FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Americans now have the opportunity to sponsor a Ukrainian refugee family through an innovative program, the Sponsor Circle Program. The program was initially launched in October 2021 to welcome Afghan refugees and the success of the program led to its expansion. While Americans continue to sponsor Afghan families, beginning today, the Sponsor Circle program is expanding to allow community groups the opportunity to also sponsor Ukrainian refugees. 

This is an opportunity for Americans to welcome refugees who have been brutally torn away from their homes. There is an extraordinary outpouring of support for Ukrainians across the country, just as there has been for Afghan refugees. RefugePoint welcomes this effort to build communities across the country that are opening their hearts and homes to refugees. 

“This is a unique moment in the history of refugee response,” said Sasha Chanoff, CEO of RefugePoint. “The actions of individuals today to sponsor refugees will make a difference far into the future. These acts of welcome are the building blocks that will help transform our country into one that is more receptive to those who have been brutally torn from their homes and are in peril.”

RefugePoint works to build new programs that lead to solutions for refugees, and to expand these in collaboration with others so that they can become national and global models. We are grateful for the leadership of the Community Sponsorship Hub, which has coordinated a growing coalition of partners and stakeholders to expand the Sponsor Circle Program. 

RefugePoint welcomes the administration’s continued commitment to launch a permanent private sponsorship program for refugees across the world, harnessing communities’ desire to be an integral part of welcoming those who have been forced to flee their homes.

CONTACT: Alexis Brooke Felder, Associate Director of Communications, RefugePoint (felder@refugepoint.org)