October - Your role in changing the future

Assistant Director of Program Operations, Karina Harty-Morrison, discusses the work of CRIS and the importance of community support in the modern environment.

The past two years have significantly changed the future for agencies like CRIS, who provide services for refugees, immigrants, and asylees. Karina Harty-Morrison, CRIS’ Assistant Director of Program Operations, points out that CRIS operates in a field that was “never before seen as political.”  Before 2016 and the elevation of prominent anti-immigrant ideologies to the national political arena, CRIS was already helping hundreds of refugee and immigrant families every year with arrival, self-sufficiency, and successful integration into the community. Historically, she remembers, bipartisan funds supported flourishing resettlement agencies, with new refugee families walking through CRIS’ doors each week. While CRIS' infrastructure is strong, she admits “we will have to be adaptable” in order to continue providing services to the many people who already live in our community and the smaller numbers who continue to arrive.

As complex as this work is, there are simple ways you can help. “We need everyone to contact their Senators, contact their Representatives, and vote if you can, so we can continue to voice our support of immigrants,” says Harty-Morrison, emphasizing that our leaders need to hear about their constituents’ values. Volunteer opportunities are still in place, and there are new programs being launched that will connect the wider community with specific refugee families for relationship, storytelling, and family reunification efforts. While CRIS’ work continues in Columbus, we need your help to continue to raise up those who are #StillNotHere.

For more information about what you can do, go to crisohio.org/volunteer.