JUL 21 2021
As we continue into the Summer, the Resettlement Program in the United States is slowly being rebuilt and we are celebrating as Canopy is growing and hope is arriving for so many displaced families around the world.
As we grow, we want to remember our past, celebrate all of the wonderful things that have brought us to where we are today, and look forward to the future.
Since our inception, Canopy has seen so many accomplishments and successes as an organization and in the lives of our newest neighbors in Northwest Arkansas. We have seen individuals and families start new jobs, start businesses, advance in their careers, buy homes, start and finish school, go to college, obtain drivers licenses, and so much more. For each one of these accomplishments in our community, we are so grateful.
Since December of 2016 we have seen:
- 201 people resettleD
- 14 babies born in the us
- 17 individuals receive their driver’s licenses
- 4 families buy homes
- 3 Students graduate from high school
- 61% of K-12 Students involved in extracurricular activities
- over a dozen youth play on school soccer, football, track and field, and basketball teams
Why Restoration?
Due to the refugee admissions numbers shrinking from 53,716 in 2017 to a US record low of 11,814 people in 2020, the potential we saw for Canopy and Northwest Arkansas to welcome refugee families to our community was limited. We have celebrated all of the families we have been able to welcome to NWA, while also advocating for an increase in admissions numbers since our first days as an organization. We have known the capacity for welcome in our incredible community is great.
When the White House officially announced the increase on the number of refugees who can be admitted to the United States in May of 2021 to 62,500, we celebrated this long awaited change along with so many families waiting to be resettled in the United States. Since this rise in the refugee admissions ceiling to a number higher than ever before in Canopy’s history, we have been seeing the beginning of what we hope is a new era for resettlement in Northwest Arkansas.
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