DEC 21 2021
This December marks the five year milestone of Canopy’s first three refugee families resettled in Northwest Arkansas. This December, these families are eligible to apply for U.S. Citizenship.
While we pause to celebrate this tremendous milestone, we also acknowledge that the start of Canopy’s fifth year looks very different from the previous five. We knew it would be different when President Biden affirmed his campaign promise and increased the potential number of refugees who could be admitted to the United States Refugee Admissions Program in fiscal year 2022 to 125,000. While we planned for expansion, we certainly were not prepared for the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, leading to the emergency evacuation and need for US resettlement of over 50,000 Afghans to the U.S.
During Canopy’s largest full year of resettlement, Northwest Arkansas welcomed 57 refugees. By the end of December of 2021, Canopy will have resettled 110 individuals since the beginning of October, including Afghans and families from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria and Rwanda.
We are in a period called “the Sprint” where Canopy is receiving Afghan families every week. The Sprint is happening because evacuated Afghan families are living on eight military bases across the US, and the conditions on the base are simply inadequate for long-term housing. One base already closed, with two others scheduled to shut down by the end of December. People, and especially children, need to get to their final resettlement communities to begin to process this mass tragedy and take steps towards building a new life. Canopy has families schedule to travel to Northwest Arkansas each week through the end of January. Notice of travel is short: in the most extreme case, we received notice on a Sunday afternoon that the case was arriving on Monday evening. The Canopy team is responsible to ensure an airport welcome, safe housing, seasonal clothing, a ready to eat meal and groceries. Mobilizing this effort with 24 hours’ notice is next to impossible, which is why we have made so many calls to our community for support. And the Northwest Arkansas community has responded, in a BIG way.
Since October 2021:
- 88 people are on cosponsor teams actively helping Afghan families to navigate their new community
- 20+ volunteer groups are furnishing apartments in December and January
- 400+ Welcome Kits of home furnishings have been donated and distributed through drives at Harding University, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian Church, Fayetteville Public Library, Engage NWA via the Northwest Arkansas Council and more
- 50 K-12 students enrolled in school this semester through the heroic efforts of our partners at the Fayetteville, Springdale and Bentonville Public Schools
- Over 90 newcomers received a medical screening with the compassionate healthcare professionals at Community Clinic and a team of volunteer physicians met families with urgent medical needs at the airport to provide immediate screening upon arrival
- 1,204 individuals have donated and students and community groups have launched creative fundraisers to ensure Canopy can provide each newcomer family with all the basic necessities.
Canopy has committed to resettle up to 130 Afghan humanitarian paroles and up to 200 refugees from other countries in fiscal year 2022. While these numbers are large for Canopy, it is important to share perspective on both the need and what is possible. At the end of 2020, UNHCR estimates 82.4 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes. While rebuilding the capacity of the national resettlement program decimated over the last four years through policy from the previous White House administration, the US will not reach anywhere near the cap of 125,000 refugees in 2022, resettling far less than 1% of vulnerable refugees in need of stability and a home across the globe. Across Arkansas, between Canopy in Northwest Arkansas and Catholic Charities in Little Rock, Arkansas will welcome over 200 Afghan refugees in this short time frame. Arkansas’s total population is around 3 million. Oklahoma’s state population is around 4 million, with similar established refugee resettlement infrastructure and OK has committed to resettle 1,800 Afghans.
While this high volume of newcomers has been at times overwhelming and exhausting for the Canopy team, still, we hold steadfast to our core value of welcome.
When the federal resettlement agencies said they would pause refugee travel from other regions of the world to alleviate some of the intensity on the local offices, Canopy stepped forward and asked that any refugee set to arrive in Northwest Arkansas not face further delay. We share the grief of families resettled as refugees in Arkansas who have been waiting years for their family members to travel to join them.
I am in awe of the Canopy team responding to a humanitarian crisis with unwavering commitment to refugee families and the community to ensure both are supported during this painful and grueling period. The Canopy staff and volunteers are enduring late night airport pickups six days a week, early morning drives to school when a new student misses the bus, trips to the ER to keep a family company during a medical emergency, weekends of training to equip community volunteers with skills to help refugees navigate the logistics and emotional toll of life in a new community. Recently arrived refugees are stepping forward to help the newest arrivals navigate the local food systems, learn to ride the bus, and offer counsel and guidance on how to succeed in the new community while preserving and honoring culture, religion, and traditions.
Please join me in deep appreciation of the Canopy team: Aarozo, Ana, Ariana, Aubrey, Danielle, Ethan, Gabe, Hannah, Holly, Iris-Gracee, Jennifer, Jules, Khalid, Laura, Lemine, Lisa, Lyna, Mahdi, Malath, Nellie, Stella, and Thomas.
Together, we have moved the needle towards equipping refugee and other vulnerable newcomers with all they need to thrive here in Northwest Arkansas. See an impact report of our first five years below.
With gratitude,
Joanna
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