Sokhary Chau, a Cambodian refugee who survived the Khmer Rouge’s genocide, has become the Mayor of Lowell, making him the first Cambodian-American mayor in the United States. Currently serving as a city councilor in Lowell, he was unanimously picked by his council peers to assume the top post on January 3, 2021. He also [...]
Carlos as a small boy in Honduras. Carlos was fifteen years old when he left Honduras, on his own. Fleeing violence, seeking a better education, and hoping for medical treatment for an eye condition that left him partially blind, he was optimistic about his future in the U.S. A lonely journey Carlos traveled [...]
Press Contacts: Jeff Kinney, Ascentria Care Alliance,JKinney@ascentria.org, (774) 502-0429 Diane Shohet, International Institute of New England, dshohet@iine.org, (617) 695-0786 BOSTON, MA: Mass. Refugee Resettlement Agencies, the nonprofits tasked by the federal government with welcoming and resettling hundreds of Afghan immigrants, praised the MA legislature for including $12 Million to support Afghan arrivals in the [...]
Safeena poses with her three children. Safeena came to Lowell, MA as a refugee from Afghanistan in 2017, with her husband, two young children, and another baby on the way. She knew there would be challenges ahead. “My parents were here, so I was a little bit confident,” she says, but she [...]
Press Contact: Diane Shohet, International Institute of New England, dshohet@iine.org Worcester, MA: Mass. Refugee Resettlement Agencies, the nonprofits tasked by the federal government with welcoming and resettling hundreds of Afghan immigrants, praised the inclusion of $12 million in the $3.65 billion House spending bill that draws from last year’s state budget surplus and over [...]
The International Institute of New England (IINE) commends the U.S. Department of State’s commitment to quickly welcome and resettle evacuees from Afghanistan into U.S. communities. We are excited about the possibilities of new resettlement models that engage community groups across the country in receiving and supporting refugees. IINE has provided services to immigrants for [...]
Brenda with her son Liam. Brenda, now 24, came to the U.S. from El Salvador when she was just eight years old. Her family initially settled in Alaska, and her first year was difficult: it wasn’t easy for her to learn English, and she only knew two other Spanish-speaking kids. In 2018, Brenda [...]
On October 13th, the International Institute of New England (IINE) welcomed our first Afghan evacuee clients at Logan Airport in Boston. Abdulmuqsad Waziri, his wife Robina, and their four small children were greeted by IINE staff and accompanied to a secured and furnished apartment in Cambridge, which was made available thanks to [...]
Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty, a set of bills being introduced by Representative Marjorie Decker and Senator Sal DiDomenico, would provide financial assistance to Massachusetts families with children living in poverty. The bills are targeted at families who are below 50% of the federal poverty level, or $915 a month [...]
