ICH is partnering with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) to evaluate the New American Cities program, which is designed to provide refugees and other immigrants with career planning and economic security supports beyond what is offered through the current U.S. refugee resettlement program. ICH’s evaluation will track metrics of economic wellbeing and integration at the individual level that go beyond the traditional success metrics of initial job placement and wages. We will also track community-level metrics in 6 cities and develop a social return on investment (SROI) model to test the hypothesis that early economic integration of newcomers pays off for all community members. Ultimately, this evaluation is designed to assess the viability of the New American Cities resettlement model to inform policymaking regarding refugee and immigrant integration moving forward.
