Monthly Updates
What a wonderful night at the Homes Not Borders Night of Thanks! It was so great to see all who came out - looking sharp and all cleaned up! We missed those of you who could not make it. It was fun to hang out and share a meal, drinks, and laughs with many of our wonderful donors, volunteers, and supporters. For the first time, we also honored volunteers who gave 100 hours or more to HNB. The people standing in the photo above are those who attended the event and reached this milestone over the past four years. In total, 57 volunteers achieved it. While volunteering for 100 hours is impressive in and of itself, when you put it together, these 57 people did the work of one full-time employee for nearly three years!! Amazing! We truly cannot do the work we do helping refugees and forced migrants without our dedicated volunteers.
And as our volunteer survey shows, 43% of those who are currently volunteering with HNB have been doing so for more than two years (a fun fact you would have learned from our Kahoot quiz last week.) So you all are indeed... [Read More]
I was talking with one of our larger grant funders last week and began by saying how horrible this administration has been to those we serve, allowing no refugees or asylum seekers to come to the U.S. while also menacing the ones who are here. The conversation then shifted to the successes and plans for our food, storytelling, and artisan programs, and how we have changed course with set-ups and our mentoring program. I sounded hopeful.
The funder seemed surprised by the contrast, so I explained, "Yes, it is all horrible for refugees and forced migrants, but at least it is predictably bad so we can plan accordingly."
This is where we find ourselves now: in the land of predictably horrible. Bad for those we serve, but at least better for planning compared to 2025's constant changes and fresh... [Read More]
This month, we at HNB have really upped our food game! This includes forming a partnership with Penzey's Spices to get donated, culturally appropriate spices to our clients who had SNAP benefits cut. We also got a new freezer donated (Thanks donor Arbaz Khatib!) so we can finally store extra frozen foods. And we just agreed to a partnership with Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington, where they will donate dry good staples to support our families once a month.
We continue to get fresh produce via our partners at So What Else, and in February, served 30 families - or 141 individuals - with two deliveries a month. Thanks to some amazing volunteers who continue to come week after week, we are... [Read More]
Despite the holidays last week and a month of several weather related delays, we at Homes Not Borders have been busy stepping up our Sew Successful artisan training program. Twenty refugee women are working hard in this five-month program where they not only learn advanced sewing skills, but also learn business basics and get connected to income generating projects with individuals and small businesses (see more on that below).
Speaking of generating income our, storytellers made their first appearance of the year earlier this month with Storai and Ezatullah sharing their amazing journeys (and earning some extra money) with students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. It was so wonderful to see... [Read More]
After a brief break for the holidays, Homes Not Borders is back in full force for 2026. At the start of last year, I would not have predicted that our main programs for 2026 would be Artisan Empowerment/Training and Food Assistance - but here we are. The never-ending pivoting in the world of refugee and immigrant support...
Though for January, and likely most of February, we are getting back to our roots with an unexpected surge of setups. Fearing further bans, the last of the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders (SIVs) have made their way here in the past few weeks, despite having until May to get here. Most initially stay with friends and relatives, but quickly start looking for ... [Read More]
This past month has been bananas.
Indeed, it has been bananas starting a new program - Food Assistance for Refugees (FAR) - while also continuing several amazing Newcomers to Neighbors events, and stepping up home set-ups once again (more on that below). So busy, I failed to get out a proper newsletter in November!
But also, the HNB warehouse for a brief few days was overtaken by literal bananas. Hundreds of pounds of them. We distributed the majority of them to our FAR families and many other refugees in our network. And banana management became a symbol of how... [Read More]
In these trying times, our storytelling show on Friday, October 10th, was a rare glimmer of hope. It was truly overwhelming to see so many wonderful supporters of HNB and refugees (more than 200!) come out and support our storytellers - cheering on Ezatullah when he got nervous, getting teary-eyed when Maria described the kids who made fun of her, and laughing as Storai recalled her first trip to a Super Walmart.
The night showed what immigrants leave behind to start a better life for their families and also how they enrich and encompass what it means to be American. The event also raised nearly... [Read More]
Despite the status of new refugee arrivals being a holding pattern until October 1st (see below for more details), Homes Not Borders has been stepping it up with our other programs and this past few weeks have been quite busy!
First, we held our first in person storytelling class - 15 hours over the course of a weekend with 10 amazing storytellers learning the craft... [Read More]
Typically, for these monthly newsletters, I always like to lead with a photo that includes smiling faces of newcomers. While we always report the numbers below, I think seeing the direct impact of how happy clients are with their home setup or mentor partnership is always the most powerful.
However, this time around, I am leading with graphs. (See a smiling face below in the HNB News section!). I know I have mentioned the shifting focus of HNB the last few months, but I think these graphs - showing division of staff time in 2025 ... [Read More]
The focus shift at HNB continued this past month, and most definitely into July, as we continue to see a decrease in new arrivals due to the administration's near-total ban on all legal immigration, except Special Immigrant Visa holders. We are on track to serve just 8 to 10 families with home setups for July - a number we have not seen since August 2021, just before the fall of Kabul.
On the other end, Newcomers to Neighbors is going strong, and our two cohorts attended a baseball game (Go Nats!!) and a financial literacy... [Read More]
Last month, we at HNB finally saw a marked slowdown of setups - only 16, compared to an average of 23 for the previous three post-Trump months. This is actually more than what we expected, as SIVs are one of the few groups of newcomers still allowed in the country (see more on that below), and are still coming at a fairly steady pace.
Additionally, as planned, we focused more of our energies to our Newcomers to Neighbors Mentoring program last month. So far, our two PG County Afghan and Latino cohorts have attended seminars on...
It's been quite a week of news on the refugee front. And all the staff of HNB have been busy on the front lines, supporting clients who are here and advocating for those who remain in limbo.
As we have had several questions from many of you, I thought it would be best to send a quick update on what's going on and where HNB will fit in. So read below for updates ... [Read More]
This Sunday we had our Newcomers to Neighbors kick-off potlucks for our first two cohorts. It was a wonderful day hanging out with our volunteers from all over, and newly arrived families from Afghanistan, Venezuela, Nicaragua and El Salvador, all in the beautiful setting on the grounds of a Turkish Mosque. And events like these are good reminders of our shared humanity and that no matter what part of the world you come from, we all want what's best for our families, and we can all find common ground breaking bread together. I am also reminded that all kids from everywhere love balloon creations :)!
Besides the launch of Newcomers to Neighbors, we have been very busy this past month. Not just with set ups but also with casework and rental... [Read More]
Things have been moving so fast and have been so bonkers since the start of 2025 that I have not actually written a proper newsletter this year. Several updates and explainers on what the heck is going on with refugees in the U.S. and changes to our programs, but not the proper updates with impact numbers and internal updates.
So here is my attempt - finally - in March as we settle into what might be the new normal. It's been quite a year so far, and I am hoping now that we at HNB have a definite plan and some clarity on what is going on in the world, we can... [Read More]
"May we say strong and brave and steadfast in the face of cruelty, greed and ignorance."
"Things are scary right now on so many fronts, and knowing there are people working hard to do the right thing is a little light in the darkness."
"Really appreciate what HNB is doing to help and we were happy to assist your efforts. We can’t help everyone but we can each do what we can in our communities."
Thank you for all these encouraging words of support and solidarity. In these truly uncertain times, I was touched to read all these comments from supporters who sent donations in the last three weeks from all over, including Maine, Illinois and California. I so appreciate our strong base of donors, volunteers... [Read More]
Things are moving fast and there is so much to update. The new administration is targeting refugee resettlement, in particular, and trying to dismantle the whole system. First came the "pause" to all refugee resettlement; then came the complete halt to foreign aid ending money to new refugees in the U.S.; and now the administration is directly going after some of our key partners.
It's all so horrible and directly affecting the most vulnerable. But Homes Not Borders - which gets no federal funding - is doing what we can to fill the gaps and make sure all refugees get the help they need...
After one of the four home setups we did yesterday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, some of our staff were lucky enough to receive tea from an Afghan family and play with their adorable children. It is this beautiful three-year-old girl, Sidra (pictured here with our Americorp VISTA Samihah), who I am thinking about the most today: how she is now in the U.S. safe and free from the oppression of the Taliban with her whole life ahead of her. But then, I think about other little girls like her, who were lucky enough to get refugee status but had tickets... [Read More]
November was another record-setting month with 41 home setups for 193 refugees and forced migrants! And as we are working through the Christmas-to-New-Year's break to do as many setups as possible, December is on track to serve even more new neighbors!! In the meantime, we are preparing for post-inauguration and crafting our Newcomers to Neighbors program (more on that below), and looking at ways to expand our Artisan Empowerment and Storytelling programs.
During this crazy busy time in setup overdrive, we are so grateful for all our volunteers who have come out to help set up homes and sort and prepare home goods... [Read More]
We just came back from our annual staff planning retreat (here we all are having lunch), and I think I can say that after 16 days, I finally mustered up a little hope. While there are plenty of dismal scenarios for the fate of our new neighbors under the new administration, the HNB staff remains focused on making homes for as many new refugees and forced migrants as possible in the next eight weeks. And in planning for 2025 we are looking at all the ways we can support them once they settle in as our new neighbors. It’s also amazing to see so many volunteers and donors with this mindset. Doing what you can to at least make this community better.
While set-ups are likely to drop way back after the first quarter 2025, the staff is gearing up to expand our Artisan and Storytelling programs, and we even hatched a plan yesterday for a new program connecting volunteers... [Read More]
Last month we saw a noticeable shift in the clients we serve with home set ups. While Afghans are still by far the majority of folks we have served this year, last month our home set ups clients included an array of origin countries including El Salvador, Sudan, Syria, Eritrea, Pakistan and Venezuela with Afghanistan being home to just to 40% of families. Here is Manizha Azizi, our director of family services, with a recent new neighbor from Venezuela.
And in the last few weeks, we have also seen a shift in resettlement. We have seen more cases from the new Virtual... [Read More]
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