Catholic Charities Refugee Services in Columbia as a community sponsorship group.
Community Sponsorship
Community sponsorship is the process by which community groups handle initial resettlement tasks to welcome and serve newly arriving refugees.
In an effort to more effectively welcome and support record numbers of refugee arrivals, the federal government encouraged local resettlement agencies to develop their own sustainable models and lean on sponsorship groups.
Local resettlement agencies across the country capitalized on the outpouring of community support. They reached out to churches, community groups, businesses, and families to see if they would be interested in walking alongside new refugees and handling resettlement tasks. Those groups then took on the responsibilities of enrolling clients in school, providing cultural orientation, securing affordable housing, and more.
Eventually, Community Sponsorship Hub and the Sponsor Circle Program were launched, allowing groups to report directly to federal partners.
[[Now there are several ways to go about sponsoring refugees, whether through the Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans or the Welcome Corps. Learn more and check out the info at the bottom of this blog or on our Sponsorship Resources page.]]
“How many people can you take?”
The Fulton Rotary jumped headfirst into community sponsorship by welcoming a family of 13 (now 14).
They converted a duplex donated by a fraternity at the local Westminster College into a single-family home and furnished it with donated items from the community.
“So we got that first family of 13 settled, and we thought we were done,” said Joan.
Then they got another call from Catholic Charities: The patriarch's brother was on his way.
Courtesy of the Fulton MO Afghan Resettlement group Facebook. Volunteers learned how to install car seats correctly at the Callaway County Ambulance District.
“And we thought, we can’t not take his brother, right?” remembers Joan. Even though it was Veteran’s Day and almost every place in town was closed, they managed to find a rental property, move in furnishings, and prepare the space before the family’s arrival later that day.
Soon after, they welcomed a cousin of one of the previously resettled families, and Catholic Charities ended up placing two more families in Fulton due to a lack of available, affordable housing in Columbia at the time.
“So we got two more families,” Joan said. “We were up to five.”
Two of those five families have since relocated to Nebraska and California to be closer to family, and Catholic Charities has since placed another family in Fulton. But the rotary club has hit their stride with welcoming newcomers.
“The kids are in school. Everybody's got a doctor. The guys have jobs. Considering where we started a year and a half ago, I think we're doing pretty well,” Joan said.
The Fulton MO Afghan Resettlement group (as they’ve come to be known) has formed their own ad-hoc resettlement agency with a core group of 20-30 members, and many have specific areas of focus.
“One thing we did absolutely right was we thought about what [the refugees’] needs might be and approached people who have a history of doing that sort of thing,” Joan said.
One person handles transportation logistics; another handles medical care; there’s a retired ESL teacher who works with the adults on English; Joan was a realtor, so she’s the housing person.
Beyond their core group, they have a WhatsApp group that has about 40-50 people who are fairly active in fulfilling needs. And they also have a Facebook page with more than 140 people who often respond to donation requests and other needs as they arise.
“I truly don't understand how refugees do it without a community support group,” Joan said. “I just cannot imagine not having a group of people who are willing to do what we do.”
Broad Community Support
Outside those who are more actively tuned in through the Rotary Club, the Fulton community at-large has been ready to offer their support, as well.
In addition to donating the duplex, Westminster College also donated tablets to the families, so all the kids have tablets that they use for school. First Presbyterian Church has allowed the group to use their space for so frequently—for daycare, meetings, and classes—that they just gave Joan a key. And local employers are chomping at the bit to hire these new community members.
Courtesy of the Fulton MO Afghan Resettlement group Facebook. Volunteers played with and looked after children while their parents were in English class.
Joan is regularly approached by employers who ask “Are they ready yet for construction jobs? Truck driving jobs?”
In the meantime, Joan was able to help many of the Afghans find jobs at the “chronically short-staffed" state hospital in the dietary department.
"And they've been encouraged by the state hospital that as their language skills improve, if they want other positions, to apply for them because there are always shortages of good employees there,” Joan said. “They want to work with these folks and keep them, and they do. This month they are making some special provisions for Ramadan. The guys can continue working through Ramadan and have time for their prayers.”
After some initial trepidation about how the community might respond to these new refugee arrivals, Joan has been pleasantly surprised by the community’s warm welcome.
“Not everybody's going to love you,” Joan said, “but I think that there are enough people who know what we're doing and why and have been involved in this themselves that if somebody is spouting any kind of nonsense or hate speech, I think they'd get called out at this point.”
Responding to Lingering Issues
One issue remains: housing. After the initial leases for short-term housing expired, the Fulton MO Afghan Resettlement group scrambled to find new homes for the resettled families.
Landlords were hesitant to renew leases for people who didn’t have credit or job history. Joan even went so far as to invite landlords to meet the families and come to their homes so they could get to know them and feel comfortable renting to them.
To address the issue of building credit, the group has been able to work with a local bank to provide starter credit cards to the families.
“We’ve told them to charge their gas money, and we set up an auto payment plan with the bank so there’s no risk that they are going to forget to pay or underpay,” Joan explained.
But for the family of 14, the group has had to get creative. One of the resettlement group members had previously been active with the local Habitat for Humanity branch. So he made contact with River City Habitat for Humanity in Jefferson City, and after some consideration, the organization agreed to work with the resettlement group to build a house for the family.
With the lot for the house donated, the resettlement group has also created a GoFundMe page to help pay for the project. In addition to building the house, Habitat for Humanity will also offer a budgeting class for the parents, and they will join monthly meetings on topics like home repair, wills, trusts, home insurance and city ordinances, as reported by the Columbia Missourian.
And thanks to funding through the Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations Act (ASA), Sheen Gul Safi, the family’s patriarch and an officer who worked with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, is hoping purchase the tools needed to plant a garden.
“The lot that was donated is really big, so he’s going to put in a garden and help feed his family,” Joan said.
The resettlement group has additional plans for this funding, including assisting with rent payments and buying a lawn mower, tiller, and tools needed to work on cars.
Going on two years of doing this work, the group isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. They’re enjoying it too much.
“We're doing this because it's fun. This isn't a vocation for us. We're getting as much out of it as they are,” Joan said.
She continued:
The reason why people need to do this is it truly builds community. I've lived here for 40 years, and I have met people that I would not have met under other circumstances, and they have become friends. It's not just strengthening the community because good things are happening to Afghans. It's also strengthening the community because the people who live here are helping each other out. When I know that somebody like one of the volunteers is ill, there's all kinds of comments on WhatsApp, you know, ‘What do you need? What can we do?’ So it makes it makes the existing community stronger.
The Next Generation
Although admittedly resettling people “by the seat of their pants,” the resettlement group has managed to navigate issues relatively successfully.
They’ve incorporated how to use calendars into English language classes when they realized that making and keeping appointments was a cultural difference or challenge for new arrivals. They were also able to lean on a longtime community member when it came to one of their biggest challenges: language and translation services.
Sardar Sherzad came to America with the help of friend and Westminster College President Barney Forsythe in 2008. He and Forsythe met in Afghanistan where Sherzad was a doctor and a translator for U.S. officials. Sherzad and his family have now been paying that kindness forward, frequently interpreting for new arrivals and advocating for Muslims in the region.
Sherzad’s daughter Lima is also the president of the Muslim Student Union at MU. She recently participated in the United Nations International Day to Combat Islamophobia and joined other community organizations in condemning discrimination against Muslims.
“You really see it. If these parents can hang on, then their kids have opportunities that they never would have had at home,” Joan said.
She continued:
“One of the dads said early on, [in response to the question] ‘What do you like about this country?’ He said two things: One, ‘I can send my kids to school in the morning, and I know that they're going to come back.’ And the other was, ‘I can go visit my brother across town after dark, and it's safe.’”
Learn More: Welcome Corps
In January, the State Department launched the Welcome Corps. This private sponsorship program allows small groups of Americans to help with refugee resettlement by sponsoring new arrivals, a major change that will allow the U.S. to welcome more refugees. The Welcome Corps offers the opportunity for groups to come together, fundraise, and welcome refugee families from all over the world.
They are continuously developing new materials for those interested, including:
Setting up a group: Assemble a group of at least five people, with one person serving as sponsor group lead. See a sample sponsor group structure.
Creating a budget: As a sponsor, you’ll offer critical support in the first months after arrival. Create a budget to estimate the resources you will need to provide this support. $2,275 per person being sponsored is the minimum requirement. A group may need to fundraise to generate the resources you need to welcome refugee newcomers. Review Sponsor Fundraising Tips and Tools guide to get started.
Make a list of early tasks: Refugee newcomers will need help connecting with relevant services, like health care and education services. Sponsors will also support their integration by assisting them as they improve their English skills and secure employment. Use this guide to prepare to-do’s for every phase of your role as a sponsor.
More sponsor tools and factsheets are available at welcomecorps.org.
Additional Resources
Community Sponsorship Hub has a new website where you can learn how they are advancing community sponsorship and sign up for their newsletter.
The Sponsor Circle Program equips everyday Americans with tools and resources to successfully welcome newcomers. Visit the Community Sponsorship Hub Resource Center for examples, including this checklist for initial sponsor service.
Community Sponsorship of Refugees: Methods and Examples: Watch Welcoming America’s webinar here and learn more as their speakers explore the different community sponsorship models and provide resources for communities wanting to take part in supporting refugee families. This updated tips document outlines three ways you can help create a more welcoming infrastructure for refugees.
Church World Service has developed a community sponsorship manual that provides information on how to prepare community groups as they support refugees’ resettlement and integration. Download it here.
Find these and more on our regularly-updated resource page devoted to all thing's sponsorship.