Refugee Assistance Program

The mission of the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) Refugee Assistance Program (RAP) is to create social support networks of volunteer mentors, teachers, and friends for recently resettled refugees in the greater Washington, DC area.  These relationships are integral to providing survivors of oppression, war, and political violence with assistance to build new lives in the United States.  YPFP RAP volunteers engage directly with refugees, exerting a substantial impact on their lives and in the process gaining meaningful professional exposure and experience.  In addition, RAP serves to educate the broader YPFP community about topics related to refugees, human rights, and immigration.

Since October 2007, RAP has welcomed about 100 families from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and more. RAP currently includes approximately 100 participants in the Washington, DC area.

If you are interested in volunteering, please click here to apply!

RAP Partners

Since 2007, the Refugee Assistance Program has partnered with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), one of the world's leading international relief agencies and one of the largest refugee resettlement agencies in the United States. If a refugee family is part of the U.S. Department of State's matching grant program, the IRC receives $54 from the Department for every hour RAP participants volunteer, and the grant goes back to the family. This matching grant is extremely important, as the IRC only receives $450 per person to rent and furnish an apartment and support the family for four months. Over the past 12 months, RAP volunteers have dedicated over 4,000 hours to serving refugee clients, which the IRC values at over $200,000.

In addition, since October 2008, RAP has partnered with The List Project to provide much-needed support to Iraqi families who are imperiled due to their involvement with the United States in Iraq and have sought protection in the Greater Washington, DC area. To find out how to help Iraqi refugees in your area, visit www.netroots.thelistproject.org. If you belong to an organization that assists refugees, asylum seekers and/or asylees in the United States and would like more information about partnering with the YPFP Refugee Assistance Program, please e-mail refugees@ypfp.org.

 In February 2009, RAP formed its third partnership, with Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area. Since the 1970s influx of refugees fleeing the Vietnam war, LSS/NCA has based its refugee resettlement services on a model of community and faith group sponsorship. Through the decades, the Refugee and Immigrant Services (RIS) program has provided a variety of case management and employment services to over ten thousand refugees in the National Capital Area and Baltimore region.

 If you belong to an organization that assists refugees, asylum seekers and/or asylees in the United States and would like more information about partnering with the YPFP Refugee Assistance Program, please e-mail refugees@ypfp.org.

RAP Leadership

In order to focus on its primary task of refugee assistance, RAP purposely maintains a loose leadership structure. All RAP members, including the Director, are expected to volunteer with refugees on a regular basis. In addition, many RAP members work together to plan monthly staff events such as film screenings, guest speakers and social events. 

Arielle Eirienne is the Director of the Refugee Assistance Program and has previously served as Communications Manager and Associate Director for the program. She earned her M.A. in International Affairs from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She welcomes your questions via email at arielle.eirienne@ypfp.org

Caryn Gay is RAP's Associate Director.  She first became interested in working with refugees when she taught English at a UNHCR refugee camp while serving overseas with the Peace Corps in Romania.  She has a BA in English Literature from California State University, Los Angeles, and is currently working with a non-profit that provides direct services to Vietnamese immigrants and refugees.  Caryn can be reached at caryn.gay@ypfp.org.

For more information about the Refugee Assistance Program or to volunteer, please contact refugees@ypfp.org.

Also check out our wiki resource base: http://ypfp-rap-bestpractices.wetpaint.com/.

 Media

Going Strong and Still Growing (The Wire, March 2009)

Human Rights Face-to-Face (The Wire, April 2008)