Right now, the Iowa legislature is considering state funding for RefugeeRISE AmeriCorps, a program that provides job training and education for refugees and helps them thrive in their new communities. We need your help to tell our legislators to protect RefugeeRISE AmeriCorps and keep state funding intact.
Refugees from all over the world have brought growth to business, communities and churches throughout the state. At a time when companies are competing to find qualified employees to create new products and serve new customers, the diversity of our community is a key opportunity. With the affordable federal-state partnership that RefugeeRISE AmeriCorps provides, refugees who have been in Iowa ten or fewer years are given access to tools to overcome barriers, ranging from language and culture to gaining work skills. With this core training, refugees have steadily gained employment, obtained further education, bought homes, and become vital to our economy as contributing citizens and taxpayers.
Ask Iowa Senators and Representatives to Protect Funding for RefugeeRISE
Here’s the message you can send: “RefugeeRISE is a critical program that provides refugees with job training and education. It also brings in federal dollars to the state – so we’re getting a nearly $1 million program for the price in local dollars of $300,000. RefugeeRISE has 40 members in 10 host site organizations in 7 Iowa cities, including more rural communities like Storm Lake and Columbus Junction, and provides workforce development training to 400 of Iowa’s refugees and more than 500 direct services in one year. Budget cuts will impact the number of communities we can impact and how many refugee community members we can serve. Refugees contribute to Iowa’s communities, and I ask you to live up to our values of welcome, hospitality, and compassion by protecting and maintaining funding for RefugeeRISE.”
- Senator Jeff Edler – jeff.edler@legis.iowa.gov
- Senator Joe Bolkcom – joe.bolkcom@legis.iowa.gov
- Senator Amanda Ragan – amanda.ragan@legis.iowa.gov
- Senator Mark Segebart – mark.segebart@legis.iowa.gov
- Senator Mark Costello – mark.costello@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative Beth Wessel-Kroeschell – beth.wessel-kroeschell@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative Shannon Lundgren – Shannon.Lundgren@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative Joel Fry – joel.fry@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative John Forbes – john.forbes@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative Wes Breckenridge – Wes.Breckenridge@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative Michael Bergan – Michael.Bergan@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative Lisa Heddens – lisa.heddens@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative Rob Taylor – rob.taylor@legis.iowa.gov
- Representative David E. Heaton – dave.heaton@legis.iowa.gov