Monthly Update

Hello Wonderful Humans,

After a brief break for the holidays, Homes Not Borders is back in full force for 2026. At the start of last year, I would not have predicted that our main programs for 2026 would be Artisan Empowerement/Training and Food Assistance - but here we are. The never-ending pivoting in the world of refugee and immigrant support...

Though for January, and likely most of February, we are getting back to our roots with an unexpected surge of setups. Fearing further bans, the last of the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders (SIVs) have made their way here in the past few weeks, despite having until May to get here. Most initially stay with friends and relatives, but quickly start looking for housing. So setups have picked up considerably this month - 14 so far in January - and we expect it to continue through next month as well.

But with all the setups, we are still doing food assistance every Saturday, and so far this month, we have distributed nearly 7,000 pounds of food to 42 different refugee families whose SNAP benefits have been cut. And thanks to the many volunteers (a few pictured above!) who have come out to support this new program. With a full crew last Saturday, we were able to pack and deliver food to 20 families in just under three hours!

Additionally, we just kicked off our new Sew Success workforce development classes this week. We are providing skills building and connections to work for 20 refugee seamstresses. Stay tuned for more updates as the six-month program progresses!

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves this year, check out our impact numbers below from 2025. Some pretty good stuff!

2025 IMPACT

926

individuals helped with household goods & furniture

204

set-ups completed

90

families supported with mentoring & case work

$506,192

in household goods and furnishings passed along to refugees

7,904

volunteer hours

$138,609

in money to refugees ($101,643 in rental assistance)

REFUGEE & SIV UPDATE

Looking back on the December Newsletter, I almost forgot how much bad happened last month and the end of November. And we have already settled into the new - and even more depressing - normal. That's what the last month has been about: adjusting to the realities on the ground.

As mentioned above, the SIV program has been paused, so no new visas are being issued, and arrivals of new Afghan SIVs are dropping precipitously. Estimates are that there are still roughly 80,000 SIVs that have not made it to the United States, and can no longer do so, despite promises of refuge here after supporting U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

And across the board - asylum seekers, immigrants with visas and refugees - have all basically come to a grinding halt. The only newcomers we have heard coming to the U.S. are the Afrikaners. And just to restate HNB's position: we assist refugees and forced migrants based on the UNCHR definition of such. This definition does not include any of the Afrikaners that the Trump administration is designated as "refugees."

So per our program focus mentioned above, we are working to support those newcomers who are already here to help them succeed as much as possible with life in the United States.

HNB NEWS

N2N Pause

As many folks have been asking, we just wanted to let you all know that HNB has decided to pause the Newcomers to Neighbors mentoring program for the winter/spring cohort. With the launch of Sew Successful this month, along with the complications with Ramadaan starting in mid-February, we decided to put it on hold.

We definitely plan to have our next cohort start in late April, lasting until the end of August. Stay tuned for details to sign up for that!

If you missed any of our previous monthly updates, or just want to stay up to date on all things concerning refugees and HNB, check out our new Monthly Updates page.

3610 East Street, Landover, MD 20785

info@homesnotborders.org • www.homesnotborders.org