Middle Tennessee has received hundreds of people fleeing Afghanistan since last October, and even more Afghans are on the way. One local agency is expecting to welcome nearly 100 additional Afghan refugees by the fall.
The Nashville International Center for Empowerment is one of the agencies that resettles refugees in Tennessee. Connor Georgopulos is a housing and resource specialist for the organization. He says they’re still searching for permanent housing for about 20 clients from the first wave of refugees.
“With housing being difficult to find in general for most people — and in the current market, price is going up just about everywhere, even at the low-income complexes — it was difficult to try to find available apartments, find affordable apartments for the families and in time for them to be ready for them to arrive.”
Georgopulos says the agency has resettled almost as many people in the last six months as it typically does in a full year. Between NICE and Catholic Charities, the other local refugee resettlement group, 536 Afghan refugees have been served since the fall.
Those agencies have joined with other local nonprofits to launch a fund to support Afghan resettlement. So far, it’s raised more than $43,000, but nearly all that money has already been distributed. It’s going toward a variety of needs for new arrivals including housing, stocking pantries and health care.
The funds also pay to process asylum applications. Most of the refugees entered the U.S. on a special status that only grants them permission to stay for two years. So, in addition to adjusting to their new environments, many arrivals will also need to navigate the asylum process.
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