IRSP - Iowa Refugee Support Project

IRSP and Kelly Patton were recently featured in an article published in Eastern Iowa Life and the Central College news page.  You can read it here.

IRSP builds community between Iowans and refugees through cultural interaction and volunteer-led education and support programs.  Through our goal of hospitality, refugees and Iowans create friendships and deepen cultural understanding. We believe the relationships built through our program improve the refugees’ chances of success in their new lives.

What Iowa Refugee Support Project volunteers do is very simple—they make visits to the home of an Iraqi family and engage in conversation, so that over time the family may gain the skills and confidence to speak English and successfully navigate American culture. Each volunteer works out a time with the family, usually volunteering 2-3 hours a week. Typically a genuine friendship is born out of the process, and our community grows stronger for it.