On August 1, the Biden Administration mobilized faith leaders at the White House to encourage churches to participate in Welcome Corps, a State Department program to assist in refugee resettlement. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) leaders participated in the gathering, including Elket Rodriguez, CBF’s Global Migration Advocate and Jennifer Hawks, CBF’s Director of Advocacy.
Welcome Corps was launched in 2023. In an announcement, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken described the initiative as “a private sponsorship program that will harness the generosity and goodwill of American citizens to resettle refugees.”
The program is designed to reduce the burden on resettlement agencies by assisting groups of individuals in communities, including faith communities, in helping acclimate refugees to the United States. Rodriguez and Hawks are encouraging Cooperative Baptists to participate in the program, continuing CBF’s history of involvement in the area.
According to Rodriguez, “CBF churches have decades of experience working with refugees through field personnel and CBF Global Missions engagement partners like the Welcome House who then partner with national agencies for assistance resettling refugees.”
Under the Welcome Corps program, sponsor groups of at least five U.S. citizens commit to providing resettlement services to refugees for at least 90 days. They will assist in locating housing and employment and in registering children at local schools.
At the August 1 meeting, administration officials announced a private donor fund will cover 100% of the program’s costs for volunteers who register by the end of the month.
In a report to Congress last year, the State Department projected that 125,000 refugees would need to be resettled in the U.S. in 2024. More information on how churches and other organizations can participate in Welcome Corps can be found here.
Senior Editor at Good Faith Media.
