The United States announced the creation of a new program called “Welcome Corps” That will allow U.S. citizens to sponsor refugees and help them adjust to life in the country, the State Department said in a statement.
The agency’s goal is to recruit 10,000 Americans in the program’s first year to help 5,000 refugees.
“By capitalizing on the goodwill of American communities, the Welcome Corps will expand our country’s ability to warmly welcome greater numbers of refugees,” the statement said.
“Over the past year, the American people have extended an extraordinarily welcoming hand to our Afghan allies, war-displaced Ukrainians, Venezuelans and others fleeing violence and oppression,” the press release said.
The Welcome Corps, which the Biden administration has described as “the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades,” will seek to get five or more Americans to form a group and help refugees from around the world , as soon as you arrive in the country for the first time and you are faced with a completely different lifestyle.
“Private sponsors will be responsible for independently raising funds and directly providing critical assistance to refugees during their first 90 days in their new community. This assistance includes helping refugees find housing and jobs, enrolling children in school and connecting refugees to basic community services.
The program will be developed in two phases. In the first case, private sponsors participating in the program are matched with refugees whose cases have already been approved by the United States Refugee Assistance Program. In the second phase, private sponsors can identify refugees abroad they wish to assist and refer them to the United States Program for Refugee Assistance and, once approved, assist them upon their arrival in the United States.