Welcome to Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization

The mission of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) is to promote the integration of refugees, immigrants, and the community at large into a self-sufficient, healthy, and inclusive multiethnic society.

• International Language Bank (ILB) translates/interprets in over 50 languages.
• IRCO staff reflects the clients we serve, representing over 40 ethnicities and speaking 50 languages.
• IRCO has placed clients in jobs with over 4,000 employers, averaging about 2,146 placements per year (youth and adult).  (1,782 of those were adults.)
• Immigrants are twice as likely as natural born citizens to hold Ph. D’s.
• Immigrants are more likely to be self-employed and start new businesses.
• In the 2005-06 school year, 1,028 youth were enrolled in IRCO’s school-based programs for academic support.  Of those, 98% showed academic improvement as measured by grades.
• IRCO teaches 36 literacy classes each month and 12 practical workshops for newly arrived refugees.
• IRCO provides parenting education for 624 families of  children between birth and age 5—usually in the family’s native language.
• IRCO has the highest rate of family retention among the many Oregon Healthy Start Programs for early childhood parent education.. 

Other information

• IRCO was formed in 1984 from the merger of the Indo-Chinese Cultural and Service Center (founded in 1976) and the SE Asian Refugee Federation, founded in 1980.  Originally called the International Refugee Center of Oregon, it became the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization in 2000.
• In Portland, one in 22 residents was originaly a refugee, one of the highest such ratios in the US. Source: Oregonion article published on February 16th, 1993.
• In 2000, foreign born residents constituted 12 percent of metro Portland’s total population and its immigrant population growth rate is more than double the national average. Source: US Census, Summary File 3, 2000.  US Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics
• Portland’s legal services delivery system annually meets the needs of only 17.8% of the DV cases that require a lawyer’s assistance. Source: D. Michael Dale, The State of Access to Justice in Oregon, sponsored by the Oregon Bar Association, Oregon Judicial Department and Office of Governor John Kitzhaber, March 31, 2000.
• Immigrants add about $10 billion each year to the US economy. Source: National Immigration Forum Fact Sheet, September 19, 2000.
• 56% of IRCOs refugee clients become self-sufficient (as defined by receiving no public assistance) within 8 months.
• Oregon is the 17th largest receiving state of refugees.