The Biden administration announced Thursday a new program that calls on private citizens to help resettle thousands of refugees who come to the U.S. every year.
The State Department wants to recruit 10,000 citizens to serve as private sponsors for 5,000 refugees as part of a yearlong pilot for a new program dubbed the Welcome Corps.
“The Welcome Corps will build on the extraordinary response of the American people over the past year in welcoming our Afghan allies, Ukrainians displaced by war, Venezuelans, and others fleeing violence and oppression,” the State Department said.
The department has traditionally partnered with nonprofit agencies to provide initial resettlement assistance for refugees.
The new program is intended to scale up those efforts “in the face of unprecedented global displacement” by allowing five or more Americans to form a group to provide similar assistance. Those groups would be responsible for raising funds to help refugees settle during their first 90 days in the country.
The sponsors will be vetted by the State Department with the help of a consortium of refugee resettlement nonprofits.
During the first phase of the rollout, the State Department will match private sponsors with refugees who have already been approved for resettlement. The first phase is expected to begin in the first half of this year.
In the second phase, private sponsors will be able to refer potential refugees still abroad to the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program and provide assistance once they reach the U.S.