An in-depth look at Hope Communities
Hope. Home. Opportunity.
These are not just words for the thousands of refugees, asylees, immigrants and humanitarian parolees who have entered the US and Colorado in the last several years. Many have escaped unimaginable atrocities in their home countries, and even though they are sad to leave the place they grew up in, the loved ones who cannot travel, their customs and belongings, they know they need to leave – in order to survive.
What the Resource Journey Looks Like
Hope Communities has long been a resource for newcomers to Colorado. The very nature of our work – drenched in the values of respect, empowerment, inclusiveness, equity, integrity and collaboration – offers a foundation for a welcoming, customized approach to help each individual be successful in attaining their goals. Hope has had specialized programming for community integration for newcomers for many years, fueled with support from foundations, individuals and the Colorado Refugee Services Program (a state office that only provides funding for immigrants in the country less than five years, and who have legal documentation) and most recently by Impact100 Metro Denver. We have worked with over 2,800 individuals with these classifications in the last year. In 2023, Hope began seeing a new kind of client. Migrants, from Venezuela, Mauritania, Haiti, Cuba, Sudan and other countries, began showing up at our program offices and food distribution programs. We began seeing Afghans without documentation who had long been on a list to become an asylee because of the support they offered the US, and had to leave their homeland as the Taliban hunted them down for those efforts. Some of them simply didn’t believe they could hold out any longer, and fearing death, made the trek to the US another way. Many of these newcomers to Colorado’s front range flocked to Hope – because of the programs we offered, the welcoming environment we offered, and also the fact that we have staff who speak 20 languages – that align with the new migrant groups. We have been working with hundreds of clients from around the world, desperate for assistance.
The Realities
Readers may not understand that state and federal agencies do not provide funding for migrant care, and these families are not eligible for any public subsidies. Undocumented individuals are not allowed to legally work, which makes securing housing and supporting a family independently almost impossible. Regardless of your opinion about migrants being in our area without documentation, we cannot allow them to be left on the street – particularly the children! Work with migrants is highly regulated. At this point, we are allowed to provide food, basic needs, navigation and appointments with immigration attorneys. If we can locate housing that will accept undocumented families, and secure the funding to pay for rent, we do that.
Impact100 Metro Denver’s Transformational Grant
This grant in June of 2024 to Hope Communities has opened up new possibilities for Afghan refugee families in the Northglenn and Thornton communities. Many families have settled in this area because of the proximity to the Masjid Ikhlas – Metropolitan Denver North Islamic Center. Most of these families rely on public transportation and the journey to Hope’s existing offices would take up most of a day. Over recent years, Hope Communities has hired two Afghan refugees, Lailey Hashem and Ramesh Darwishi to provide resource navigation for Afghan families north of Denver. Last year they worked with over 500 families while not actually having an office to work from. The generous support from Impact100 Metro Denver will enable us to renovate an RV or other vehicle, creating a mobile office. Currently we are researching similar projects that have been completed by other organizations around the country to make sure to best steward the funds from Impact. If any Impact100 members know of sources for affordable used RVS, or have experience with similar vehicles, we would love to talk with you.
Volunteer Opportunities
One of our ongoing volunteer opportunities involves supporting our bi-weekly food distribution in the East Colfax neighborhood. Twice a month, we have a pop-up farmers market and resource fair that provides free food to community members, and brings together resources from dozens of community organizations. Upcoming food distributions are scheduled for November 13 and 27 and happen 9:30 – 11:30am. If you are interested in helping, please contact Ameris ameris@hopecommunities.org. Please let us know if you would like to learn more about our approach, strategies and impact.
Languages
FYI: Languages spoken by Hope Communities staff: Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Dari, English, Farsi, French, Fulani, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Kachin, Karen, Malay, Masalit, Pashto, Persian, Pulaar, Rohingya, Spanish, Swahili, Urdu, Walou
