Mid-Hudson Community Engagement

By reaching out to local faith-based groups, and civic organizations and local colleges we created an organizational network to help resettle and welcome forcibly displaced people in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Towards this end, we initiated the formation of the Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance and started several projects to engage with the local community.

Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance (MHRSA)

The Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance is a unique alliance of local faith-based organizations, institutions of higher learning, social services agencies, NGOs, and local interfaith councils. The Alliance is committed to making our community a welcoming and safe place for those who are forcibly displaced.

  • In Spring 2016, Vassar Refugee Solidarity and MHRSA have worked closely with Church World Services (a refugee resettlement agency) to convince the U.S. State Department to open a resettlement office in Poughkeepsie.
  • This application was approved in October 2016, and we welcomed a family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Mid-Hudson Valley in early February 2017.
  • Due to the new administration’s policies that limit the arrival of refugees, we have focused our energies on working with those who are forcibly displaced in our local community, reaching out to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders, and assisting refugee families in Albany and Schenectady.
  • Vassar students took leadership in collecting, storing, and distributing furniture, household goods and other items for arriving refugee families and families with similar needs in the local community. 
  • VRS organized the resettlement of an Egyptian family together with Vassar Temple, Masjid Al-Noor, and Christ Episcopal Church. This resettlement was accomplished solely by local volunteers with the key help of VRS and Posse veteran Patrick DeYoung ‘18.
  • Vassar Refugee Solidarity’s Resettlement (led by our Posse veteran Patrick DeYoung ‘18), Vassar Temple, and Masjid Al-Noor also coordinated a large-scale donation drive for 47 Syrian, Iraqi, and Afghan refugee families. Vassar Temple gave $3,000 in gift cards, Masjid Al-Noor donated thousands of dollars to deliver air conditioners, freezers, fridges, televisions, pedestal fans, meat grinders (so the women can start street food businesses), sewing machines, bus tickets, backpacks, baby strollers, baby car seats, and cribs as well as additional gift cards for food, and clothing. A member of Vassar Temple also donated a used car. VRS’s Patrick DeYoung ‘18 and representatives from the mosque also organized a caravan and delivered many smaller items in person, including 14 used laptops and desktop computers made available by Vassar College. 
  • Most recently, donations from the Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity’s Welcome Fund made it possible to provide $10,000 to the Islamic Community Center in Schenectady for purchasing a large used van to transport refugee families.

Albany Community and School Fundraising Project

Since January 2017, over 44 families from Syria and Iraq have resettled in Albany and surrounding communities.

      • Arrival
        • Each of these displaced families has endured a rigorous two-year screening process by the US government prior to their arrival.
        • The State Department prioritizes families with children, and these recently arrived families include nearly 200 young and school-age children. Many of these families arrived in the last 6-8 months and possess limited English language skills.
      • Education
        • The Annur Islamic School in Schenectady, NY is raising tuition funds to support the enrollment of recently resettled children as well as provide them with basic educational supplies.
      • Action

      New York For Syrian Refugees is a volunteer group based in Albany helping newly arrived Syrian refugee families with essential needs, including assistance with housing, education, and employment.

What You Can Do

  • Contribute to the Mid-Hudson Refugee Welcome Fund at the Community Funds of the Hudson Valley.
    • The fund is administered by the Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance and goes to providing the families resettled in the Hudson Valley with housing and educational support during their integration into the community.
  • Contribute directly to the Annur Islamic School in Schenectady, NY.

For more information on the alliance or how you can get involved in these efforts, please visit the MHRSA website.

Community Engagement

Vassar Refugee Solidarity is working with Lisa Kaul in the newly created Office of Community Engaged-Learning at Vassar and our local partners to institute projects that engage Vassar students with forcibly displaced individuals in the local community.

Our Stories, Our Selves

  • This project collects oral histories from members of the Mid-Hudson Valley community in an effort to highlight that most have come from elsewhere to make this community their own. We will be reaching out to high schools and senior citizen homes to expand this collection.