Volunteer with Refugees in Albany! - Ongoing Opportunities

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants has been helping people flee war and persecution since 1911. USCRI addresses the needs and rights of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide by advancing fair and humane public policy, facilitating and providing direct professional services, and promoting the full participation of migrants in community life.Through its network of resettlement field offices and partner organizations, USCRI provides refugees and immigrants across the United States with the support, services and opportunities they need to rebuild their lives and enrich their communities. Since 2005, staff and volunteers from USCRI's Albany Field Office have welcomed refugees from all over the world to the Capital Region.

Volunteers help refugees form a positive first impression of the United States, and support them in making a smooth transition into their new home. Your help – whether 10 hours a week or 10 hours a year – will make a real difference in refugees' lives, and provide you with an extremely rewarding experience.

There are many ways to stand with a refugee. How you get involved depends on your skills and interests, and the time you have available. We are looking for Volunteers to:

• Refugee Mentor: Mentor a refugee family, helping them to navigate their new home, improve their English, and build self-sufficiency skills (2 hrs/week for 6 months)
• Patient Navigator Volunteer: Provide transporation & advocacy for essential health apppointments. Addtional training session requited (6 hours/month; business hours)
• Workshop Leader: facilitate weekly job preparedness classes, or help with a 6-week series of Community Orientation seminars for new arrivals (2 hours weekly or monthly; business hours)
• Front Desk Volunteer: Engage with clients and staff in the USCRI office (3 hours/week, business hours)
• Housing Volunteer: Help set up apartments for new arrivals, sort donations in our warehouse, and/or collect donations of furniture and household goods (variable time commitment, business hours)
• Translator: Provide translation or interpretation services. Primary languages needed include Burmese, Karen, Karenni, Chin, Arabic, Nepali, French. We rarely serve Spanish-speaking immigrants. (on-call, generally business hours)
• Community Engagement: Help to plan outreach and fundraising events, help coordinate volunteers and special programs (variable time commitment)
• English Teacher: Volunteers with prior teaching experience are welcome to help teach a weekly ESOL class to refugees. (2 hours/week for 6 months, class times vary)

To get started, we ask that you attend a Volunteer Orientation meeting, where we'll give you a thorough introduction to USCRI's work, the needs of our refugee and immigrant clients, and the ways volunteers can contribute. During the summer months we schedule these orientations in small groups or on an individual basis in order to accommodate everyone's vacation schedules. If you are interested in scheduling an orientation contact Jen Barkan, Resource Manager, at info@uscri-albany.org, with your availability.

Individual orientations can sometimes be arranged if you cannot make the scheduled evening time. Please contact us for details.