A community task force that has spent more than 40 years resettling refugees is preparing to help more people this year after President Joe Biden raised the cap on the number of refugees who can enter the United States in 2021.

Chris Cavanaugh, director of new US relocation to West Michigan for the Grand Rapids-based nonprofit Samaritas, spoke to the Business Journal last month about Freedom Flight, a task force and program founded in 1975 to help refugees make the transition to life in West Michigan.

According to a 1996 interview stored in Hope College’s digital commons, the Freedom Flight program was founded by Reverend Howard Schipper, a native of the Netherlands who was then pastor at Bethany Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. He and his wife, Marybelle, were on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago on the day Saigon fell which ended the Vietnam War – April 30, 1975 – with a large group of Vietnamese orphans who had survived a plane crash just a few weeks. earlier and were on their way to a Catholic mission in Boston.

Suddenly aware of the consequences caused by the United States’ war on Vietnam, the Schippers felt a call to help the refugees and quickly got to work after returning home. Using their ties to a network of churches in the area and with a friend who worked for the State Department and had ties to Gerald R. Ford’s White House, the Schippers were able to create Freedom Flight, a committee that started with a plane of 100 refugees. families that year and became a thriving working group that connected refugees around the world with medical assistance, English lessons, relationship building, placement, social services and obtaining of citizenship.

Between 1975 and today, the region has hosted refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bosnia, Russia, Cuba, Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo , among others.

The task force eventually evolved into the Freedom Flight Refugee Center under the umbrella of a nonprofit, the Freedom Flight Corporation Board, which closed in the 1990s, leaving the work of resettling refugees. to other nonprofits such as Bethany Christian Services, Catholic Charities West Michigan and Samaritans. Around 2000, several agencies restarted the Freedom Flight Task Force, which meets quarterly.

Today, Freedom Flight is run by organizations such as Samaritas, Bethany Christian Services, Kent County Health Department, Kent Intermediate School District, The Refugee Education Center, and Senior Neighbors. It remains supported by churches, volunteers and service providers, and the meetings are often attended by lawmakers, city commissioners, law enforcement and anyone else interested.

“We like to keep it wide for anyone who wants to provide their advice on relocation or find out more,” Cavanaugh said.

He said West Michigan remains a hotbed for refugee resettlement for a variety of reasons, including the large number of churches in the area eager to welcome those in need, the lower cost of living than the big cities like New York or Chicago, and the strong public-private partnerships that have been in place here for decades.

“This story of Freedom Flight, where churches are involved, has not stopped, as has the faith community and welcoming individuals who love to walk alongside refugees as they learn to live in the States -United, ”he said. “… This makes it a more welcoming and friendly place for refugees who arrive in a whole new life-start situation. “

Over the years, Cavanaugh said agencies have developed programs that help refugees obtain education, employment, housing, social services and a path to citizenship, while the roles of churches and volunteers are become more relational.

“Maybe a volunteer ends up teaching a family member how to drive a car and helps them practice, or continues their engagement in English by having a one-on-one conversation, or… a volunteer and her children could spend time getting to know each other (one the children of refugee families) and playing or going on a weekend outing introducing them to local activities in western Michigan that are fun to do. These things really improve the integration process for families who come here, ”he said.

Typically, most of the refugees arriving in western Michigan today join family members who already live here, Cavanaugh said. After five years in the United States, they become eligible to apply for citizenship. He said the US government expects refugees to become economically self-sufficient as soon as possible, which means they are eligible and must find work immediately. The Freedom Flight Task Force assists with job readiness, orientation to the US workforce, and connections with West Michigan Works! for vocational training. After getting a job, most refugees get permanent housing in the area within a few years, Cavanaugh said, although this is becoming increasingly difficult due to the shortage of affordable housing.

There is no official record of the number of refugees resettled by Freedom Flight over the years, but Cavanaugh said it was likely in the tens of thousands. In the past five years alone, agencies such as Samaritas and Bethany have resettled around 2,000 to 3,000 refugees combined, he said.

The number of refugees allowed into the United States each year is determined by resettlement ceilings set by U.S. presidential administrations. Data from Institute for Migration Policy captured between 1980 and 2021 shows that the thresholds have been on a general downward trend, with a high of 231,700 in 1980 and a historic high of 18,000 set by the Trump administration last year, with only 2,334 refugees actually admitted. When President Joe Biden took office in 2020, he raised the cap from 2021 to 62,500, with a goal of raising the cap to 125,000 in 2022.

“It’s a huge leap forward, but it’s not that far from where we were five years ago,” Cavanaugh said. The 2016 cap was set at 85,000 by President Barack Obama’s administration.

With the four-year drop in the resettlement cap under the Trump administration, and therefore the drop in federal funding available to resettlement agencies, West Michigan nonprofits have had to replenish their workforce and expand their infrastructure to accommodate the largest number of refugees. the area will be able to settle this year and next year, Cavanaugh said.

He noted that the US resettlement ceilings do not come close to reflecting the scale of the need around the world.

“The world’s refugee crisis is at an all-time high,” Cavanaugh said. “Even (the ambitious ceiling of 125,000 for 2022) is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of internally displaced refugees in the world, which is in the order of 20 million.”

Cavanaugh said Samaritas and its partner organizations are always looking for religious groups or individuals willing to be matched with a refugee family to accompany their settlement in the United States.

Those interested in helping can visit samaritas.org/new-american to learn more or to donate to the program.