Services for Older Refugees Project
The Refugee Elders Services Project is funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Services to Older Refugees grant. The goals of the grant are to:
- Establish and expand our working relationship with the Home and Community Living Administration and with the local community Area Agencies on Aging to ensure that older refugees in the community can be linked to mainstream aging services in their community.
- Provide appropriate services to older refugees who are not currently being provided for by the community.
- Connect older refugees to appropriate services in the community to increase independent living and create opportunities that enable older refugees to live independently as long as possible.
- Link older refugees to existing naturalization services, with special attention to newly arrived older refugees and those who have lost or are at risk of losing Supplemental Security Income and/or other federal benefits.
Eligibility
People may be eligible for services for older refugees if they:
- Are age 60 or older.
- Are current residents of Washington state.
- Have lived in the United States for five years or less.
- Have not naturalized as U.S. citizens.
- Have an immigration status that makes them eligible for federally funded refugee services from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. For more information about ORR eligibility, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Services
Under the project, eligible elders can participate in:
- Workshops to assist them to access available aging services in their local community.
- Life Skills Training to enable them to live more independently.
- Survival ESL and Conversation Circles to improve their English language skills and proficiency.
- Introductory Citizenship services to engage them on the benefits of becoming a U.S. Citizen.
- Referral services to connect them with free citizenship services to assist them to apply and prepare for the naturalization process.
Service Providers
View a list of Services for Older Refugees providers on our interactive resource tool.