by Harriet P. Gross
The unobtrusive sign would be easy to miss: It's over the door of an apartment on Holly Hill Drive near Phoenix Drive and reads "Refugee Outreach Program."
This is the American Islamic Center, refugee relief arm of the Islamic Association of North Texas. It is aiding newcomers from a dozen African and Middle Eastern countries as they settle into the Vickery Meadow neighborhood of Dallas.
Across nearby Greenville Avenue, in a former movie complex that's now the 3,000-member Fellowship Bible Church, Ryan Schwanke heads a program called REP: Refugee Empowerment Pathway.
While doing good work in Africa and other parts of the world, local faith groups aren't forgetting people who've come to the U.S. and need their help. The Islamic center and the Fellowship program are two of many religion-related efforts assisting the area's flood of immigrants.
Vickery Meadow – bounded by Northwest Highway, Royal Lane, North Central Expressway and the Skillman-Abrams conjunction – is desirable for refugee resettlement because it has affordable housing and public transportation, health care and employment access. It also has five DISD schools.
So outreach abounds.
"There are about 33 faith-based organizations active here within a 31/2-mile radius," says Terri Solis, 42, a Vickery Meadow resident who works with the African Refugee Fellowship and Northwest Bible Church.
Primary resettlers are the International Rescue Committee and Catholic Charities' Refugee and Empowerment Services. Both are nonprofit agencies that aid anyone in need, regardless of religion.
"No evangelism," emphasizes Mike Auman, Catholic Charities resettlement and job-placement director. "We don't allow any. We help people of all faith traditions and none. We connect them to the faiths of their choice."
Other faith-based efforts are not always so ecumenical. The Islamic Center serves Muslim refugees, from places including Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq.
