WES Advisor Blog

Essential resources for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers

by Alfredo Mejia,

WES Education Services

April 20, 2020

We Speak, We LEAD is a free online learning program from New Women New Yorkers for immigrant women, focusing on workforce development and professional English skills aquisition through interactive workshops and personalized support

As demand for contact tracers increases throughout the U.S., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers a free online course to train individuals on the fundamentals of contact tracing

The Emergency Fund for Story County is a collaborative fund created for immigrant residents who require assistance with rent, utilities, and other basic needs

Immigrant Connections provides resources for English Learner (EL) and immigrant parents to support them as they help their children complete school assignments and online learning. The resources include videos, clips, articles, toolkits

Switchboard has released multiple blog posts on topics related to the COVID-19 crisis, including making remote work successful, helping refugee clients navigate economic hardship; using virtual job readiness resources; helping clients cope; and getting started with video remote interpretation

Upwardly Global has a list of national and state-level programs to connect and support immigrant and refugee professionals with government, nonprofit, and other services that can supplement family income, nutrition, healthcare, and other needs 

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is seeking responses from immigrants and refugees who have an international degree or certification in the healthcare field and are now interested in assisting in the COVID-19 emergency response  

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has print resources free for download to support COVID-19 recommendations in 21 languages 

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement “COVID-19 Resources” includes a link to Multilingual Resources from Switchboard 

The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division’s COVID-19 and the American Workplace resource page has employee rights fact sheets in 10 languages 

The COVID-19 Health Literacy Project created in collaboration with Harvard Health Publishing provides fact sheets in 30+ languages 

Local non-profits such as the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) are compiling web-based resource toolkits with a range of information for constituents. Check to see if there is an NPNA member organization in your area with similar resources 

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides an introductory video course, available in multiple languages, with an overview of emerging respiratory viruses, including novel coronaviruses, and strategies to communicate risk and engage communities to detect, prevent and respond to the emergence of a novel respiratory virus 

Whitetulip Health Foundation (WHF) is asking internationally trained healthcare professionals who are not yet licensed in the U.S. to fill out a questionnaire if they would like to assist in the COVID-19 emergency response. Their Emergency Financial Assistance Program for Internationally Trained Healthcare Professionals during COVID-19 Outbreak is accepting applications until April 30, 2020. It is not necessary to be a member of the foundation to apply for the funding: rather, applicants need to elect to be mentees on their application 

Betancourt Macias Family Scholarship Foundation offers COVID-19 emergency funding for undocumented and mixed-status families 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, searchable by state

One Fair Wage offers temporary cash gifts for service workers as funding becomes available 

Refugee and Immigrant Fund (RIF) has emergency cash assistance grants for asylum seekers. Due to the number of responses, new applications are currently not being accepted. Check back for updates 

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