Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Committee

The Jewish Center's Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Committee supports recently arrived refugees as they establish their new lives in our community. We plan for their arrival, pre-arrange housing, food, and medical care, and meet them at the airport. Our case management includes interpretation services along with cultural orientation, English and financial literacy instruction, and enrollment of children in school.  All of these tasks are required by the U.S. State Department.  We collaborate with Interfaith Refugee and Immigrant Services and Empowerment (Interfaith-RISE), a US State Department designated affiliate of the US Committee for Refugees & Immigrants.  

Our number one priority is helping the family become self-sufficient.  Initially there is government paperwork to be completed and unmet health-needs to be addressed, but as soon as possible our volunteers provide support in finding employment for the families.  Facilitating transportation to and from appointments and job interviews is a large, ongoing responsibility for our committee.

Princeton's diverse community and strong public schools make it a welcoming place for refugee families. Our belief is that that every community can do its part for international refugees and we want our community, Princeton, to do its part. Led by a steering committee experienced in refugee resettlement, our monthly meetings attract a diverse and dedicated volunteer group that includes social workers, teachers, lawyers, and activists, many drawn from local area congregations and representing multiple faith traditions. Our committee also includes representatives from Princeton Community Housing and the Princeton Department of Human Services. 

From 2015 to 2021, we resettled four families ( two from Pakistan, one from Afghanistan and one from Syria).  We then welcomed three families from Afghanistan and worked with families from Cameroon, Eritrea, Tibet, El Salvador, St. John and Turkey.   In 2021, the Taliban moved into Kabul and in 2023, we were working with twenty Afghan, four Ukrainian, five Syrian and two Pakistani households, as well as one each from Uganda, Cameroon and Eritrea for a total of 127 individual Refugees and Asylum-seekers.

As of April, 2025, our Committee is involved in helping 27 families (households) and 111 individual clients.  They’re from Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, Eritrea, Haiti, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Syria, Uganda and Venezuela.  They live in Cranbury, East Windsor, Ewing, Hamilton, Hightstown, Hillsborough, Lawrenceville, Plainsboro, Princeton, Robbinsville, South Brunswick and Trenton,

Slowly, some of the families we’ve been working with have become self-sufficient, or have moved out of the area to join family--resettlement is a process.