ReEstablish Richmond: Filling Gaps within Local Immigrant and Refugee Services
Partner Spotlights are a platform for Robins Foundation grantees to highlight their important work and for Robins Foundation to recognize the incredible efforts and successes of our partners. This month, our Administrative and Operations Coordinator, Annaliese Santana, interviewed Kate Ayers, Executive Director of ReEstablish Richmond. Since 2010, ReEstablish Richmond has welcomed immigrants and refugees (which they often refer to as “newcomers”) in Central Virginia. In 2024 alone, this essential organization served 123 newcomers aged 0-5 and continues to generate meaningful impact in the local community. Throughout her interview, Kate shared poignant insights on the importance of supporting immigrants and refugees, existing gaps within immigrant and refugee services, and how local activists can advance ReEstablish Richmond’s mission.
Can you please describe, at a high level, what Reestablish Richmond does?
ReEstablish Richmond was founded to fill in gaps in the formal refugee resettlement and immigrant services landscape. Our mission is to connect refugees and new immigrants to the resources they need to establish roots, build community, and become self-sufficient.
What inspired the creation of Reestablish Richmond?
Our organization was founded in 2010 by a gentleman named Patrick Braford. He attended a church called Tabernacle Baptist Church during a time when a large influx of Burmese refugees were also attending the church. Through that experience, Patrick learned about and saw the gaps within refugee resettlement and immigrant services. These gaps existed, in part, because federal funding wasn’t strong at the time; similar to how things are now. On top of that, he attended a leadership academy where he learned about different facets of Richmond, including flaws within formal refugee resettlement services. At the time, he realized there wasn’t a formal organization that filled gaps within these services. So, ReEstablish Richmond was founded and initially worked exclusively with the refugee community. But, as time has gone on, we’ve revised our mission statement to be more inclusive of all immigrants.
How can a newcomer access resources at Reestablish Richmond?
One way newcomers can learn about our services is by looking on our website’s “Client Resources” page. We connect newcomers to several local resources such as English classes, food banks, and fun local activities and events. A newcomer or someone they know can also fill out a referral form to access additional guidance with local resources. This form helps us collect some basic demographic information and provides a menu of services that people can self-select from. Once that form is completed, our client engagement team will contact the client to get a full picture of what resources the client already has access to, what resources they are interested in, and how we can help them achieve their goals. Then, we either connect them with one-to-one support services or we enroll them in one of our newcomer education programs.
What are some of the resources that you offer to young newcomers (ages 0-5)?
Our support for the children aged zero to five is pervasive through all of our programming.The majority of our clients have children ages zero to five and the two major service requests are helping clients get their driver’s license and improving their English skills. For our driver’s license support resource, our Client Engagement Coordinators visit each client’s house and conduct workshops on driving and car seat safety in the client’s primary language. Our newcomer education program is committed to teaching our clients and their children literacy and skill building. Additionally, in every in-person class we hold, we offer wraparound services. Part of these services includes our childcare services for kids aged zero to five.
Paid childcare providers from our client communities typically guide childcare services. A majority of our clients are from Afghanistan, so many of our childcare providers are also from Afghanistan. With the recent funding from Robins Foundation, we expanded our funding and library materials for our childcare services. This year, we even hosted a training session for childcare providers. In this training session, we provided training on trauma informed care and literacy building. We have also begun to integrate formal lesson plans focused on literacy building in our childcare programs. These lesson plans are about three hours long, twice a week.
How is your childcare program structured? I imagine engaging a small child in literacy lessons for three hours can be challenging.
Each class has a different makeup of children and ages. So, we always assess the ages of the children so we can integrate age-appropriate materials into the classroom. During each session, the children always have time to play; we recently received some learning toys that follow a Montessori model. We also offer snack time, outdoor time, and interactive story time.
There are several ways in which people can get involved with ReEstablish Richmond. I noticed that one of which is through volunteering. Can you describe what your volunteer program is like?
For people interested in volunteering, they must first sign up for one of our volunteer orientation sessions, which we offer twice a month. This orientation provides a broad overview of who we are as an organization and how people can get involved. After each volunteer orientation session, orientation attendees receive a follow up email with a comprehensive volunteer application. In addition to submitting an application, applicants are required to complete modules on boundary building and how they can embed ReEstablish Richmond’s values into this important work. Once someone completes their application and education modules, they undergo a background check. If they pass the background check, they are added to our newsletter and can officially sign up for volunteer opportunities advertised in the newsletter.
ReEstablish Richmond a service enterprise organization, which means we’ve demonstrated that we utilize volunteers strategically to where our combined volunteer work is the equivalent to three to four full-time employees. Additionally, we integrate volunteers in all areas of our work. We have volunteers that provide us with administrative support, transport our clients to and from our programs, and serve as classroom assistants for our childcare programs. In my opinion, the coolest program that integrates volunteers is our Heela sewing course.
Can you tell me about ReEstablish Richmond started its annual book club?
Our book club began because many of our staff members and volunteers love to read about people from different cultures. We began this book club internally with our staff, then we expanded this to our volunteers, and now we are promoting the book club to the greater community. Recently, we felt that people are even more interested in our client base and felt that this was one of the ways to increase their engagement with the immigrant and refugee community. Now, anyone in the community can join our book club.
What is something you wish more people understood about the community you serve or the work that you do?
I’ll speak on it on two different levels. Part of my role involves fundraising, so I know how hard it is to receive support for such a politically divisive topic. It is challenging to address the systemic barriers for so many people of color, no matter where they’re from. In addition to those barriers, our clients have to navigate language and cultural barriers. On the flip side, the people who are committed and believe in our work are incredible. We have the most amazing interns, staff members, volunteers, and clients. My favorite part of this work is the people I get to meet; they’re definitely the ones who keep me going.
What are some changes you would like to see with how immigrants and refugees are treated in the United States?
In the almost 12 years I have been working in this space, I have noticed that Richmond is an overwhelmingly welcoming space for refugees and new immigrants. In the past 10-11 years at ReEstablish Richmond, we’ve had a consistent flow of volunteers, of faith communities, of other organizations wanting to support newcomers. Since November 2024, we’ve had over 100 people sign up to attend a volunteer orientation with us. That just tells me that people want to engage in this work. There’s a lot of fear with our client communities right now because of policy changes and uncertainty of how it may impact immigrant and refugee communities. So, in the bigger picture, I definitely believe the United States is feeling less welcoming. However, our approach has a local focus, and we are still welcoming newcomers in Richmond and connecting them with the resources they need to thrive and feel safe.
How has Robins Foundation’s support helped ReEstablish Richmond achieve its goals?
Robins Foundation’s capacity building services, Catchafire and Bonterra, were a huge game changer for us. I did not have a nonprofit background when I started working at ReEstablish Richmond, so having these resources were essential. In addition to giving out grants, Robins Foundation said, “Hey, you can have a grant and receive consistent capacity building support that will make your work even more successful.” I was also excited when Robins Foundation narrowed their funding focus areas. Initially, ReEstablish Richmond wasn’t working with many children between ages 0-5, but now we’re able to fill this gap and create accessible opportunities for these young newcomers.
Is there anything that you wanted to promote in this interview, like an upcoming initiative or an awareness month?
Our biggest event is actually our Multicultural Festival which will take place in June 2025 in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month and World Refugee Day. This festival is done in partnership with the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Engagement for the city of Richmond. Multicultural Festival brings together the diverse cultures of Richmond residents so that newcomers and old timers alike can share food, culture, and performance.There will be food, performances, and other cultural exhibits. It’s a great opportunity for us all to understand how we’re all different and how we’re all the same.
Can anyone volunteer for ReEstablish Richmond’s Multicultural Festival?
Unlike our usual volunteer opportunities, people ages 14 and up can volunteer for Multicultural Festival without going through a full background check intensive. ReEstablish Richmond will be promoting volunteer opportunities on our website and social media closer to June 2025. We’ll have plenty of volunteer opportunities for the event, specifically including delivering invitations. Our onboarded volunteers that underwent a full background check intensive can hand deliver Multicultural Festival invitations to all of our clients and provide transportation for our clients who can’t get to the event otherwise.
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For more information on the incredible work at ReEstablish Richmond, please visit https://www.reestablishrichmond.org/
