The Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County recently celebrated its one-year anniversary since opening its doors in February of 2023. The Welcome Network reflected on past accomplishments and talked about future goals for helping immigrant families in Johnson County.

The program informally began with Mazahir Salih, the executive director of the Welcome Network and Iowa City city councilor, who began helping immigrant families get acclimated to Iowa City when she worked for the Center for Worker Justice.

Salih said the Welcome Network’s goal is to help immigrant families get a softer landing as they navigate the difficult transition of relocating to a new country.

“We start seeing on repeated occasions immigrants arrive with $1,500 and they think it’s a lot of money because it is a lot for them. They would think that would cover rent, but they don’t know other details in this country,” Salih said. “They don’t know about the deposit, application fee, and that they need a credit and renter history. Many then stay at hotels, and within a short period of time, their money has run out.”

To focus on this program, Salih left her previous job at the Center for Worker Justice, where she also served as the co-founder and dedicated her time to help the families in need.

“We need this organization, and after that I said, ‘Yeah, I’m ready to take this on,’” Salih said. “I called some people, and we started discussing the situation. We registered the name to the state, asked board members to listen and go sit at this dinner, and figured if they can donate $50 a month then we can have $2,500 a year to rent a house, and that’s what we did.”

Salih mentioned that in the one year, they have been able to help 81 individuals, 21 of which are families, and nine of whom have “graduated” from their welcome house — the residence the Welcome Network currently owns to accommodate the families. She also said that even though they cannot yet accommodate everyone who applies, they still work with them and connect them with other sources who might accommodate them.

Salih said the Welcome Network recently started working in part with the Washington and Johnson County coordinator entry run by Shelter House in Iowa City.

Will Kapp, board president of the Immigrant Welcome Network, talked about some of their goals when it comes to the future of the organization.

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“An immediate goal would be to secure a more permanent house that would have more units,” he said. “We’re making it work but it is not perfect, and I think maybe finding something like a duplex or a fourplex that we could feasibly purchase and own as an organization.”

Kapp also explained how the two sections of the Welcome Network operate. He works for the board, which helps with organizing the network, but volunteer work is also essential to the organization, as volunteers help families connect with more resources.

“As far as services Salih and the volunteers are providing, it’s in school, getting kids registered, finding jobs, a house, connecting to a resource that can pay for their deposit, and their first month of rent paid by Johnson County for direct assistance,” Kapp said. “Maybe Medicaid or food stamps if they qualify too.”

Sally Hartman, a member of the board for the Immigrant Welcome Network, talked about her role for the network and her time working with immigrant families before joining the organization.

“I’ve been working with immigrants for a long time, like 15 or 20 years, first as a school psychologist, so I understood the importance of letting other people know about immigrant needs,” Hartman said. “A lot of times I used my church for that.”

Hartman also shared that another goal she has for the Welcome Network and its future plans is to find a house in an affordable neighborhood.

“So, what happens is the children enroll in school, they want to stay there, but we are limited to 45 days so then the parents have to find a new school, place to live, and so kids have to change schools,” she said. “So, for me, I’d rather have a welcome house in a couple areas where they can afford to stay in the neighborhood and the kids in school.”

Hartman also shared that thanks to the Welcome Network, she has been able to sponsor a Ukranian family of five who will be housed soon.

“I have seen families thrive because of the great beginnings that they had when they came to Iowa City, many not knowing they would come here, but then they heard about us, and they connected with us,” she said.