| Stoughton Resettlement Assistance Program - 2025 |
Amount Funded: $4,000.00 |
| Grant funds will be implemented throughout the 2025 calendar year to sustain and stabilize resettled families already living in Stoughton. With no new arrivals permitted, our work now centers on protecting the well-being of these 50+ individuals and ensuring they can withstand the setbacks caused by lost jobs, housing insecurity, legal struggles, and lack of recognition of their rights.
Winter 2025 (January–March): Provide rental and living assistance to families who have lost income. Cover critical immigration and legal fees to help families maintain lawful status and work eligibility. Volunteers coordinate donations of food, clothing, and supplies.
Spring 2025 (April–June): Expand support for education and employment transitions by connecting families with local employers and training opportunities. Continue emergency assistance for housing, food, and legal costs. Support children through tutoring and extracurricular activities that provide healthy distraction from ongoing fears about loved ones abroad.
All year: Organize family-oriented community events to foster inclusion, provide respite, and strengthen community ties. These include cultural celebrations, sales events, speaking opportunities, holiday celebrations, family gatherings. Offer transportation to legal, medical, and immigration appointments. Volunteers continue English language practice and childcare support. Evaluate ongoing needs and adjust assistance accordingly. Continue financial, legal, and community support, while documenting family progress and resilience. Volunteers plan year-end gatherings to celebrate families’ achievements and honor those enduring separation from loved ones. |
| The Stoughton Resettlement Assistance Program (SRAP) was founded in 2022 with the mission of welcoming and supporting newcomers fleeing war and poverty. In just three years, SRAP has assisted more than 20 families—over 50 individuals—from Ukraine and Venezuela, as well as welcoming two new births into the Stoughton community. Most of these families continue to reside in Stoughton, where they have become valued neighbors and participants in community life.
Originally, SRAP focused on helping newly arrived families adjust to life in the United States: securing housing, enrolling children in schools, finding employment, and connecting to essential services. The mission was clear: to help families in distress begin again with stability, dignity, and hope.
However, with recent federal policy changes, no new families are currently being resettled in Stoughton. Instead, SRAP’s work has shifted to sustaining the families already here, who now face new and significant challenges. Several have lost jobs for which they are legally eligible, leaving them without income, and they cannot return to their home countries where war and instability persist. They are often denied recognition of their legal rights and face harassment, exploitation, and uncertainty. Families are also burdened by immigration and legal fees, which are essential for maintaining lawful status but pose an overwhelming financial strain when income is unstable.
At the same time, the emotional toll of war is ever-present. Families live with daily worry and grief for loved ones still in Ukraine, where danger, displacement, and destruction continue. This never-ending fear, combined with the pressures of survival here, creates deep trauma and exhaustion.
Today, SRAP provides housing and living assistance, emergency financial support, help with immigration and legal expenses, and advocacy for families struggling to maintain stability. Volunteers help parents search for new employment opportunities, ensure children have access to activities that offer joy and distraction from hardship, and stand alongside families facing injustice. More than 1,000 hours of volunteer service annually reflects the commitment of Stoughton residents to support their neighbors in need.
This grant will help sustain these ongoing efforts, ensuring that families already resettled in Stoughton are not left behind but are given the resources and support needed to continue building safe and meaningful lives. |
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