Sponsoring refugees – Cermak Fresh Sponsor Group, Chicago

Thank you for joining our community-led effort to sponsor refugees in Chicago! Your support will go directly to funding the immediate needs of a family of 3 from South America as they resettle in the US and become part of our community.

What is the Cermak Fresh Sponsor Group?

We are a group of six friends and neighbors who have come together to collectively sponsor a person or family of refugees as part of the Welcome Corps program. Sponsorship allows refugees to be resettled in the U.S. quickly and with community support. We’ll provide the people we are sponsoring with a safe landing pad for the first few months of their experience in Chicago.

Through her work, Jordan found out about refugee sponsorship and signed up to sponsor a young man from Ukraine. When he arrived in Chicago, he stayed at her friend Ivan’s house for a few weeks – and that’s how we started considering sponsoring as a group.

The group knew that it would take a village to make this happen. Luckily, there was a community that had been growing which was the perfect fit. A year and a half ago, Ivan had begun hosting an ad-hoc community choir in his home every weekend (located across the street from a Cermak Fresh Market). The small gathering expanded as week by week, one friend brought along another. Over song, pot-luck dinners and conversation – the choir also became a space for the sharing of announcements and events, community organizing and relationship building.

Shortly before the election, Jordan came to the choir to see if there was a willingness to help sponsor a refugee family, recruiting Sam and Ethan to the cause. A number of regular choir attendees also signed on to help serve as a broader network of support. From that conversation was born the Cermak Fresh Sponsor Group.

Ivan, Claire and the young man from Ukraine who we welcomed to Chicago

What is the Welcome Corps?

The Welcome Corps is a federal program, started in 2023, that empowers everyday Americans to play a leading role in welcoming refugees arriving through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).

As sponsors, we will be taking on the responsibility of helping their assigned family resettle in the United States, by supporting them in securing housing, buying food, paying for utilities, learning English or a job skill, and obtaining services to help them provide them a foundation for their life in America.

To become a sponsor, the six of us went through an application process that was reviewed and vetted by the Welcome Corps program. Throughout the process, our group will receive guidance, assistance, and resources from IRIS – Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, a longstanding refugee service nonprofit who will be our main contact should we need extra help.

Why now?

Under the last Trump administration, the U.S. admitted record low numbers of refugees. We fear the same, or worse, during his second term, including the potential elimination of all sponsorship initiatives. Anticipating that likelihood, we filed our application the evening before Election Day.

We have since been notified that our application has been accepted and that we can expect our sponsored family of 3 from South America to arrive or have their travel booked prior to the inauguration. Once a refugee has arrived in the United States, the Trump administration will have no authority to change their legal status (unlike some other types of newcomers who have temporary legal status).

Who will our group be sponsoring?

update 12/24: we have been matched with a family of 3! They are a young LGBTQ couple with a young daughter and they are from South America. We can’t wait to welcome them and get to know them.

What has our group committed to doing?

As part of the application, the six of us have signed commitment forms guaranteeing that we will do the following to support the refugees over the course of their first 3 months in the US:

What will the money be used for?

Money raised through this fundraiser will go to providing the support directly to the family – including paying for housing costs, food, clothing, transportation and furniture.

In addition to the money raised through GoFundMe, our group has been approved to receive $4,365 through the Welcome Corps Sponsor Fund. We have also secured Airbnb credits to help pay for housing for the first 30 days.

Here are the expenses we expect:

Thank you for considering supporting our efforts!