History

The History of Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization

In 1975, following the political upheaval in Southeast Asia, Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians began fleeing their homelands by the tens of thousands. The majority of these people fled overland to Thailand or via boat to Malaysia and other neighboring countries in the region although a fortunate few were airlifted out of Saigon by the U.S. government. In response to this humanitarian crisis, the United States opened its doors to help resettle these Southeast Asian refugees, with Oregon and Washington being two of the first states to offer new opportunities and homes. In the late 1970's, the Portland area was woefully ill equipped to provide resources for the influx of refugees. Local agencies such as Lutheran Family Service and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO) struggled to provide for the new arrivals.

In The Beginning

Because it was apparent in 1976 that more assistance was desperately needed, a group of Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian refugees formed a partnership, and in so doing founded a new community-based agency-called the Indochinese Cultural and Service Center (lCSC). Staffed by bilingual Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian refugees, ICSC worked closely with existing voluntary agencies—Lutheran Family Service, Sponsors Organized to Assist Refugees (SOAR, a program of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon) and Catholic Charities—to assist newly arrived families become oriented to American society and culture and to find jobs locally. In 1980, another group of Southeast Asians formed an additional community-based organization known as the Southeast Asian Refugee Federation (SEARF) to respond to the economic development and interpretation needs of the community. SEARF implemented an economic development project that provided business training and entrepreneurial loans in addition to the first interpretation services for refugees.

The Birth of IRCO

By the mid-1980's, the United States began accepting an ever-increasing number of refugees in response to political repression, war and forced relocation among the refugee population. Accordingly, the ethnic composition of newly arrived refugees in Oregon began to alter and included Afghans, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Iranians, Romanians and other Eastern Europeans. In response to this new influx of refugees, the State of Oregon Refugee Program sponsored an inclusive retreat among all local refugee service providers to develop an integrated approach to assisting refugees to become self-sufficient through early employment. A major result of the retreat was that the ICSC and SEARF merged to form the International Refugee Center of Oregon (lRCO). Under this new structure, IRCO became the sole service provider of employment services and job training for all newly arrived refugees in the Tri-County area, a role IRCO has retained since that time. IRCO retained SEARF's economic development and language interpretation/translation services, known as the International Language Bank, and broadened its ethnically based board of directors and staff to incorporate members of the newly arrived refugee populations from Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Development By Design

In order to meet the community development and social adjustment needs of refugee and immigrant families, IRCO began to expand its service range in 1987 to include a variety of social services while at the same time retaining and strengthening existing services in training, employment, economic development and interpretation and translation. Diversification of services has also meant that IRCO has had to diversify and expand existing funding sources. IRCO became a United Way member agency in 1989, and funding sources now include Multnomah and Washington counties, the State of Oregon, Worksystems, Inc., the cities of Portland and Beaverton, the federal government, and private foundations.

The Middle Ages

From 1989, new youth and family service programs have been implemented, the most significant of which was the creation and founding of the Asian Family Center in partnership with Lutheran Family Service, Catholic Charities and the Portland Police Bureau. The first family center of its kind in Multnomah County, the Asian Family Center was specifically designed to meet the unique cultural and language needs of Asian Pacific Islander youth and families.

Timeline - Past 10 Years

Moving Forward

In 2001 and after its successful capital campaign, IRCO moved to its new location at 10301 NE Glisan Street in Portland and changed the description of the IRCO acronym to the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization. To better meet the needs of the refugee community as well as local employers who hire refugees, IRCO continues to redesign and review its employment and training services into a more efficient, sustainable and empowering "one-stop" model.

Values

• We empower communities, families, and individuals so they can become
  self-sufficient and contributing members of society.
• We create a diverse workforce to reflect the population we serve.
• We provide equal opportunity to refugees and immigrants to help them
  succeed and improve their quality of life in the U.S.
• We ensure that our services are culturally and linguistically inclusive of all ethnic groups.
• We strive for long-term viability and sustainability.
• We develop partnership with communities, government agencies, and
  other non-profit organizations to maximize our resources.

Principles

• Success: We believe in achieving measurable, quality outcomes based on the highest standards for service delivery.
• Cost effectiveness: We believe that it is our responsibility to manage our limited time and resources carefully to maximize services we provide.
• Accountability: We believe in holding ourselves accountable to our communities and stakeholders for our decisions and actions.
• Openness: We value making decisions and taking actions openly in a manner befitting out place in the community.