The U.S. is the most recent of several refugee-receiving countries to develop a private refugee sponsorship program–the Welcome Corps program–to bolster refugee admissions. Private sponsorship constitutes an alternative model of refugee resettlement to the traditional government-assisted sponsorship, wherein groups of private citizens are responsible for raising funds for resettlement and delivering core resettlement services to refugees. This research aims to provide the first in-depth investigation of the Welcome Corps program through the eyes of sponsors. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 sponsors, I examine how sponsors encounter, navigate, and contest the stated bounds of their roles. I find that while sponsors are fairly successful at fulfilling their prescribed sponsorship tasks, sponsors struggle to navigate the disagreement and conflict inherent in the sponsor-sponsee relationship. I conclude with recommendations for improvements in the Welcome Corps program and U.S. refugee resettlement more generally, as well as future research directions.
Abby Kodidek (Sun,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: