Tag: refugees spokane

Spokane is a sizable city, but we’re insular. We’re often referred to as the largest city between Minneapolis and Seattle, but dominated as we are by majority culture, it can be difficult for us to see our connection to the multi-ethnic world.

Spokane’s new International Rescue Committee office (IRC Spokane) has helped relocate 100 refugees since they opened their doors in spring of 2022. Families and individuals served from this office have come from Syria, Guatemala, Myanmar and Vietnam. In the next few weeks, they will be serving Ethiopian and Congolese clients.

Spokane-based nonprofit Thrive International was founded less than three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking one of the largest refugee crises in the world — prompting the organization to pivot to focus on the thousands of displaced Ukrainians entering Spokane.

With people fleeing from violence, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and others migrating to the U.S. seeking new opportunities, Thrive International officially launched on Monday with a mission to move local refugees and immigrants from surviving to thriving.

On Thursday Councilmember Michael Cathcart will host and moderate a virtual discussion on the contributions made by immigrants and refugees in the community.

Ten Talents Ministry is a for-profit organization that invests in housing units for refugee families or people in need of affordable housing. Usually incoming refugees move to Spokane because of a family member located nearby, but the change may be difficult.

Spokane has rallied again for the marginalized, this time for the refugee population. On Sunday, Rally for Refugees was hosted in Gonzaga University’s Hemmingson Ballroom to ”meet with the vulnerable to educate and mobilize.”