Newcomer, Refugee, & Asylum Seeker Support

Many newcomers, refugees and unaccompanied youth may temporarily resettle in hotels, which makes them eligible for services under the McKinney-Vento Act.

You can find information about the McKinney-Vento Act and resources for families on our website. 

Please find additional resources specific to newcomers and refugees below. If you have questions, contact:

Dr. Tom Bookler
McKinney-Vento/Homeless Liaison
847) 803-5605
tbookler@ncisc.org

General Refugee Assistance & Support

• Findhelp.org: Add the zipcode of the person in need of support and find resources for: food, housing, goods, transportation, health, financial assistance, medical care, legal services, employment issues, and education.

• Family Focus: Family Focus invests in strengthening families and their children  in Chicago and northeastern Illinois so they build social capital and achieve upward economic mobility through high-quality innovative programs and services, grounded in anti-racism and social justice.

• The Refugee Center: The center's professional staff is available to accompany families to appointments, meetings and other situations where they need help with translation or interpretation. They offer counseling services to help prepare for these events.  

• RefugeeOne: Annually, RefugeeOne serves more than 2,500 refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants of all ages, ethnic groups, faiths and backgrounds, assisting individuals in becoming independent, self-supporting members of their new Chicagoland community. RefugeeOne provides housing support, English language training, mental health care, employment coaching, youth programs, dental care, and more – at no cost to program participants.

• Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), Refugee and Immigrant Services: IDHS provides links for many Illinois programs for refugee families including the Illinois Welcoming Center (IWC), the New Americans Initiative (NAI), and the Immigrant Family Resource Program (IFRP). One key resource is the list of Agencies Serving Immigrants.

Food Resources

• FoodFinder App: FoodFinder has partnered with the University of Illinois Extension SNAP-Ed program to create Find Food IL, an Illinois-specific food resource tool. Families can use the Find Food IL map to find places  offering free food or meals, stores and markets that accept SNAP/LINK or WIC coupons, and the closest Illinois Department of Human Services or WIC office.

• North Cook County's Township Food Pantries

Childhood Trauma

• Center for Childhood Resilience

• Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative

• Illinois Childhood Trauma Coalition

Resources for Educators & Families

• Illinois Early Learning Project Resources for Educators

• Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center: This resources provides general cultural information on various refugee and cultural groups new to the United States.  These resources provide basic information to help staff begin discussions with families and communities.

• National Immigration Forum Fact Sheet on U.S. Refugee Resettlement: This resource explains who a refugee is, where refugees come from, how long it takes to screen and vet a refugee, if refugees can legally work in the U.S., and many other commonly asked questions about refugees in the United States.

• Guidance on Working with Refugee Children Struggling with Stress and Trauma: From the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), this resource explains to teachers what experiences cause stress or trauma in refugee children, what symptoms a child might display, and how teachers and schools can help refugee children.

• Helping Refugee Students Feel Safe: This article from Edutopia discusses how creating an environment of safety and security is crucial for inclusion of refugee students in the classroom. It focuses on how teachers can support refugee students by respecting their experiences, offering routines and communication, and showing compassion.

• Many Languages, One Classroom: Supporting Children in Superdiverse Settings: This article gives educators strategies to support dual language learners’ language development through family engagement, environmental supports, and dual-language models.

• Mitigating the Effects of Trauma among Young Children of Immigrants and Refugees: The Role of Early Childhood Programs: This issue briefly provides an overview of the experiences of young children of immigrant and refugee families in the U.S. Opportunities for early childhood programs to expand access including integrating trauma-informed strategies, ensuring home-visiting programs are equipped to serve diverse families, and encouraging collaboration and referral among agencies are described.

• Partnering with Newcomer Families: This article provides educators with strategies for working across language and cultural differences to make families feel at home in new schools.

• Raising Young Children in a New Country: Early Learning and Healthy Development Handbook: 
  This handbook and associated tip sheets provide families with information on six themes: family well-being, health and safety, healthy brain development, early learning and school readiness, guidance and discipline, and family engagement in early care and education. Programs serving refugee families, newly arrived immigrant families, and others may use these resources with parents to help ease their transition to a new country. Also available in Spanish and Arabic.

• Social and Emotional Support for Refugee Families: A School Psychology Perspective: Learn from Dr. Robyn Hess (University of Northern Colorado) about the importance of strengths-based approaches in working with refugees, the impacts of displacement and trauma on children, and the unique factors that affect outreach to refugees in rural communities.

• Supporting Young Children Experiencing Separation and Trauma: Resources for Adults Who Care for Them: Young children and their families can be tremendously affected by trauma, with significant implications for well-being well into the future. This page offers resources for families and caregivers working with very young children who have experienced trauma as well as connection to specialized mental health professionals who understand the needs of very young children.

• Welcoming Refugee Children into Early Childhood Classrooms:  This article from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) provides early childhood educators with strategies to support refugee children and their families in their classrooms, including creating play experiences that do not require English, familiarizing families with classrooms, and connecting with related community cultural groups.

• Young Learner Resources: This Toolkit is a collection of resources that supports the practical implementation of the ideas for supporting young learners and their families. Resources include links to teaching guides and materials and to parent resources, some of which have been translated into other languages. There are also downloadable PDF documents with samples of practice.