Tennessee Resettlement Aid
Programs
Budget
$20,000.00
Description
TRA and our community partner, The Branch food pantry serve dozens of households with weekly food boxes. These boxes have been designed with the advice and guidance of Afghan clients and include halal meat, Afghan bread, fresh produce, milk, eggs and cooking oil. Boxes are delivered directly to the family by both Branch and TRA volunteers. TRA staff regularly surveys each recipient household to ascertain income level, financial stability and budget for food. While a family works towards self-sufficiency, food-box delivery is reduced to twice monthly to allow for an adjustment period. Once a household is deemed self-sufficient financially, the food-box is only available upon request in case of a food emergency.
Program Successes
We have served more than 800 refugees with fresh, culturally-appropriate food, delivered to their doorstep, free of charge.
Beneficiaries
Families
At-Risk Populations
Immigrant, Newcomers, Refugees
Long-term Success
The kong-term goal of this program is to provide food assistance to refugee families while they work toward independence and up until they achieve self-sufficiency. During the first year of operation, we served more than 800 people with regular and emergency food assistance. In January of 2022, we delivered food to around 40 households weekly, all of whom were deemed to be in food crisis. Now, our recipient list has been reduced down to 12 households and we continue to work with those cases who continue to need support. With more funding, we intend to offer this assistance to other families. Thanks to our program, families were able to save money and apply funds toward rental payments and transportation costs that open opportunities to employment. Once employed, families are on the road to independence and are removed from the recipient list. This program aims to fill critical gaps while equipping refugees to stand on their own, which is the key to long-term, successful integration.
Short-term Success
Because the food box is delivered directly to the household, free of charge, food needs can be answered immediately. Families are also aware of the option to request an emergency food box that will be delivered within 12 hours.
Program Success Monitored By
The program adjusts to the needs of families at three stages of integration: crisis, equipping and self-sufficient. Each stage includes parameters of assessment that allow TRA to track the financial improvement and progress of refugee families as they navigate employment, budgeting and provision. These parameters include employment status, income amount, rent costs, family-size, English capabilities, as well as other personal barriers that may impede a family's ability to provide food for each person. As a family moves through the three stages, TRA staff and volunteers lend support in the form of budgeting advice, help while grocery shopping, employment support and emergency food delivery. In this way, TRA encourages independence and resilience while providing a safety net for our most vulnerable neighbors.
Program Areas Served
Middle Tennessee
$20,000.00
Description
TRA and our community partner, The Branch food pantry serve dozens of households with weekly food boxes. These boxes have been designed with the advice and guidance of Afghan clients and include halal meat, Afghan bread, fresh produce, milk, eggs and cooking oil. Boxes are delivered directly to the family by both Branch and TRA volunteers. TRA staff regularly surveys each recipient household to ascertain income level, financial stability and budget for food. While a family works towards self-sufficiency, food-box delivery is reduced to twice monthly to allow for an adjustment period. Once a household is deemed self-sufficient financially, the food-box is only available upon request in case of a food emergency.
Program Successes
We have served more than 800 refugees with fresh, culturally-appropriate food, delivered to their doorstep, free of charge.
Beneficiaries
Families
At-Risk Populations
Immigrant, Newcomers, Refugees
Long-term Success
The kong-term goal of this program is to provide food assistance to refugee families while they work toward independence and up until they achieve self-sufficiency. During the first year of operation, we served more than 800 people with regular and emergency food assistance. In January of 2022, we delivered food to around 40 households weekly, all of whom were deemed to be in food crisis. Now, our recipient list has been reduced down to 12 households and we continue to work with those cases who continue to need support. With more funding, we intend to offer this assistance to other families. Thanks to our program, families were able to save money and apply funds toward rental payments and transportation costs that open opportunities to employment. Once employed, families are on the road to independence and are removed from the recipient list. This program aims to fill critical gaps while equipping refugees to stand on their own, which is the key to long-term, successful integration.
Short-term Success
Because the food box is delivered directly to the household, free of charge, food needs can be answered immediately. Families are also aware of the option to request an emergency food box that will be delivered within 12 hours.
Program Success Monitored By
The program adjusts to the needs of families at three stages of integration: crisis, equipping and self-sufficient. Each stage includes parameters of assessment that allow TRA to track the financial improvement and progress of refugee families as they navigate employment, budgeting and provision. These parameters include employment status, income amount, rent costs, family-size, English capabilities, as well as other personal barriers that may impede a family's ability to provide food for each person. As a family moves through the three stages, TRA staff and volunteers lend support in the form of budgeting advice, help while grocery shopping, employment support and emergency food delivery. In this way, TRA encourages independence and resilience while providing a safety net for our most vulnerable neighbors.
Program Areas Served
Middle Tennessee
Budget
$35,000.00
Description
TRA sources donations from the greater Nashville community and delivers these itms to refugee families, free of charge. With the help of American and Afghan volunteers we serve around 40 people a week with essential home-goods such as cookware, dishware, glassware, cutlery, rugs, lamps and bedding. We have three storage units in South Nashville that hold furniture items such as beds and mattresses, dressers, tables, televisions and couches. Over the last year, we have distributed items to more than 260 refugee families in one of two ways: families may come to our units to "shop" for items that they want for their homes or our volunteers deliver items to those families without personal transportation. Our program ensures that every family has what they need to make a house into a home where their family can feel secure and thrive.
Program Successes
TRA has provides furniture to more than 260 households, often-times delivering cribs, high-chairs and toddler beds to families who had no way to purchase them. We also deliver diapers, bottles and toys for refugee children. It's important that the home is a place of security and safety where families and heal together from the trauma of the past.
Category
Housing, Shelter - Home Improvement
Beneficiaries
Families
Economically disadvantaged people
Immigrant, Newcomers, Refugees
Long-term Success
The long-term success of this program is promising, as it is a financially-sustainable way to connect refugees with the items that they need. TRA sources physical donations for free from the greater community through formal and informal personal networks. For example, most of our furniture donations come from requests placed on NextDoor forums and Facebook groups. Donors see our requests and contact us about relocating their items and giving them to families who need them. Something very special about this process is that recently-resettled Afghan volunteers often pick up furniture from donors directly. This gives both Afghans and Americans the chance to meet and form connections across language and culture. We believe that this kind of outreach is critical to disbanding stereotypes or negative assumptions around refugees. It's also important that our donors get to meet the people who they're helping and it's a pleasure to see the friendships that bloom from this interaction.
Short-term Success
The donation-delivery program is so critical to the well-being of our refugee families as they settle into their new homes. Most refugees come to the U.S. without any luggage or items from home. Many people arrive in our city with just the clothes on their back. Stocking a new home with just the basics is impossible, financially. If it were not for the TRA donation program, many families would not have pots and pans to cook in, plates to eat off of, pillows and blankets, mattresses or lamps, toilet paper or shampoo, etc. TRA responds to these needs in phases of urgency. Once a family has arrived in Nashville, we ensure that they have cookware and dishware immediately, as well as hygiene items and bedding. Within a week, TRA volunteers will deliver couches, bed-frames, TVs, tables, and other larger items that we source from our network of community donors.
Program Success Monitored By
We monitor our success by the number of people who receive items from us for free. We also analyze our procurement and delivery systems regularly to improve the response time to requests. Basic home-goods are delivered upon arrival or on the same day. Furniture items may take 5-7 days. Novelty items (sewing machines, pressure-cookers, cribs) may take 1-2 weeks to source and deliver.
Program Areas Served
Middle Tennessee
$35,000.00
Description
TRA sources donations from the greater Nashville community and delivers these itms to refugee families, free of charge. With the help of American and Afghan volunteers we serve around 40 people a week with essential home-goods such as cookware, dishware, glassware, cutlery, rugs, lamps and bedding. We have three storage units in South Nashville that hold furniture items such as beds and mattresses, dressers, tables, televisions and couches. Over the last year, we have distributed items to more than 260 refugee families in one of two ways: families may come to our units to "shop" for items that they want for their homes or our volunteers deliver items to those families without personal transportation. Our program ensures that every family has what they need to make a house into a home where their family can feel secure and thrive.
Program Successes
TRA has provides furniture to more than 260 households, often-times delivering cribs, high-chairs and toddler beds to families who had no way to purchase them. We also deliver diapers, bottles and toys for refugee children. It's important that the home is a place of security and safety where families and heal together from the trauma of the past.
Category
Housing, Shelter - Home Improvement
Beneficiaries
Families
Economically disadvantaged people
Immigrant, Newcomers, Refugees
Long-term Success
The long-term success of this program is promising, as it is a financially-sustainable way to connect refugees with the items that they need. TRA sources physical donations for free from the greater community through formal and informal personal networks. For example, most of our furniture donations come from requests placed on NextDoor forums and Facebook groups. Donors see our requests and contact us about relocating their items and giving them to families who need them. Something very special about this process is that recently-resettled Afghan volunteers often pick up furniture from donors directly. This gives both Afghans and Americans the chance to meet and form connections across language and culture. We believe that this kind of outreach is critical to disbanding stereotypes or negative assumptions around refugees. It's also important that our donors get to meet the people who they're helping and it's a pleasure to see the friendships that bloom from this interaction.
Short-term Success
The donation-delivery program is so critical to the well-being of our refugee families as they settle into their new homes. Most refugees come to the U.S. without any luggage or items from home. Many people arrive in our city with just the clothes on their back. Stocking a new home with just the basics is impossible, financially. If it were not for the TRA donation program, many families would not have pots and pans to cook in, plates to eat off of, pillows and blankets, mattresses or lamps, toilet paper or shampoo, etc. TRA responds to these needs in phases of urgency. Once a family has arrived in Nashville, we ensure that they have cookware and dishware immediately, as well as hygiene items and bedding. Within a week, TRA volunteers will deliver couches, bed-frames, TVs, tables, and other larger items that we source from our network of community donors.
Program Success Monitored By
We monitor our success by the number of people who receive items from us for free. We also analyze our procurement and delivery systems regularly to improve the response time to requests. Basic home-goods are delivered upon arrival or on the same day. Furniture items may take 5-7 days. Novelty items (sewing machines, pressure-cookers, cribs) may take 1-2 weeks to source and deliver.
Program Areas Served
Middle Tennessee
Budget
$40,000.00
Description
The community building events are designed to bring members of the Afghani immigrant community together. Through Women's English speaking courses and Men's professional development courses, we are helping to integrate them into the modern American work place. These events also seek to foster a sense of community amongst the immigrants and provide them with a network of support.
Beneficiaries
Middle Eastern/North African (MENA)
Immigrant, Newcomers, Refugees
Program Areas Served
Middle Tennessee
$40,000.00
Description
The community building events are designed to bring members of the Afghani immigrant community together. Through Women's English speaking courses and Men's professional development courses, we are helping to integrate them into the modern American work place. These events also seek to foster a sense of community amongst the immigrants and provide them with a network of support.
Beneficiaries
Middle Eastern/North African (MENA)
Immigrant, Newcomers, Refugees
Program Areas Served
Middle Tennessee
