Welcome Corps Allows Private Americans to Help Resettle Refugees
Joe & Kim Mitchell are part of a private sponsor group in Idaho Falls that welcomed refugees to the city for the first time in decades.
In April 2022, through the Operation Allies Welcome program, their Sponsor Circle welcomed three Afghan Air Force pilots, allies of the U.S. military operation.
The community response was so overwhelmingly positive that the group formed a nonprofit, Idaho Falls Bridge Builders, which in 2023 welcomed another refugee family, from Ukraine.
Joe & Kim were inspired to be involved in a private sponsor group because they know what it’s like to be newcomers in a foreign country. Their family spent a total of seven years living in rural China, and the way they were welcomed into the community with open arms inspired them to provide a similar welcome to others in their home state of Idaho.
Connect with Idaho Falls Bridge Builders: https://sites.google.com/view/idaho-falls-bridge-builders/home
Learn more about Welcome Corps: https://welcomecorps.org/
Reach MOSAICS with questions and story suggestions: [email protected]
Mosaics is recorded and produced by SB Studios
Lisa Meierotto is the Program Lead of Boise State University’s Global Studies program, which she helped create. Along with teaching, Lisa researches intersections between...
University professor Andrea Soleta Schmutz moved to Pocatello, Idaho, in 2022 and wanted to do something to connect and empower other immigrants. She founded...
Fredrick Shema grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda before resettling in Boise with his family in 2012 as a high school student....