The ECDC Multicultural Community Center - Photo by the ECDC
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – Wausau’s Multicultural Community Center is looking for feedback from the community on the organization’s performance working with refugees who recently arrived in Wisconsin.
The center helps provide services to refugees, such as housing, food, and clothes, who recently came to the U.S. from the Middle East, Africa, and Ukraine. Around 175 migrants seek services from the center each year, and the program’s director expects those numbers to continue to rise over the next year.
ECDC director Erick Yanke says tonight’s listening session is a chance for the center to get feedback, saying, “We want to hear from folks how we’re doing, and we’re hoping to lay out to folks what our numbers are and what we’re doing, but hearing from them what we can do better and what ways we can be more helpful is very important.”
Yanke said that around two-thirds of the refugees coming to the area generally stay in the Wausau area, and the center could use supply and money donations from the community to help the migrant families, saying, “The amount of resources we receive from the federal government is very limited, so we’re always looking for folks who may be able to help raise some money to help us house them and get their lives started in the US.”
The center assists the refugees for 90 days once they are brought to the center, and some of the services they assist with include helping the children enroll in public school, helping them find employment opportunities, and setting up any needed medical appointments.
Yanke also discussed the ongoing situation happening in Israel and if the center has heard of any possible refugees fleeing the war coming to the area saying, “We haven’t heard of any refugees yet…it’s very early and it’s tough to know as the situation unfolds.”
Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany introduced legislation known as the GAZA Act last week that aims to block the Biden administration from issuing new visas or allowing holders of Palestinian Authority passports to enter the United States.
The listening session will be held at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Wausau at 6:30 p.m. and anyone from the area is welcome to attend.
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