Word of Thanks - Next with Kyle Clark

ECDC African Community Center (ACC) assists families from around the world as they flee persecution in their homelands to seek refuge and a new life here in the Denver area. These are families just like yours and mine, with the same hopes and dreams we have, who are forced to leave everything behind and find a home in a new country. From the first day it opened its doors in 2001, ACC has helped thousands of refugees like this to rebuild safe and sustainable lives in our community.

Most recently, with the heart-breaking developments in Afghanistan, ACC has begun resettling and is expecting to receive a large number of Afghan families. Denver is currently in the top 4 cities where Afghans are expecting to resettle in the U.S. When an Afghan family is processed for admission into the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program and assigned to ACC for resettlement in the Denver area, our staff and volunteers work together to:

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• Secure an apartment and set it up with household furnishings.
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• Meet the family at the airport and welcome them to their new home.
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• Walk with the family as they navigate health screenings, school enrollments, ID and employment documentation applications and the systems that many of us take for granted.
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• Provide cultural orientation classes to provide an understanding of life in America and, more specifically, in their new community.
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• Work with the family to set goals and develop plans for education, employment, well-being and all areas impacting their journey toward self-sufficiency and full integration in our community.
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ACC staff and volunteers continue to work with new arrivals as they progress towards their goals, and we provide support where it's needed along the way. Lives are changed and the future generations of these families are impacted forever. In addition, our community and our state enjoy the social, cultural and economic contributions these families make.

We welcome your interest in our work, and invite you to join us.

Thanks to the generosity of 9News Word of Thanks on Next by Kyle Clark, you can easily join us by clicking the "Donate" button and make a financial contribution to our current resettlement efforts.

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• $5 will help us provide a warm meal for an exhausted and anxious family, and have it ready for them at their apartment to welcome them when they first arrive from the airport.
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• $25 will help us provide an hour of interpretation during Cultural Orientation Class to ensure everything taught is provided in a language spoken by the family.
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• $50 will help us provide bus rides so that the family can get to appointments, buy groceries and go to work.
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• $100 will help us furnish a bedroom for a new arriving family's apartment.
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• $500 will help us furnish an entire apartment for a new arriving family.
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• $1,000 will help us pay the rent or deposit of a new arriving family's apartment.
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There are other ways to join us as well. If you are interested in volunteering your time, just follow this link to learn about volunteer opportunities or register for a volunteer orientation.

If you are interested in the other work we do at ACC, just follow the link to our website.

Thank you for making this work possible. As more families arrive, the need for your involvement in this community effort increases. We look forward to working together with you in this life-changing work.