🔒Refugee agency head George brings New Haven innovations to national stage

Executive Director Chris George stopped into the Nicoll Street offices of Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) at 1 a.m. a few months ago to find four of his agency’s case managers already there and ready to work.

The crew was on duty in the wee hours to meet a cluster of Afghan refugee families arriving in New Haven from military bases to start the first steps of their resettlement journey. IRIS helped resettle more than 350 Afghan refugees over three months in 2021, more clients than they have helped in some entire years.

“It has been a real challenge for our staff,” George said of the sudden influx of refugees needing homes, jobs and support in the wake of mass evacuations from Afghanistan after the U.S. pullout last August.

As IRIS and other agencies scrambled to help, thousands of traumatized Afghans were confined on military bases awaiting placement.

“[IRIS staff] realized that it's essential to get families off the military bases, so they’ve said we’ll do our share,” George said.

That share has included many late nights and overtime hours for employees at all levels.

“IRIS has been blessed with a mission that attracts amazing staff who are incredibly dedicated and hard-working, creative people,” George said. “People have really stepped forward and have done the work.”

Rallying his staff has been a major role for George in the last year as IRIS abruptly shifted from a slow period for refugee resettlement during the previous presidential administration to 2021’s sudden surge.

Last year also saw a major ramping up of IRIS’s role on the national stage as its model of community resettlement was adopted by towns and cities across the country.

Seeking to both involve and educate the wider community on refugee resettlement, George and his team developed IRIS’s “community co-sponsorship” program about a decade ago. Under the model, groups of as few as five people in an area can come together to sponsor a refugee family, with extensive training and support from resettlement agencies like IRIS.

The value of community involvement was brought home to George by the election of Donald Trump, who made halting refugee resettlement a key part of his immigration platform.

“We need to have grassroots community support for refugee resettlement if we’re going to sustain the program,” George said. “The best way to educate Americans about refugees and refugee resettlement is to invite them to participate in the program — there’s just no better way.”

Using the community co-sponsorship model, IRIS was able to resettle more than 540 Syrian refugees across the state in 2016 during the last crisis, prompted by Syria’s civil war. The success of the New Haven agency’s efforts drew attention from the State Department and major philanthropies that fund resettlement efforts.

During the Trump years, IRIS and George took active roles in promoting community co-sponsorship of refugees nationwide with a busy slate of presentations, advocacy and trainings. The New Haven agency’s efforts raised its profile and earned support from the Open Society and Shapiro foundations.

That led late in 2021 to the formation of Community Sponsorship Hub, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors designed to spark more private resettlement. Since the program’s inception in October, hundreds of “sponsor circles” have already started organizing nationwide to welcome refugees.

“Chris, he has really anticipated the needs of the broader landscape,” said Danielle Grigsby, co-founder and director of external affairs at New York-based Community Sponsorship Hub. “He’s deeply rooted in the New Haven community yet has really had the foresight to see how to respond to displacement crises that we’re seeing at a national level.”

Arabic unlocks a career

George knew little about the global refugee situation when he embarked on a Peace Corps volunteer tour in Oman in 1977. A New Jersey native, he had just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in history and archaeology.

In Oman, George began his study of Arabic, which led to subsequent jobs with Save the Children in the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch in the larger Middle East and in the West Bank with the U.S. government.

“Knowing Arabic, that’s what really determined what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life,” George said.

Family brought him to Connecticut in 2004, where he started looking for a job that would keep him involved in international work. That search brought him to the Interfaith Refugee Ministry, a small agency run by the Episcopal church in New Haven.

“It looked very interesting,” George said. “I had no idea there was refugee resettlement going on in New Haven.”

He got the job in 2005 and two years later the agency changed its name to IRIS to reflect its amicable separation from the church.

From a staff of eight people in 2005, IRIS has grown to employ 75 people — with more hiring on tap for 2022. The budget has grown from $500,000 a year to more than $3 million, a significant portion of that from individual donations. The agency has become a heavy hitter in New Haven’s nonprofit world, drawing thousands to its Run for Refugees and adding Yale and biotech executives to its board.

The major expansion has come from the number and scope of the clients served by the nonprofit: From 150 to more than 700 refugees resettled per year. IRIS has added many more services as well, from after-school programs to English instruction to a food pantry.

When the flow of refugees slowed in the Trump years, IRIS expanded its outreach to the New Haven area’s undocumented immigrants.

IRIS has worked to keep immigrants in their homes and quadrupled the size of its food pantry.

“Growth is practically part of our mission,” George said. “There are limitless needs in the refugee and immigrant community. … There's no end to what we can do. If community support increases and allows us to grow and expand, we’re obligated to grow and expand.”

From a management perspective, George said he has tried to grant his directors the latitude to lead and make decisions in a dynamic fashion. He’s also tried to recognize that the ups and downs of refugee resettlement can put extra strain on his staff.

“Change is exciting, it’s stimulating. I also have to recognize that’s just a management perspective,” George said. “From a staff perspective, change can be disruptive and challenging.”

As he looks ahead, George hopes he has set IRIS up for ongoing success. On Oct. 1 of last year, IRIS opened its first satellite office, in Hartford, as part of a statewide expansion. Due to the Afghan crisis, the Hartford office filled beyond its capacity almost immediately.

“I’ve tried to make it an agile nonprofit,” George said. “The mark of a strong nonprofit is its ability to respond to changing needs and a changing environment.”