Newly resettled refugees are facing difficulties in understanding the system in their new country. Often the transition is difficult, and they face many issues navigating the new systems in their communities hindering effective resettlement. ARISE wants to make this transition smooth by injecting consistent support to empower them and assist in understanding their resettlement process. ARISE is launching a new program “Refugee Advocate” that aims to engage compassionate college minds as Refugee Advocates to facilitate and smooth the transition process for refugee families. ARISE believes in carrying out this crucial task by developing a meaningful relationship between a refugee family and a refugee advocate. To achieve that, one Refugee Advocate will be assigned to one family who will act as a consistent point of contact for the family to support them during the transition period.
Expectations from a Refugee Advocate:
- Committed to serving a refugee family for at least six months (one semester)
- Able to sit on an 8-hour long training delivered by ARISE to formalize a Refugee Advocate status
- Able to respect the decisions made by the family
- Adhere to the Memorandum of Understanding signed with ARISE while advocating for the family
- Able to conduct an initial need assessment of a refugee family within the first few visits with the family and continuously assess the progress made throughout the advocacy period.
- Able to respect the cultural, linguistic, religious, and other differences of a refugee family assigned
- Able to see the refugee family from an empathetic lens
- Able to explore available resources and connect the family with providers
- Able to identify gaps in services and collaboratively work with resettlement agencies to fulfill those gaps.
- Will submit a biweekly report (on a template provided by ARISE) to a designated staff at ARISE and the University/College (as required) on the progress and challenges faced during the advocacy.
- Will have a virtual meet with a designated staff at ARISE at least once a month.
- During emergency, Refugee Advocate should contact a designated staff at ARISE
- All credits on the volunteer program will be provided directly to the University/College
Positions will be open for summer session of volunteer advocates. If you are interested, please register for classes right here clicking the Register button above or email mbaral@ariseus.org for further information.
Advocacy for Refugee and Immigrant Services for Empowerment (ARISE) Inc.
10 Gordon Road
Shrewsbury, MA 01545
ARISE Inc 