Innovative Ways Catholic Groups Help Migrants and Refugees

Every Tuesday afternoon in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, a group of refugee women from places like Iraq, Nepal and Afghanistan come together to work on textile projects. This week, some of them are crocheting cozies for mason jars containing wax candles. Others embroider colorful string on card stock, printing “Happy Birthday!” and other greetings on the front. Items will be brought to churches and art fairs and sold online. Profits will provide women with additional income.

But as important as sales is the community they build with each other as they adjust to life in the United States.

“Every time someone walks into the studio, they all say hello, they kiss,” said Neta Levinson, who runs the show. America.

Loom Chicago is one of dozens of Catholic-led organizations that are adept at addressing the various challenges posed by the current global refugee and migration crisis.

Although language can be a barrier, women smile, examine each other’s progress, and offer help and ideas. Some women feel isolated at home, their children at school and their husbands at work. Others, who are older or perhaps now alone, have come to the United States and have not been able to find stable employment, so the craft provides an opportunity to connect with other women. .

Ms Levinson said the small community, known as Chicago Loom, offers a “sanctuary” to women who need hope.

“It’s a community that they get to have a lot of women in a room doing art, and it’s a wonderful feeling,” she said.

Loom Chicago is one of dozens of Catholic-led organizations that are adept at addressing the various challenges posed by the current global refugee and migration crisis. It has been highlighted among others identified in a new report de Fadica (Foundations and donors interested in Catholic activities) and the Boston College Center for Social Innovation.

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 65 million people are now displaced, including more than 22 million classified as refugees. Pope Francis called on secular and Catholic institutions to do more to help those he described as “excluded and marginalized,” and the report identified 64 programs covering 32 countries, more than half affiliated with Catholic sisters. This is not an exhaustive list but a sample of how Catholic organizations are using innovative techniques to deal with the global refugee crisis.

The Boston College Center defines social innovation as “a new response to social problems,” which could include new services, organizations, or products. The report revealed that Catholic initiatives addressing the refugee crisis are marked by their commitment to a range of Catholic social teachings, including respect for life, a commitment to the common good, care of the land and promotion of the dignity of work.

Tiziana C. Dearing, co-director of the Boston College center, said America that other unique attributes of socially innovative Catholic organizations include being part of the church’s vast international network and their willingness to engage in “a radical reallocation of existing resources to serve vulnerable populations.”

She cited as an example a refugee halfway house outside of Pittsburgh.

A local refugee resettlement agency had appealed to charity groups seeking accommodation for refugees arriving from Syria, many of whom had arrived in the Pittsburgh area. The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth responded by offering to convert a house they own from a house for a sister into transitional accommodation for one or two refugee families.

The report called the decision of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth to convert the house “a deeply welcoming action” which “shows a preferential option for the poor and the vulnerable”. In addition to providing housing for families, another group of Catholic sisters offered to provide additional support for families.

Ms Dearing said some might not think that providing temporary accommodation for refugee families is particularly innovative. But, she said, “most people don’t leave their homes and give them to someone else. Sometimes innovation is just about being radical with what you have.

The notion of social innovation is not entirely new.

Ashoka, an organization founded in 1980 to promote social entrepreneurship, works with project leaders in 90 countries. This group defines social entrepreneurs as “individuals offering innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social, cultural and environmental challenges”. These people “apply a sense of empathy to others, identify a specific problem or opportunity and give themselves permission to do something about it, then use a combination of knowledge, resources and determination to tackle it.” .

But the Fadica study sought to highlight projects that encapsulate a Catholic approach to addressing societal challenges, offering a range of examples that put these principles into practice.

For example, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who have the charisma of working with migrants and refugees, carried out vocational training projects for 1,200 women in Bolivia and Chile who were at risk of becoming migrants. “An incredible statistic… all 1,200 women have found jobs. And 60 percent of the women who would potentially migrate decided to stay with their families, ”Fadica CEO Alexia Kelley told Catholic News Service.

The project also created a community with women, who otherwise lead isolated lives, she added. “For me, it’s about tackling the root cause of migration” and preventing it, Ms. Kelley said. The Good Shepherd Sisters sponsored seven projects cited in the study.

Philanthropists and charities seeking to respond to the refugee crisis must be patient, flexible and ready to partner with other nonprofits, the report says. They also need to recognize that it is not always easy to tackle new projects and set aside ‘venture capital’ for ideas that ‘sometimes fail’, and also agree to finance operating costs. and help replicate successful projects.

For Boston College researcher Ms. Dearing, Catholic social education and social innovation are a perfect marriage.

“This whole concept of social innovation is at some level inherently Catholic in itself,” she said. “Catholic values ​​challenge us to welcome the stranger, and I think these organizations have come from a tradition that makes it necessary to do this work.

Documents from the Catholic News Service were used in this report.