Building welcoming communities for refugees & immigrants.

Refugees are forced to flee their home countries because of war and persecution. For most refugees, they are never able to return home and resettlement in a third country, like the United States, is their last resort. Each year, Inspiritus assists hundreds of refugees, asylees, and immigrants on their journey from surviving to thriving. Inspiritus aims to help new Americans achieve self-sufficiency and integrate successfully into their new communities and country. We are an affiliate of Lutheran Refugee and Immigration Service (LIRS).

Inspiritus provides services to refugees, asylees, and immigrants at any point in their journey to help them become self-sufficient, socially integrated, and culturally acclimated.  

Refugee Services are offered at the following locations: 

 

In order to fulfill our mission of guiding refugees from surviving to thriving, we offer the following refugee services:

  • Resettlement & Extended Cultural Orientation: Intensive services include providing for the day-to-day needs of newly arrived refugees: an apartment, food, health screenings, obtaining a social security card, English as a Second language enrollment for adults, and school registration for children. We provide extended cultural orientation training for recently arrived refugees. Topics include transportation, home management, healthcare, U.S. laws, education, safety and more. All refugee service locations

  • Social Adjustment: Extended case management services to assist families with home management, accessing medical care, and emergency situations. Income support navigation to help families access public benefits. All refugee service locations

  • Immigration Legal Services: Inspiritus offers low-cost high-quality immigration legal services to low-income members of the refugee and immigrant community. All refugee service locations Click here

  • Intensive Case Management: Specialized case management services to assist particularly vulnerable refugees to stabilize and integrate into their new communities. Offers trauma screening, cultural mentorship, and ongoing enhanced cultural orientation. Atlanta and Savannah

  • GAP Services: Intensive Case Management services to assist any ORR Eligible population in obtaining self-sufficiency through case management and education. Case Management services include public benefits application, school enrollment, referrals to employment services, cultural orientation, mental health referrals, and legal assistance referrals. All refugee service locations Click here

  • Refugee Health Promotion: Supports the health and emotional wellness of refugees by organizing community wellness groups, coordinating mental health care, and promoting health literacy. Community wellness groups build relationships between refugees and safe spaces that allow for conversations around different health topics. Birmingham

  • Parental Support for Families Impacted by Disabilities: Provide refugee families who have children with disabilities or special health care needs with resources and information in partnership with Parent 2 Parent of Georgia. Atlanta

  • Employment & Early Self-Sufficiency: Orients newcomers to the American workplace. Offers employment counseling, job placement services, and post-employment follow-up. All refugee service locations

  • Afghan Refugee Career Pathways: Empowers Afghan Allies to work towards skilled or professional career paths .Offers individual case management, career mentoring, career development education, and higher education referrals. Atlanta

  • Financial Coaching & Savings Matching: Empowers newcomers to build financial literacy through one-on-one financial coaching and household budgeting, and savings matching. Topics include paths to increase their income, building credit, and how to buy a car or a home. Atlanta

  • Digital Literacy & Inclusion: Offers group and individual digital literacy coaching for refugee job seekers as well as a digital lending library to address inequalities in digital skilling and technological access for newcomers. Atlanta

  • Microenterprise Development: Supports refugees in developing, expanding, or maintaining their own businesses. Equips refugees with the skills and capital to become successful entrepreneurs through technical assistance and education. Atlanta

  • Afterschool & Summer Camp:  Helps refugee children and youths succeed in school by providing after school and summer camp enrichment programs that include trauma-informed academic and English language support. Atlanta, Savannah, and Birmingham

    Refugee Youth Mentoring: Individual and group mentoring aims to empower youth toward improved academic performance, identifying educational and/or career pathways, English language proficiency, increased self-efficacy and empowerment, and higher education, vocational, or career readiness. Atlanta, Savannah, and Birmingham

    Refugee Cash Assistance: A public benefit program designed to help refugees, humanitarian parolees, and other vulnerable populations establish self-sufficiency within the first twelve months of living in the United States. Alabama

Alabama Office for Refugees

 

The Alabama Office for Refugees is a department of Inspiritus Birmingham and is designated by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to administer the state refugee resettlement program and serve as the State Refugee Coordinator’s office. This office is responsible for overseeing the design, implementation, and coordination of refugee services in the state. The Alabama Office for Refugees administers federal funding received from ORR for post-resettlement services. In Alabama the statewide refugee resettlement program is managed by a nonprofit instead of the state government.

We recognize the importance of community involvement in refugee resettlement. As the State Refugee Coordinator’s office, we aim to support refugee resettlement by partnering with the community to provide information and resources while facilitating the growth of valuable networks and partnerships. For more information or to partner with us, contact Alabama State Refugee Coordinator, Liz Kurtz.

How You Can Help

Refugee Services relies on the dedicated support of our numerous volunteers and other supporters. Find out more about how you can help by volunteering, donating household items and furniture for refugee apartments, employing a refugee, or hosting a fundraising event.

Immigrant Services

Imagine that you’re a child separated from your family, in a new country, surrounded by people who speak a language you can’t understand. At Inspiritus, we see the courage and resilience of children who are faced with this situation every day – and we work diligently to protect these children and reunite them with loved ones as quickly as possible. Inspiritus facilitates the timely and safe release of unaccompanied children to loved ones who are well-equipped to care for them.

Home Study/Post Release Services: Our team ensures the safe release of unaccompanied children to their families by assessing potential placements for safety and stability. After families have been reunited, we provide extended support to particularly vulnerable families as they adjust to life in America.

Safe Release Services: We provide the required federal fingerprint background check for the guardians of unaccompanied children in a caring and culturally appropriate setting, ensuring families are connected to the resources they need for successful reunification.

Trafficking Victims Assistance Program: Inspiritus provides trauma-informed, person-centered, comprehensive case management services to survivors of human trafficking. We ensure basic needs are met so that survivors can stabilize and reestablish their ability to live independently.

Team Libertad: Team Libertad volunteers offer hospitality and support to authorized individuals journeying through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on their way to reunite with their families.