Welcoming Refugees

Many in Falls Church support the resettlement of refugees in the area. Falls Church's Eden Center shows that we can successfully welcome refugees. Many Southeast Asian refugees settled in the area the 1970s and 1980s. That wave of resettlement eventually led to Eden Center becoming the center for Vietnamese culture and commerce on the East Coast. This is fascinating local history, worth exploring, and inspiring for those that would like to see the community welcome more refugees.

Falls Church is responding to the call to welcome refugees! We are welcoming five refugee families to the City of Falls Church with rent assistance through our Renting to Refugees initiative, and more across Greater Falls Church with English language training, job search/mentorship support, and connections with the local schools. See below for how to get involved, and to help us become a community that welcomes refugees well.

Falls Church Welcoming Refugees Fund. This is an innovative, public-private effort to make housing more affordable for refugees. Welcoming Falls Church is grateful for the City of Falls Church’s support of our Renting to Refugees initiative. The City is supporting this initiative by allocating $50,000 to create a Falls Church Welcoming Refugees Fund. The Fund will pay part of the rent for these families for 18-21 months, to make rent more affordable and support their resettlement in the community.

GET INVOLVED. We are organizing to welcome refugees well in Falls Church starting with Support Teams that engage directly with each family. Please consider the following. Click on the links below to learn more about how to get involved.

LEADOrganize a “Support Team” to support one of the five families

JOINa Support Team that we organize

TEACHor tutor in our Adult & Family Literacy Center

RENTyour home to a refugee family (as part of the Falls Church Welcoming Landlord Network)

DONATEhousehold goods/furniture

GIVEto the Falls Church Welcoming Refugee Fund

Our priorities at the moment are 1) to continue to form Support Teams that will engage directly with families and help us welcome them well to the community, 2) developing our Welcoming Landlord Network to permit us to welcome more families, and 3) focusing on employment and helping employable adults in newly-resettled families find jobs and resume their career progression in the U.S. Learn more about Support Teams here as one way to get involved and about our community-wide Donation Drive here.

Open meetings. To learn more about our Welcoming Refugees initiative, please join one of our monthly Open Meetings on the fourth Monday of each month, 6:30-7:45pm, at the Mary Riley Styles Public Library, 120 North Virginia Avenue, in Falls Church.

Contact us. Would you like to learn more about and maybe get involved in Welcoming Refugees in Falls Church? Email Rebecca Shaw, Welcoming Refugees Volunteer Coordinator with questions or about your interest.