Refugee & Immigrant Voices in Action (RIVA) is a grassroots, coalition-building organization founded and led by refugees and immigrants. We empower our communities to access opportunities, build capacity, and grow leaders.
BOARD MEMBERS
Allyson Vukovich
Amelia Lobo
Karen Thompson
Stoyan Tchaprazov
RIVA AMERICORPS
MEMBERS (2023-24)
Catherine Pollard
Chandana Kodavatiganti
Elsita Alarcon
Emma Young
Jaymes Flores
Jesse Bolinger
Linnea Hietala
Tyler Granger
RIVA STAFF
Angelique Nijimbere
April Crull
Arc Simmons-Curtis
Ashlee Seaton
Dayoung Lim
Endi Montalvo-Martinez
Henny Ohr
Mazahir Salih
Mya Thway-Sadler
Nafissatou Lamidi
Pabitra Adhikari
Priscilla Marquez
Ruxandra Marcu
Samantha Dzangare
Yeon Erin Kim-Cho
The Soulful Artist
Scan the QR code below to see more of Min Nyo Maung's artwork.
FROM THE BOARD PRESIDENT
Allyson Vukovich
DEAR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS,
It is with great pride that I write to you as the Board President of Refugee & Immigrant Voices in Action (RIVA). Our organization was founded with a clear mission: to empower Iowa’s refugee and immigrant communities by fostering leadership, building capacity, and opening doors to new opportunities.
RIVA is more than just a nonprofit; it is a grassroots coalition led by the very individuals it serves. We believe that those who have firsthand experience of the challenges refugees and immigrants face are the ones best equipped to create solutions. By using a collaborative, peer-to-peer model, we tap into the existing strengths and expertise
From Brandon Mauch & Tin-Moe
Former Co-Board Treasurers, 2016-2018
When we first joined the board, the organization was in the midst of expanding its services to all refugee and immigrant groups across Iowa.
Building trust and solidarity among diverse ethnic and cultural
communities is no easy task, but the organization persevered— listening deeply to the needs and goals of each community, bringing on staff and AmeriCorps members from those communities, and continually learning and adapting
within Iowa’s ethnic communities to build a brighter future together.
Our work encompasses a wide array of services designed to support and uplift individuals, including professional development, mentorship, and logistical and operational assistance. We are passionate about providing access to education, job skills, workforce, and funding opportunities, all while helping individuals navigate complex systems with confidence.
RIVA’s success is rooted in the belief that everyone, regardless of where they come from, should have the opportunity to thrive in Iowa. We are proud to partner with and learn from the diverse communities we serve, and we are grateful for the continued support of those who believe in the importance of our mission.
Together, we are making a difference—creating lasting change not only for immigrants and refugees, but for all of Iowa. Thank you for being part of this journey with us.
over time. The transition to RIVA is the culmination of this intensive capacity-building work.
We can’t wait to see how RIVA continues to build a stronger, more inclusive state for us all.
DEAR FRIENDS,
You’ve probably heard a lot about immigrants lately. Unfortunately, much of this rhetoric is disconnected from the data and research regarding their economic and social contributions. Plus, it generally comes from people who have no lived experience as newcomers to this country.
Here’s the truth: Refugees and immigrants are a net benefit to our state’s prosperity. They are also beautiful, inspiring, unique human beings whose voices deserve to be heard.
More than 10 percent of Iowa’s population, including myself, is either a refugee or immigrant or has at least one parent who was not born in the United States. Every day, volunteers from our communities translate documents, make phone calls, deliver food, offer rides, teach English, accompany each other to doctor’s appointments, help one another get jobs, and reach out during tough times. From these grassroots, community-led efforts have emerged extraordinary leaders, passionate advocates, hardworking volunteers, and burgeoning nonprofits. Iowa can’t afford to waste the skills, knowledge, and passion of our refugee and immigrant leaders—whether they’ve been serving their community for decades or are just beginning their journeys.
That’s where RIVA comes in. By leveraging the collective strengths of all refugees and immigrants in Iowa, we work to build the power of the people who are so often ignored—the leaders, volunteers, and advocates working on the ground in our communities. These individuals and groups know what our different ethnic communities need and how to best serve them in culturally-responsive and effective ways.
Through RIVA’s efforts, refugee and immigrant leaders and our partner organizations gain resources, capacity, and influence. Together, we ensure that people in our communities can pursue flourishing, meaningful lives in their new home.
I’m excited to share this work with you in the following pages. You’ll get the chance to meet some incredible people, learn about our impressive partner organizations, and witness the hard, heartfelt work we’re doing to bring our communities hope in the face of hate.
Whether you’re a refugee or immigrant yourself, an ally of our communities, or someone who wants to learn more about the newcomers to Iowa, I invite you inside to hear our stories.
Henny Ohr
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
HARNESSING OUR COLLECTIVE POWER
Refugee & Immigrant Voices in Action (RIVA) is a grassroots, coalition-building organization founded and led by refugees and immigrants. We empower our communities to access opportunities, build capacity, and grow leaders.
RIVA is creating a movement of solidarity among refugees and immigrants in Iowa. Pooling our knowledge and capacity and learning from one another, we can better serve our unique ethnic communities and advocate for change across the state. RIVA works to increase immediate access to services, change systems, cultivate leaders, strengthen community-led organizations, and build relationships of trust and solidarity.
At RIVA, we don’t just support refugees and immigrants. We are refugees and immigrants. This identity informs and drives everything we do as an organization. We strive to meet people where they are, and we’re committed to “doing with, not doing for.”
Our bottom-up approach creates results that ripple through thousands of lives—as individuals empower their friends, families, and neighbors, who can then better support their own growing children. Collectively, we are creating a cascade of change that’s powered by our own communities. With expanded access and opportunities, we can achieve our dreams for ourselves and our families, contributing to the well-being of our state and everyone who lives here.
WHAT WE DO
Using a collaborative peer-to-peer model, we build upon the existing strengths and expertise of ethnic communities. Our staff combines professional expertise with lived experience to:
• Provide logistical and operational support to refugee and immigrant-led organizations.
• Offer emerging leaders professional development, mentoring, and networking opportunities.
• Train refugees and immigrants to become community health workers, economic opportunity navigators, and effective advocates for their communities.
• Increase access to education, job skills, and workforce opportunities.
• Address health inequities impacting our communities.
• Conduct community-driven research to inform services and advocacy efforts.
NOTHING FOR US WITHOUT US
Refugees and immigrants know what our communities need and how to best empower one another’s success.
STRONGER TOGETHER
We celebrate the uniqueness of our individual ethnic communities, while also recognizing that our strength lies in harnessing our collective power.
OUR FOUR PILLARS
RIVA is organized into four pillars designed to make the most impact on complicated issues and systems. These programs serve the culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Iowa and support emerging immigrant- and refugee-led groups.
RIVA AMERICORPS
• Training emerging leaders from refugee and immigrant communities to expand access to education and skills-building opportunities
• Strengthening the economic capacity and self-sufficiency of new Iowans through job-readiness programs
IMPACT INCUBATOR
• Empowering the refugee and immigrant leaders of communitybased organizations
• Nurturing these organizations into sustainable and impactful nonprofits
HEALTH EQUITY CAMPAIGN
• Addressing health disparities that affect refugee and immigrant communities across the state
• Ensuring that we receive equitable access to culturally responsive health education and services
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
• Conducting community-led research, where people with lived experience actively participate in designing and conducting the studies
• Learning more about refugee and immigrant communities in Iowa to guide advocacy efforts
MISSION
To advance the lives of immigrants and refugees through collaborative action, advocacy, and leadership development.
VISION
RIVA envisions an Iowa where immigrants and refugees are seen and respected as the primary actors in their communities and have the resources and expertise they need to support their peers in living healthy, productive, and meaningful lives.
OUR HISTORY
Empowering refugees and immigrants in Iowa for over a decade
For more than 10 years, our organization worked to empower refugees and immigrants throughout Iowa as the nonprofit known as EMBARC. With organizational growth and an expanded mission, we officially changed our name in 2023 to Refugee & Immigrant Voices in Action (RIVA). Since then, we’ve embarked on a new chapter in our history of empowering refugees and immigrants.
OUR FOUNDING VISION
In 2012, Executive Director Henny Ohr, ally volunteer Lisa Scott, and six advocates representing four different ethnicities from the Burma community co-founded Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center (EMBARC). As the first refugeeled service provider in Iowa, we empowered the community through advocacy, education, and leadership development. Although our initial work focused on refugees from Burma, our mission and programming expanded over the years to include other immigrant and refugee communities throughout Iowa.
ENGAGING OTHER COMMUNITIES
Beginning in 2015, the RIVA AmeriCorps program (formerly known as RefugeeRISE AmeriCorps), began training emerging refugee and immigrant leaders from different
ethnic and cultural backgrounds to expand access to education and skills-building opportunities for their communities. By 2019, our services were meant for all refugees and immigrants in Iowa, including the diverse Latin American, African, and Asian diasporas. Since then, we’ve also expanded our health navigator program and formalized our work nurturing ethnic communitybased organizations.
THE TRANSITION PROCESS
As the organization grew and flourished—along with the refugee and immigrant communities we served—it became clear that we needed to formalize the organization’s shifting and growing mission. Over the course of three years, our staff and board members put an enormous amount of energy into exploring different ways to structure and lead the organization. We hired nationally recognized board consultants who specialize in this type of transition and engaged the Drake Legal Clinic for guidance. They advised keeping the board as small as possible during the transition to streamline operations and grow from there. Ultimately, our board approved a new mission and bylaws, as well as a restructuring process. The transition enabled our organization to better respond to and support the diverse and evolving needs, circumstances,
and capabilities of the 200,000 refugees and immigrants living in Iowa, as well as those arriving in the years to come.
Meanwhile, services and programs for the Burma community continue under a separate, independent nonprofit led by its own board. This organization uses the name EMBARC to prevent confusion among the people it serves. Some of EMBARC’s previous programs in the Waterloo area have also separated into a new nonprofit, Refugee and Immigrant Youth Organization (RIYO), which provides after-school programming to ELL students.
MOVING FORWARD
Although the organization’s mission has evolved over the years in response to changing circumstances, RIVA is guided by the same values that we were originally founded upon. Our community organizing, capacity building, leadership development, and system change efforts have been part of our work since our founding. Over the past 12 years, we’ve proven that this model is not just ethical and equitable, but also extremely successful. RIVA is bringing this model of community self-sufficiency and collective empowerment to more leaders, advocates, and community-based organizations across the state.
RIVA IN THE COMMUNITY
By Emma Young
Over the past few years, RIVA has begun to engage with even more immigrant and refugee communities across Iowa. This work has included connecting with Swahili- and Frenchspeaking communities in Cedar Rapids and partnering with Latinx and Afghan community organizations in Des Moines.
Thanks to the committed efforts of our staff and AmeriCorps members, RIVA has become
a statewide hub for refugee and immigrant leaders and communities in Iowa—resulting in expanded access and opportunities for newcomers from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
By helping to expand the reach of our partner organizations, our radius of impact has continued to grow, day by day, month by month, and year by year. ◆
Counties reached by the Health Equity Campaign
Past and present RIVA AmeriCorps host sites
Sioux City
Storm Lake Hampton
Waterloo
Marshalltown
Cedar Rapids
Dubuque
Davenport
Muscatine
Columbus Junction
Iowa City
Des Moines
Council Bluffs
Ottumwa
Osceola
1. RIVA AmeriCorps members and our community partners conducting free health screenings at the Latino Heritage Festival in Des Moines in September. 2. RIVA staff and AmeriCorps members with our community partners at St. Patrick’s Summer Fest in Perry in June. 3.
members at our annual Day at the Capitol in January. 4.
member Jaymes Flores distributing education materials and health supplies at the Culture Festival in Marshalltown in September. 5. Ruxandra Marcu, Director of Programs and Communications, and Emma Young,
AmeriCorps member, at the Free Community Meal and Resource Fair in Des Moines in September.
RIVA AmeriCorps
RIVA AmeriCorps
RIVA
By Rachel Vogel Quinn
H E R
TB E T T E R T O G
How immigrants and refugees benefit everyone in Iowa
DR. LUCÍA M. SUÁREZ
Those who aren’t calling immigrants villains often consider them victims, people in need of saving. Of course, immigrants and refugees do face many challenges in Iowa and across the country—discrimination, systemic barriers, and inequities that RIVA is working to address. But immigrants aren’t victims either, not more than any of us struggling to make our way in this world.
“We are active, creative, productive citizens in our communities,” Dr. Lucía M. Suárez, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish and Latinx studies and director of the U.S. Latina/o studies program at Iowa State University, says about herself and her fellow immigrants in Iowa.
Immigrants and refugees are doers, go-getters, creators, change-makers, leaders, activists, entrepreneurs, artists, beloved family members—the list goes on and on. In other words, immigrants are unique individuals who enrich our communities in countless ways.
“The bottom line is that immigrants are net positive contributors to everything that makes a society successful,” writes Zeke Hernandez, Ph.D., professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, who
HERE’S THE PLAIN TRUTH: IMMIGRANTS MAKE IOWA STRONGER. THE DATA PROVES IT.
compiled decades of research from all over the country in his recent book, “The Truth About Immigration” (see page 14).
Immigrants bring ideas, talents, motivation, and investment to Iowa. At their core, newcomers are the same as people who grew up here—human beings who want to make a home with those they love and leave an impact on the world before they’re gone. But their presence in Iowa is especially beneficial because of their differences; immigrants’ skills, connections, cultural traditions, and new perspectives push our economy and our society to grow, innovate, and blend together the best of each of us.
As Hernandez puts it: “[Immigrants] broaden what all of us can accomplish together.”
The recent uptick in hate speech and outright lies about immigrants is alarming, but attitudes can and do change over time. We need to supersede the villain/victim dichotomy by telling human stories and highlighting hard facts.
The next time you hear someone repeat a lie about immigrants, counter it with the truth: We are all better off because of our immigrant and refugee neighbors.
6 WAYS IMMIGRANTS & REFUGEES CONTRIBUTE TO IOWA
1
IMMIGRANTS RAISE WAGES AND CREATE JOBS
Extensive research has found that newcomers do not take away jobs from U.S.-born workers. Instead, their presence actually creates jobs and raises wages for the people already here. In fact, when immigrants are deported, jobs disappear and wages slump for other workers.
The reasons for this are twofold: First, immigrants aren’t just workers; they are also consumers who buy things, dine at restaurants, and use local services. According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants in Iowa had $5.2 billion in spending power (disposable income after taxes) in 2022. In his book, Hernandez points out that immigrants make the entire economic pie bigger, which benefits everyone who makes their living here.
Secondly, research has found that immigrants who take lowwage jobs are a boon for their U.S.-born counterparts, who end up in higher-paying positions as a result. When a company expands its workforce—often by hiring immigrants to fill frontline jobs that others don’t want—the resulting business growth means more managers, administrators, and communication roles are created. Due to the language skills required, these higher-paying jobs usually go to U.S.-born workers.
more money from immigrants over the long term. A 2017 analysis by the National Academy of Sciences found that the average immigrant makes a net positive contribution of $275,000 to public budgets over a period of 75 years.
Nearly all working immigrants pay taxes—whether they are documented or not. According to the Economic Policy Institute, immigrants paid nearly $100 billion in taxes in recent years. And because those without the necessary documentation are excluded from receiving most public benefits, they pay more in taxes than they use in services. Between 2012 and 2018, immigrants paid $51 billion more in taxes toward Medicare than they used in services, according to New American Economy. On the other hand, U.S.-born citizens used $98 billion dollars more than they contributed.
In Iowa, taxes paid by immigrants lead to more and better public services for all of us—roads, schools, police and fire departments, and programs for kids, families, and senior citizens. In 2022, immigrants living in Iowa paid $1.1 billion in federal taxes and over $680 million to state and local governments, according to the American Immigration Council. That included more than $790 million for Social Security and $215 million for Medicare.
2 3
IMMIGRANTS EXPAND PUBLIC BUDGETS
Although recent arrivals can slightly increase shortterm costs for city and county governments, state and federal governments overwhelmingly net
IMMIGRANTS START BUSINESSES
Newcomers are 80% more likely to be entrepreneurs than people born in the U.S. This holds true for immigrants from both high- and low-income countries. Despite making up less than 15% of the
U.S. population, immigrants are founders or co-founders for 25% of new businesses and 44% of start-ups backed by venture capital. Some of these companies end up employing hundreds or thousands of people; others just a handful. No matter their size, these businesses create more jobs than those founded by U.S.-born entrepreneurs.
4
IMMIGRANTS BRING INVESTMENT
Hernandez calls immigrants “magnets of investment.” By analyzing investments in the U.S. by companies from 27 different countries, he found that the larger share of immigrants from specific countries living in a state, the likelier it was that firms from those countries would invest in that state. Immigrants also connect local businesses to suppliers and business opportunities in their homeland. Hernandez explains that the flow of capital is tied to human networks, which build knowledge and trust between different parts of the world. The result is a mutuallyreinforcing triangle of immigration, investment, and jobs.
5
IMMIGRANTS DEEPEN AMERICAN CULTURE
Newcomers contribute more than their labor to Iowa; they also bring their cultural traditions. By definition, culture is dynamic, not static. When people of different backgrounds live and work together, the result is a richer cultural tapestry for everyone. Hernandez labels this “the remix effect,“ while Suárez uses the term “cross-pollination,“ invoking a bee visiting multiple flowers.
This force, which Suárez calls “immensely generative,” leads many immigrants to become entrepreneurs, artists, or activists.
“It’s not that you lose one culture to gain another. They coexist side by side,” Suárez clarifies. “You learn something that belongs to another culture, and it becomes part of your life setting. Then it seeds something new.”
There are endless examples of cross-pollinated ideas becoming staples of American culture. In a 2013 paper, the sociologist Charles Hirschman created a list of iconic cultural gifts from immigrants, especially within Hollywood, academia, arts and music, the culinary scene, and high-tech industries. Many of these contributions have become part of our national heritage and are now seen as quintessentially American. Hernandez believes that’s why American culture is so influential globally, because we remix traditions and ideas from all over the world.
IMMIGRANTS REVITALIZE SMALL TOWNS
Rural Iowa faces many challenges in the 21st century—not least the
loss of residents to larger cities. As a result, local businesses are forced to close their doors and larger employers struggle to fill jobs, sometimes moving operations to other states or overseas.
In some rural areas, however, immigrants have revitalized local communities—helping local businesses and larger employers thrive and ensuring that hospitals, nursing homes, grocery stores, and other service providers can keep serving residents. Plus, immigrants open up new businesses that grow the local economy further.
“Immigration has remade our built landscapes and kept many rural communities afloat, much as it did a hundred years ago,” says Emiliano Aguilar, Ph.D., assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. “Immigrants coming to these places, wanting to see themselves and their cultures represented in their new homes, create the grounds for thriving small businesses. Welcoming new neighbors and allowing them to flourish is vital to the lifeblood of smaller communities.”
ALL IMMIGRANTS ARE DESERVING
Just because immigrants benefit Iowa doesn’t mean that positive contributions are a prerequisite for them to receive basic rights, supportive services, or a warm welcome in their new home.
“Immigrants having to constantly prove that they deserve these things sets a very dangerous precedent,” says Aguilar. “It’s an argument that shouldn’t have to be made. It should just be a given.”
“Migration is a human right,” Aguilar continues. “Migrants deserve every right that should be bequeathed to a human being.”
“THE
TRUTH ABOUT IMMIGRATION: WHY SUCCESSFUL SOCIETIES WELCOME NEWCOMERS”
By Zeke Hernandez, St. Martin’s Press, 2024
Most of the statistics included in this article are from Hernandez’s book, which analyzes and collects an extensive body of research on immigration from the past two decades. The author, an immigrant from Uruguay and professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, is a renowned
expert on the topic of immigration. He intersperses the hard data with interesting anecdotes from his own life, as well as stories about other immigrants.
“This book will show that our society suffers tremendous costs by allowing our immigration policies to be hijacked by the uninformed,” Hernandez writes.
RESISTING THE GRAND NARRATIVE
Immigrants and refugees are not a single group that can be described through a few facts or stories. Each cultural community, and each individual, contains a multitude of complex, sometimes conflicting, stories.
“There is never one narrative that describes any one group,” says Suárez. “We always want these grand master narratives, but I am a big advocate for small steps.”
An immigrant of Cuban heritage, Suárez’s work focuses on memory and belonging, as seen through the lens of literature, dance, and music.
“Stereotypes or big narratives about identity work only so well, versus the realities on the ground,” Suárez says. “I would like for my research to highlight the importance of nuance and difference in our shared humanity.”
In the face of stereotypes and simplified narratives in the media and public discourse, Suárez holds on to hope that individual stories and personal connections founded in kindness and respect can cultivate an environment of belonging in a violent world.
“We should never let go of hope, but it’s a hard process,” Suárez says, especially for immigrants and refugees who face exclusion and discrimination here in Iowa, coupled with the trauma they often deal with from past experiences in their home countries or during migration.
“Groups like RIVA offer unparalleled support and networking structures that help people understand and work through emotional strife—a shared identity to help us look for the good, escape the bad, and truly find hope and healing.”
“We are active, creative, productive citizens in our communities.”
Dr. Lucía M. Suárez
Immigrants & Refugees in Iowa
200,100 IMMIGRANT RESIDENTS IN IOWA*
72% OF FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS ARE PROFICIENT IN ENGLISH.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
$7B
$1.8B $5.2B 10,900 $359M
6.3% OF IOWA’S POPULATION $1.1B FEDERAL TAXES PAID $790M+ CONTRIBUTED TO SOCIAL SECURITY
43% OF IMMIGRANTS IN IOWA ARE NATURALIZED U.S. CITIZENS.
Immigrant household income
Total taxes paid by immigrants
STATE & LOCAL TAXES
Spending power
Immigrant entrepreneurs
Total business income of immigrant entrepreneurs
130K+ IMMIGRANT WORKERS IN THE LABOR FORCE
7.6% OF IOWA WORKERS ARE IMMIGRANTS.
12% OF STEM WORKERS IN IOWA ARE IMMIGRANTS.
A SHARED HERITAGE OF MOBILITY
What history can teach us about immigration today
By Rachel Vogel Quinn
Immigrants have been arriving in what’s now the United States for more than 450 years—since the Spanish first established a settlement at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. Things have changed a lot since then, but the history of immigration in this country still has a lot to teach us about the people, politics, and policies impacting immigration in the 21st century.
AN UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD
Dr. Emiliano Aguilar, Ph.D., assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, first got interested in the history of immigration through stories of his Mexican grandparents, who migrated to East Chicago in the 1960s. Aguilar’s work focuses on the political labor and urban histories of Latino/as in the Midwest.
“[Immigration in the region] is a really diverse and varied story that goes beyond the city into our everyday spaces and stretches everywhere,” says Aguilar.
Although immigrants from all cultures have faced discrimination and hatred upon arrival, racism has made migration tougher for some groups, particularly Latinos. Aguilar notes that the experiences of immigrants vary widely based on when they arrive, where they come from, and where they settle. For example, although many Irish and Italian immigrants dealt with widespread prejudice upon arrival, Mexican migrants and their descendants have experienced bigotry for over a century.
“The U.S. has a long legacy of exclusion and a clear history of othering built into our immigration systems,” says Aguilar. “An uneven
playing field for migrants based on their countries of origin has created gross inequalities that are rampant in our everyday discourse.”
MANY WAYS TO MIGRATE
Although racist narratives are at the core of the current backlash against immigration, Aguilar notes other factors that influence people’s opinions. For example, in 1960, the University of Iowa established the Cuban Institute, which trained immigrants fleeing Fidel Castro’s regime to become Spanish teachers at Iowa high schools. Welcomed by the Iowa governor at the airport, newspapers across the state covered their personal immigration stories.
On the other hand, Latinos escaping civil war in Guatemala in the 1990s or gang violence in El Salvador in the 2010s were not so warmly welcomed. Aguilar attributes this to the public’s lack of knowledge about the geopolitical circumstances in Latin America that drive migration—in contrast to the extensive media coverage of Cuba during the Cold War.
Much of today’s harsh rhetoric about immigrants stems from “selective misremembering,” Aguilar says. We’ve built myths around the migratory experience, he explains, that falsely contrast people arriving today with immigrants of the past, who are often the ancestors of those in power. It’s up to historians to remind us that there was never one “right way” to come to this country.
WHY PEOPLE LEAVE HOME
To unravel myths around migration,
Aguilar says, we need to share more stories about the commonalities between immigrants throughout history—whether it be Syrians and Afghans escaping war, Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe, Germans leaving poverty and religious oppression, or the Irish escaping the Great Famine. Although the experience of each group—and each individual—is different, they all involve the basic human need for safety, freedom, and economic security.
“The migratory experiences of the 1920s have a lot of similarities with the 2020s,” says Aguilar, “whether it’s the dangerous, dirty work that migrants have to do, or the feeling of being manipulated or ostracized by a community or a boss or a landlord. There are parallels that run across time.”
ZOOMING IN
Looking at general trends is one way to make sense of the past; storytelling is another. History, Aguilar says, is like a slinky—you can pull it wide to analyze global geopolitical forces or push it inwards to focus on individual stories. During his research, Aguilar has uncovered many forgotten stories about immigrants who worked to empower themselves and their communities. He teaches these stories in his classes to help students build empathy with previous generations.
DR. EMILIANO AGUILAR
“History grants us an opportunity to access the intersection between the historical context, the struggles of an entire community, and the real lived experience of a single human being,” Aguilar explains. “Ideally, it’s through these empathetic connections that everyday folks change their mentality about immigration.”
CROSS-CULTURAL COALITIONS
Changing hearts and minds is easier when many people raise their voices together. Throughout history, immigrants have created movements to leverage their collective power. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this organizing occurred through ethnic enclaves, cultural clubs, and mutual aid societies, which were
usually structured around a single ethnic identity.
Although immigrants account for about the same share of the U.S. population as they did in 1890 (around 14%), building coalitions is more difficult today, Aguilar explains, because people come from all over the world, rather than just a handful of countries. Because each ethnic group is comparatively small, language barriers and cultural differences can hinder collaboration. But these challenges aren’t insurmountable, Aguilar argues. He points to organizations like RIVA as examples of powerbuilding across ethnic lines.
“In a more globalized world, these cross-community dialogues become ever more necessary,” he explains. “There’s an opportunity to build solidarity around a shared
TIMELINE OF IMMIGRATION IN IOWA
• The Black Hawk Purchase opens up lands in lowa to settlers. At the time, only 40-50 non-Indigenous people live in lowa, most of whom are French
• The territory of lowa is established. The first settlers come from U.S. states to the east.
• An influx of German and Irish newcomers begins the “first wave” of immigration in lowa, which lasts through the 1870s.
• Small numbers of Mexican immigrants, the first Latino group in lowa, are recorded in the 1850 census. Scandinavian, Dutch, and Czech immigrants also start arriving in the 1850s.
• By 1870, about 18% of people living in Iowa are foreign-born, compared to around 6% today.
• The “second wave” of immigration to lowa includes more Eastern and Southern Europeans, as well as Russian immigrants.
refugee and immigrant identity, a shared heritage of mobility.”
Creating spaces for crosscultural exchange is vital, Aguilar says. By building a diverse network of community organizations, RIVA is acting as a force multiplier—doing more than any single ethnic group could on its own.
Except for Indigenous Peoples, whose ancestors have been here for tens of thousands of years—everyone in Iowa shares an immigrant heritage. History teaches us that the newcomer experience, though it differs in the details, is nearly universal. Recognizing this should bring us together, rather than pushing us apart. In the end, we all belong here.
“Everyone at some point is a newcomer,” Aguilar says. “But no one is a newcomer for long.”
By Emma Young
1970s to 1990s
1900s to 1920s
• The Mexican Revolution, beginning in 1910, leads many Mexicans to move to the Midwest. By the 1920s, Mexican communities flourish across lowa.
• The Vietnam War kicks off the “third wave” of immigration to lowa, with refugees coming from Southeast Asia
• In 1975, lowa Governor Robert Ray creates a state agency to work with private resettlement organizations to support newly arrived refugees.
• Refugees from Bosnia, Ethiopia, and Central America, as well as people from Africa and Asia, settle in lowa as they flee conflict at home.
• lowa’s growing population includes people from many countries, cultures, and ethnicities, significantly increasing the state’s diversity.
• Between 2010 and 2022, lawa’s population of immigrants grows by 100,000.
• In 2018, the top countries of origin for immigrants in lowa are Mexico (26%), India (6%), Vietnam (5%), China (4%), and Thailand (4%).
• 6.3% of lowa’s population is foreign-born in 2020, totaling just under 200,000.
• lowa’s infrastructure for welcoming refugees and immigrants is the most robust in its history.
RIVA AMERICORPS Building stronger leaders
and communities
RIVA is proud to have been part of the federal AmeriCorps program for nearly 10 years so far. AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, provides opportunities for people to serve their country domestically, address the nation’s most pressing challenges, improve lives and communities, and strengthen civic engagement.
Leveraging the power of community, RIVA AmeriCorps trains emerging leaders to empower refugees and immigrants in Iowa with education, work readiness, and supportive services. As one of the largest and most diverse AmeriCorps programs in Iowa, we use a community-centered approach to expand access to education and skills-building opportunities for newcomers, who in turn contribute to stronger communities across the state. Our members collaborate with refugee and immigrant community leaders and partner organizations to empower refugees and immigrants with the skills and resources they need to thrive in work and life. For many of those we serve, their only connection to vital resources is through a RIVA AmeriCorps member in their community.
Founded in 2015 as RefugeeRISE, the program has reached more than 10,000 refugees and immigrants across the state of Iowa. On average, 80% of our members are first or secondgeneration immigrants or refugees, making them uniquely qualified to support their communities while gaining the experience and skills they need to become leaders and professionals.
WHAT WE DO
RIVA AmeriCorps members connect and support fellow refugees and immigrants to increase economic opportunities for individuals and economic growth in Iowa. This work includes:
• Removing barriers to accessing employment services
• Breaking the poverty cycle by providing supports that lead to economic self-sufficiency.
• Providing culturally- and linguisticallyappropriate support.
• Offering basic education for immigrants and refugees learning to navigate life in Iowa.
• Providing leadership opportunities to immigrants and refugees through service and volunteering.
HOW IT WORKS
The program benefits members, host organizations, refugees and immigrants, and local communities across Iowa.
• RIVA AmeriCorps members get a living allowance, benefits, professional development, skills training, and hands-on leadership experience.
• Service sites get the benefit of the members’ hard work, expertise, and cultural knowledge and connections.
• Refugees and immigrants in underserved communities receive more culturallyresponsive, higher-quality support in their own languages, helping them build financial stability and brighter futures for their families.
• State and local economies get a boost from a larger, more qualified workforce and households with more buying power.
RIVA AMERICORPS SERVICE SITES
This list includes participating service sites during the 2021 - 2024 grant years.
• Afghan Partners in Iowa
• Al Éxito
• ArtForce Iowa
• The Bridge of Storm Lake
• Catherine McAuley Center
• Cedar Rapids Public Library
• Centro Latino of Iowa
• City of Columbus Junction
• College Community Schools (Prairie High School)
• Community Youth Concepts
• EMBARC
• Hoover Community School
• Iowa City Community School District
• Iowa City Compassion
• Iowa Spanish Helpline
• Iowa Welcome Network of Johnson County
• Jewels Academy
• Kirkwood Community College
• Korean-American Society of Iowa
• La Luz Centro Cultural
• Latinx Immigrants of Iowa
• Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County
• PaTi’s Libelulas
• Refugee & Immigrant Voices in Action (RIVA)
• Refugee and Immigrant Youth Organization (RIYO)
• Shalom Community Impact Center
• Tapestry Farms
• United We March Forward
• World Relief Quad Cities
OUR IMPACT IN 2023
This data covers the RIVA AmeriCorps program from September 2022 to September 2023, the most recent data available at time of publication.
I39 members
15 countries represented
23 languages spoken
712 clients completed training
1,279 individuals served
1,082 support services provided
60 volunteers recruited
2,049 hours served by volunteers
HELPING COMMUNITIES RECOVER FROM DISASTER
am proud to be a part of the RIVA AmeriCorps program, which plays an important role in disaster response and recovery for immigrants in Iowa. Personally, I’m in awe of what former AmeriCorps members accomplished in response to the pandemic— helping thousands of refugees and immigrants file for unemployment, get COVID-19 tests, obtain personal protective equipment, access food, and much more. Incredibly, that response is still ongoing, as we continue our vaccination outreach to refugee and immigrant communities across the state.
This summer, I got the opportunity to become part of that legacy of disaster response. For six days in July 2024, I deployed as a RIVA AmeriCorps member to northwest Iowa to respond to the needs of residents after severe storms and flooding devastated the area. I worked alongside
By Jaymes Flores
members from various AmeriCorps teams across Iowa. Together, we helped with the distribution of D-SNAP (Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) food assistance benefits to affected residents of Sioux County, particularly those in Rock Valley.
Over the first three days, we guided over 125 individuals
and families toward receiving emergency food benefits. I valued the opportunity to support the 80+ Spanish speakers who were part of this group. I am confident that this service of direct cash in the form of debit cards for those who lost nearly everything in the flooding made a meaningful impact.
Each day presented scenarios where I could offer support to folks in extremely vulnerable situations. Despite the long hours and early start times, my energy remained high, as I recognized the impact of my work. I was entrusted with a powerful role, and I tried to perform these duties with authenticity, diligence, and empathy.
The importance of this experience cannot be overstated for me personally, for the volunteers, and most importantly, for the community. Ultimately, the community has been gradually restored after this horrible disaster.
Jaymes Flores (center) with staff from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the state’s D-SNAP program
By Linnea Hietala
“Developing myself and making a difference in people’s lives has always been the center of my goals.”
—Nafissatou Lamidi
LAMIDI
Volunteer to Leader: NAFISSATOU
From
Most people don’t start volunteering with an organization in order to get a job there. They do it to make a difference in other people’s lives— out of the goodness of their hearts. The same was true for Nafissatou Lamidi, who began volunteering with Hoover Community School, a RIVA AmeriCorps service site in Cedar Rapids, in early 2020.
Immediately, her intelligence, work ethic, cultural knowledge, and expertise in community development stood out to the staff and AmeriCorps members she worked with. Within a few short years, Lamidi ended up as a staff member and leader at RIVA. Although the job hadn’t been part of her plan, the role aligns with her personal values and professional ambitions. “Developing myself and making a difference in people’s lives has always been the center of my goals,” Lamidi says.
SCHOOL DAYS
Born and raised in Benin in West Africa, Lamidi has always wanted a career building stronger communities and designing better systems—ones that empower people to live healthy, happy lives, support their families, and pursue their dreams. Education has been key to making that career a reality for her.
In 2014, Lamidi earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration with a focus on planning and community development from the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. She then went on to earn a master’s degree in social development projects management from the University of Science and Technology of Benin and another master’s in development studies from the African School of Economics. With the goal of enrolling in a Ph.D. program at an American university, she came to the United
States in 2019 to improve her English skills and study for the GRE, the standardized test used in admissions for many graduate schools in the U.S.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, throwing a wrench into everyone’s plans. Concerned about the well-being of other African immigrants in the Cedar Rapids area where she had settled, Lamidi began volunteering at the food pantry at Hoover Community School, using her interpretation skills to communicate with Frenchspeaking members of the African diaspora. (French is the official language of Benin and Lamidi’s second language. Although she’s fluent in French, her first language is Yoruba, a language spoken primarily in southwestern and central Nigeria.)
Given her language skills and cultural knowledge, Lamidi was recruited by RIVA AmeriCorps members to write and record educational videos for French speakers in order to share lifesaving health information with the community. She soon began volunteering in other ways, too, responding to the unique needs of the African community during the pandemic.
As students all over the country moved to online learning, children from refugee and immigrant families struggled to keep up with their studies. Parents at Hoover with limited English and digital literacy skills had trouble communicating with the school and navigating technological issues. So Lamidi volunteered to go to students’ homes to help set up computers and tablets. She also checked in on students who had been missing classes and set up mobile hotspots for those with unstable internet connections. This allowed students to stay engaged in school both academically and socially.
“You can give parents all the
instructions you want, but if they don’t speak English or can’t read, they don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lamidi says. “That’s how we were making that difference. [We were the] people who could relate to the parents, speak the language, and then go and help them set the kids up for class online.”
Lamidi and others on her team also met one-on-one with Hoover students to provide both academic and emotional support, reading and playing UNO with them.
“It was important for the kids to be able to see people who looked like them in the school who they could talk to and relate to,” Lamidi says. “The whole purpose of our program was to be able to close that gap and provide hands-on support.”
WINDS OF CHANGE
In 2020, AmeriCorps members and volunteers like Lamidi were already overwhelmed with pandemicrelated work when a derecho hit Cedar Rapids in August. With wind speeds of up to 140 mph, the derecho caused $11 billion in damage across Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana—making it the costliest thunderstorm in U.S. history. Lamidi saw the destruction firsthand.
“People were losing their houses, and they didn’t even know they could ask for help,” Lamidi says of the African community members she was volunteering with. “They thought this was just a normal thing; we didn’t even know they had been hit. We went for activities with the kids and then saw that people had lost their homes.”
For immigrants and refugees in the Cedar Rapids area, the derecho was a disaster that destabilized their newly established lives and recalled traumatic experiences from their pasts. The storm led to serious housing issues, loss of important possessions, and significant food insecurity. At least two housing complexes
home to mostly refugees and immigrants were largely uninhabitable for months.
As RIVA AmeriCorps members from across the state traveled to Cedar Rapids to help, Lamidi played a key role in the derecho recovery efforts. Hoover Community School set up food stations throughout the city to help hundreds of people access food daily.
The experience showed Lamidi that emergency response systems are not set up to provide the additional support that refugees and immigrants need. Volunteers like Lamidi from refugee and immigrant communities were essential in bridging the gaps, providing interpretation services, building trust with families, and helping them navigate the monthslong recovery process.
“We need to help more people,” says Lamidi. “We need to educate people more about what’s possible and let them know that they don’t have to fix their situation alone.”
Witnessing that critical need was part of the reason Lamidi decided to move from volunteer to official RIVA AmeriCorps member.
LEARNING ON THE JOB
Lamidi joined RIVA AmeriCorps (then known as RISE AmeriCorps) in the fall of 2020 and served two back-to-back terms at Hoover Community School. During this time, she met Mallory Petsche, the supervisor of the AmeriCorps service site at Kirkwood Community College. Impressed by her skills, Mallory recommended Lamidi for a role with RIVA as Regional Program Coordinator in Northeast Iowa. She joined RIVA as a staff member in August of last year. By January, she had been promoted to AmeriCorps Program Manager.
Lamidi says that everything about her job has helped her grow.
“I’m still learning. Because the program is so responsive to the
needs of the community, things change quickly. I have to learn as I’m going,” she says.
Like many managerial positions, Lamidi’s role involves paperwork and reports, budgeting, logistics, and evaluations. These tasks all help members and service sites make the biggest possible impact for refugee and immigrant communities. Lamidi is proud to manage a program that has helped more than 10,000 refugees and immigrants across Iowa develop skills, gain confidence, and pass on what they’ve learned to others in their community facing similar challenges.
“AmeriCorps members fill a huge gap in our services, including interpretation, having knowledgeable, multilingual staff from the community being served, and facilitating connection and involvement with the community,” says Petsche.
OUT OF HER COMFORT ZONE
Lamidi says her experience as an AmeriCorps member prepared her for the problem-solving aspects of her role. Because she was a member herself, she can easily relate to members’ experiences. She advises new members to be open-minded and look at the role as a learning opportunity, rather than a “job” to clock in and out of.
Lamidi also encourages her members to set goals for themselves and build relationships with other members and their supervisors. She points to her own experience as an example, when a connection with Petsche led to a job she hadn’t expected, but ended up loving.
“An open mind,” Lamidi says, “will take you very far.”
Lamidi’s experiences with RIVA AmeriCorps, both as a volunteer and a member, confirmed her desire to work in community
“An open mind will take you very far.”
building and development. She still plans to pursue her Ph.D. Afterwards, she wants to take everything she learned from her RIVA AmeriCorps experience back to her community in Benin.
One of the most important things she’s learned is that diving into a new experience and being forced to integrate quickly as a newcomer is an opportunity for immense growth.
“When you only stay within your community, you don’t really step outside of your comfort zone,” she says. “But there’s so much growth that comes from doing that.”
HOOVER COMMUNITY SCHOOL
Building a hub for refugee and immigrant support
with RIVA AmeriCorps members Christina Sehna & Michelle Binam
By Ashlee Seaton
At Hoover Community School in Cedar Rapids, students speak 20 different languages and come from 23 countries around the world. Over half the students at Hoover are currently enrolled in ESL classes, and 91 percent of the student population receives free or reduced lunch. Seeing these numbers, you might assume that Hoover is a struggling school with poor academic performance, disengaged parents, and behavior challenges from students. But you would be wrong.
At Hoover, which serves students from preschool through fifth grade, the majority perform at or above grade level in their academic subjects. Parents, including those who don’t speak English, are actively engaged with their children’s education. And the school has become a hub for a diverse community of refugees and immigrants to connect with one another and with vital support services and resources. In other words, the school isn’t just thriving; it’s helping the community thrive, too.
Much of this success can be attributed to Minouche Bandubuila, Community School Coordinator at Hoover, and her team of RIVA AmeriCorps members. Their every action is focused on making students, families, and immigrant and refugee community members feel supported and heard.
A PASSION FOR COMMUNITY
A proud mother of three children, Bandubuila first became involved with Hoover as a parent volunteer after her eldest daughter enrolled. She began by reading with students, helping call parents, and organizing school events.
But that was hardly the beginning of her community work. Bandubuila harbored a strong passion for community service long before getting involved with Hoover. Previously, she was the African program specialist at Young Parents Network, where she made home visits to offer support and education to families. That role gave her supervisor experience and helped her understand the needs of both individuals and organizations—skills she uses now in
her role at Hoover, where she is currently in her third year.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Much of this work is done by Bandubuila, the staff, and the team of RIVA AmeriCorps members she supervises. They run a twice-monthly food pantry and regular community resource events, which connect people to health care, employment, housing, immigration services, legal aid, and translation resources.
Bandubuila trains RIVA AmeriCorps members, who are from the ethnic and cultural communities they support, on how to develop and implement community outreach plans. With her guidance, members conduct a community needs assessment, perform client intake interviews, support case management plans, make home visits alongside her, provide ongoing support during weekly check-ins, and identify relevant community resources for clients. RIVA AmeriCorps members also provide linguistically and culturally relevant assistance for job seekers— meeting with clients one-on-one to help them search for employment, create resumes, and prepare for interviews. Additionally, members teach ESL, citizenship, financial literacy,
MINOUCHE BANDUBUILA
parenting, and college/career readiness classes for immigrant and refugee community members.
OVERCOMING LANGUAGE BARRIERS
In addition to organizing and overseeing all this work over the past two years, Bandubuila also created the Home Literacy Program, called “Lire Avec Moi,” to help parents assist their children with academic work, encourage educational achievement, and improve family literacy. The program enables parents—who might otherwise struggle to help their children with schoolwork due to language barriers—to offer their kids academic support at home.
Partnering with the school instructional coach, Bandubuila and the RIVA AmeriCorps members create informational packages for each household in the parents’ native language. The packages, which offer instructions for parents to help improve their child’s academic performance, are handed out at conferences, and parents have the option to request follow-up home visits. In its first year, the program completed over 100 home visits.
As a result of the program, Hoover has seen a significant
improvement in student and parent engagement over the past two years. When Bandubuila began her role, only three parents were actively engaged with the school parent meeting—largely due to language barriers and feeling undersupported. Now, an average of 30 parents regularly participate in their children’s educational journeys.
Student engagement has also increased during Bandubuila’s tenure, with the creation of new after-school programs such as soccer, running, and STEM clubs.
“Students want to participate in these clubs, and their behavioral issues decrease as a result."
With her supervision, RIVA AmeriCorps members serve as a direct link between the school, students, parents, and the larger community. Bandubuila emphasizes the importance of the members being able to speak with each student in their native language.
“Our members reflect our students,” Bandubuila says.
EXPANDING IMPACT
Hoover Community School is currently in its sixth year as a RIVA AmeriCorps service site. But Bandubuila’s leadership has
RIVA AMERICORPS’ IMPACT AT HOOVER
Since Minouche Bandubuila began supervising the RIVA AmeriCorps host site at Hoover in 2022, members have made a huge impact on the refugee and immigrant community in Cedar Rapids.
• 320 individuals served
• 1,085 direct support services provided
• 123 volunteers recruited
• 175 clients improved at least one job-readiness level
CLASS ENROLLMENT
During the 2022-2023 program year, members taught four classes each semester for hundreds of refugee and immigrant community members.
• Financial Literacy
• English Language Learning
• Citizenship
• Career/College Readiness
allowed the members serving there to expand their impact exponentially.
Early on, Bandubuila recognized a division between the members and Hoover students, so she created opportunities for the students to engage with members. Creating clear expectations for everyone involved, Bandubuila developed a thriving system of communication. She credits the two members serving at Hoover Community School last year, Christina Sehna and Michelle Binam, as essential to the work.
“I am grateful for my members because we could not do what we do without them,” Bandubuila says. ◆
MICHELLE BINAM
GET TO KNOW SOME OF OUR IMPRESSIVE RIVA AMERICORPS MEMBERS FROM THE 2023-24 SERVICE TERM!
RIVA AMERICORPS MEMBERS
ELSITA ALARCON
Position: Capacity Member, Leadership Navigator Host Site: RIVA Cedar Rapids
Elsita Alarcon moved around a lot growing up. Both her parents are Mexican immigrants, so the family went wherever they could find work. She spent the first four years of her life moving back and forth between Southern California and Mexico.
As a non-native English speaker, Elsita understands the difficulties that come with language barriers and the frustration of important communication getting lost in translation. Seeing how difficult things were for her parents and other family members not born in the U.S. made Elsita passionate about wanting to help those who struggle with similar circumstances. That’s why she feels proud and honored to be a part of such an important cause!
During her free time, Elsita enjoys painting, listening to audiobooks, watching documentaries with her calico cat Cookie, and spending time out in nature with her partner, daughter, and dogs Dwayne and Sophie.
MOHAMMED ELHAG
Position: Community Navigator
Host Site: Kirkwood Community College
Originally from Sudan, Mohammed Elhag grew up in Saudi Arabia. He came to the U.S. by himself in 2019 in order to continue his education. In 2021, he started taking English Language Arts (ELA) classes.
Mohammed’s passions drive him to work with people, especially in the hospital setting. He’s currently working toward his long-term goal of becoming a physician. Thanks to his dedicated studying, he’s been named to the dean’s list at Kirkwood Community College. In his free time, Mohammed volunteers at Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids and as a tutor for both the TRIO SSS - ESL program at Kirkwood and the Catherine McAuley Center.
WALLA OSMAN
Position: Community Navigator Host Site: Kirkwood Community College
Originally from Sudan, Walla Osman earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in her home country, where she worked for Ribat National University in the computer science department for two years.
Before joining RIVA AmeriCorps, Walla was a preschool paraeducator in the Iowa City Community School District for three years. Helping people and seeing them succeed is Walla’s passion.
RIMA PATEL
Position: Community Navigator
Host Site: Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County
Rima Patel is a dedicated and ambitious University of Iowa student pursuing a double major in business management and political science, alongside nonprofit leadership and philanthropy. Originally from Story City, Iowa, Rima has experience working in customer service and assistant teaching. She loves working with people, and her long-term goal is to lead nonprofit organizations in order to give back to marginalized groups and those in need.
Taking inspiration from her parents’ journey as immigrants, Rima is passionate about helping advocate for and empower refugees and immigrants. In her free time, she loves to read, hang out with friends and family, crochet, and volunteer.
Position: Community Navigator
Host Site: The Bridge of Storm Lake
ROUDLER LOUIS
Position: Community Navigator
Host Site: Catherine McAuley Center
Roudler Louis is a proud Caribbean from Haiti. Before immigrating to the U.S., he worked as a human resources technician in public administration for three years. He also volunteered at Focus Consulting Firm in Port-au-Prince, with his church’s youth club, and in many other nonprofit organizations in his hometown, Petit-Goâve.
Roudler recently graduated from Kirkwood Community College and plans to complete a bachelor’s degree in data science at the University of Iowa.
In his free time, Roudler enjoys cooking, dancing, and traveling to discover new places and explore different cultures. As an immigrant, he understands how hard it is to find your way in a new place, and he strongly believes that there is nothing more important than investing in human life. Roudler is honored to serve as a RIVA AmeriCorps Community Navigator and assist other immigrants and refugees as a way to express his gratitude and give back to those who have helped him in the past.
CHANDANA KODAVATIGANTI
Position: Community Navigator
Host Site: RIVA Des Moines
Chandana Kodavatiganti studies public health at the University of Iowa on the pre-medicine track, with a minor in American Sign Language. She’s passionate about improving health access and creating opportunities for people in the community.
As an immigrant herself, Chandana understands the importance of community and strives to serve as a resource and advocate for others. In her free time, she enjoys connecting with friends and family and checking out new restaurants in the area.
Alondra Rangel is currently a student at the University of Iowa majoring in elementary education and minoring in Spanish. She is super excited to serve and be out in the community she lives in, and she loves getting the chance to meet new people.
In her free time, Alondra enjoys hanging out with friends and family, reading, and going on walks.
CHRISTINA SEHNA
Position: Community Navigator Host Site: Hoover Community School
Christina Sehna is from Pohnpei, Micronesia, but was born in the U.S. She is interested in serving immigrants and refugees because she also comes from a family of immigrants. Christina loves being the go-to person for members of her community who need help finding resources and connecting with others. In her free time, she likes to read and listen to music.
Christina plans to continue serving her community at Kids on Course, an after-school program designed to support children and create educational opportunities. She looks forward to continuing to develop the communication and leadership skills and adaptability she gained while serving with AmeriCorps. She encourages anyone who may be interested in the program to apply.
ALONDRA RANGEL
CHRISTA RWEMA
By Emma Young
Meet Christa Rwema, a RIVA AmeriCorps member who just completed her second term at Kirkwood Community College. Christa is from Rwanda, known as the “Country of a Thousand Hills.” She lives with her 11-year-old son while pursuing her associate degree in business administration at Kirkwood. She is a self-motivated person whose energy comes through when she speaks.
As a member, Christa served at Kirkwood’s TRIO SSS - ESL program, which offers assistance to refugee and immigrant students with schoolwork, event organization, and translation services. In the beginning, she primarily worked in translation and helped connect people to resources. Through this work, she found immense satisfaction from uplifting people within her community. Her passion for giving back took on new meaning during her service.
Part of her inspiration for doing a second service term stemmed from a positive interaction Christa had with a fellow AmeriCorps member when she visited TRIO as a student in need of assistance. The member “was engaging, passionate, and so ready to help me even
Position: Community Navigator Host Site: Kirkwood Community College ◆
though we had never met,” says Christa. She felt taken care of, and the experience fueled her desire to be able to do for others what had been done for her.
Through her lived experience as an immigrant in the United States, Christa wants to make it clear to others that possibilities exist for them here. Although the American Dream is not necessarily what most people imagine it to be—in fact, immigrants face a great many difficulties in the U.S.—Christa wants to share with people that achieving their dreams is still very much possible.
In the future, Christa plans to stay actively engaged in community building. She wants to remain in the nonprofit field, as she loves the impact of the work.
Christa served as a RIVA AmeriCorps member not for the benefits, but for the ability to go home and feel good about her day and what she did to help others. She enthusiastically encourages anyone to apply to be a RIVA AmeriCorps member.
“You never feel alone,” she says. “Your peers and coworkers are all such kind people; they want to help you the way you want to help them. It is such a beautiful, supportive space.”
GROWTH MINDSET:
TAKING CHANCES IN UNEXPECTED PLACES
Written by Emma Young
Photos by Ashlee Seaton
Many people think growth is a linear process—moving from one place to another, embracing one culture over others, leaving aspects of yourself behind to become a new person. But Cecilia Bwanakweri, a RIVA AmeriCorps alumna, knows that’s a false narrative. For her, growth has been multidimensional—incorporating many identities and experiences, a variety of cultures and communities, a mix of chance meetings and big opportunities, an array of challenges and a circle of people who helped her overcome them.
FROM ZAMBIA TO IOWA Bwanakweri was born in the East African country of Zambia, where she was raised by her parents and community alongside her older brother and sister. Originally from Rwanda, her parents fled to Zambia as refugees due to the conflict there. Growing up in Zambia instilled a deep sense of community, belonging, and caretaking in Bwanakweri. Her community was nurturing and loving and took care of each other’s families.
Everywhere you went someone was looking out for you, Bwanakweri says.
One of the most impactful experiences of her childhood was visiting a local village where her parents had lived as refugees when they first came to Zambia. There was no electricity, the huts were made of wood and mud, and everyone was full of life and energy. Bwanakweri says the experience was an opportunity to understand how life differs for everyone, and she has carried that wisdom into the rest of her life.
At age 9, Bwanakweri and her family resettled as refugees in Minnesota,
where they stayed for a year. Having learned English in Zambia, alongside her native tongue Nyanja, language was not a huge barrier for Bwanakweri and her siblings, and her parents made active efforts to learn English, as well. But culture shock proved to be a bigger challenge. Navigating the typical high school cliques was made even more difficult by the prejudice she faced due to her refugee status.
After her family relocated to Cedar Rapids, Bwanakweri found a friend group that uplifted and supported her—bringing her to a place of growth and helping to launch her out of what she refers to as her “fixed mindset.” With these friends beside her, Bwanakweri flourished—excelling in school and pushing herself to a place that she’s proud of.
FINDING HER PASSION
After graduating from high school, Bwanakweri enrolled at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids as a first-generation college student. There, she faced yet another challenge: figuring out what to do with her life. She knew that she was a passionate human being, someone who cared deeply for others, but she was unsure how to channel that into a profession.
With an undeclared major, Bwanakweri found herself in sociology classes, where she connected deeply with the material. She began looking for relevant internships, ideally something working with refugees
and immigrants, as she wanted to be able to use her firsthand experience to help others. Her advisor introduced her to the RIVA AmeriCorps program and the Catherine McAuley Center, one of the program’s service sites. She decided to give RIVA AmeriCorps a try, although she wasn’t entirely sure what she would be doing.
Much to her surprise, Bwanakweri fell in love with her work. She admits that she struggled to navigate the cultural barriers her position presented at first, but those challenges became an opportunity for growth—a mindset she values highly. Her eyes were opened to religions, cultures, and ways of life she had not yet been exposed to, and her passion for her career slowly began to take shape throughout her service term. Bwanakweri found that she enjoyed helping others locate relevant resources and supporting their journeys into education and employment.
A WITNESS TO GROWTH
Bwanakweri served her first RIVA AmeriCorps term while working toward her bachelor’s degree in sociology at Mount Mercy, where she also joined the International Club and Black Student Union and served as a peer mentor. After her term ended, Bwanakweri decided she wanted to continue to surround herself with passionate and inspiring people who were working to create a unified and equitable community. “Without [the other members], I wouldn’t have been able to serve to the best of my ability,” says Bwanakweri.
For her second service term from 2022-2023, Bwanakweri returned to the Catherine McAuley Center to support the LIFE (Learning is for Everyone) program, which empowers refugee youth in the Cedar Rapids area and introduces them to a “growth mindset.” She coached refugee youth in English,
life skills, and social-emotional learning and promoted a sense of belonging among the students. Her experiences during her second term as a RIVA AmeriCorps member only deepened her commitment to serving refugee and immigrant communities.
“The most beautiful thing about this was seeing the amount of growth [within our clients],” she says. “We have seen people going from not being able to read English to being able to read on their own. To be able to witness and support that growth is beautiful and amazing.”
KEEPING AN OPEN MIND
Due to Bwanakweri’s impressive work during her second term, her supervisors at Catherine McAuley Center hired her as education program coordinator—another role she was hesitant to step into at first but soon realized that she loved. The position not only allows for her own personal growth, but gives her the opportunity to uplift newcomers from her community through education and support services. During her first year of work, she also earned her master’s in strategic leadership from Mount Mercy, graduating in May 2024.
Bwanakweri left RIVA AmeriCorps with feelings of gratitude and a recognition of how much she’d grown during her service terms. She sings the praises of the program and emphasizes the wealth of opportunities it provides, especially for personal growth and professional development. Although she entered the program with trepidation, unsure what she was taking on, the experience helped shape and solidify her own goals and passions. As a result, she emphasizes the importance of keeping an open mind in life.
“Just do it,” she says of both the AmeriCorps program and new opportunities in general. “You never know what could happen.” ◆
Creating a more inclusive and equitable health care system
The Health Equity Campaign connects refugee and immigrant communities in Iowa with the resources and services they need to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.
Founded and led by RIVA, the Health Equity Campaign is a collaborative, community-based effort to address health disparities that affect refugees and immigrants across the state. The campaign brings together refugee- and immigrant-led organizations to provide culturally- and linguistically-appropriate health education and facilitate access to health care services.
WHAT WE DO
We know that consistent, culturally-relevant information and education is the first step to addressing systemic barriers that reduce community access to health care.
For the past few years, the Health Equity Campaign has worked to ensure that underserved refugee and immigrant communities receive culturally-responsive health education and services by:
• Creating educational resources, toolkits, and newsletters on health-related topics.
• Hosting multilingual helplines and health events.
• Facilitating vaccine clinics.
• Providing health screenings at community events and training refugee and immigrant community members to conduct those screenings.
• Working with public health departments, medical providers, and other community partners to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 and flu vaccines.
• Helping partner organizations organize culturallyspecific vaccine clinics, health programming, or educational outreach.
Our work promoting COVID and flu vaccines will continue for the next six months, but RIVA is also moving toward a health navigator model focused on education, health care access, and supportive services. Programming will be guided by what the community needs most.
For example, based on research and screenings conducted in partnership with MiSalud Iowa, we plan to build a continuum of care for diabetes management. Trained health navigators (community health workers) from the refugee and immigrant community might conduct diabetes screenings, connect patients with health care providers, organize learning circles and
“Health equity is achieved when everyone can attain their full potential for health and well-being.”
World Health Organization
support groups, and offer nutrition guidance and healthy, culturally-relevant recipes.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
The Health Equity Campaign builds bridges between immigrant communities and health care providers through a train-the-trainer, peer-to-peer social learning model.
The Health Equity Campaign works with four groups of stakeholders:
• Health navigators, trained refugee and immigrant community members who help their peers navigate the health care system and access services
• Ethnic-based community organizations, which directly identify the resources and information most needed by the people in their communities
• Public health departments, health care providers, and health care associations, which serve as technical experts and providers of care
• RIVA AmeriCorps service sites, faith-based organizations, and neighborhood centers, which distribute health information and host access events
Through this ongoing collaboration, RIVA and our partner organizations learn from one another and create strategic advocacy plans together. Collectively, we advocate for system change, including expanding health care access and improving social determinants of health for refugee and immigrant communities. By leveraging our collective knowledge and resources, we can build a healthier community for us all.
Health Disparities
The pandemic laid bare the stark disparities in health care among the immigrant population. Health inequities are caused by a series of intersecting factors, including:
• Historical and present-day racism and discrimination
• Language barriers that impede people’s ability to obtain crucial health information, book medical appointments, fill out insurance forms, visit the emergency room, communicate with medical professionals, and care for ill family members.
• Lack of official documentation experienced by people who came to the U.S. in many different ways—that makes it more difficult to get health insurance and medical care.
• Unequal and poorly managed vaccine distribution.
• Social determinants of health—the economic and social conditions that influence the health of individuals and communities. Without these foundational elements of well-being, it’s more difficult for people to stay healthy and reach their goals:
• Stable employment and livable wages
• Quality housing and schools
• Safe neighborhoods
• Access to fresh food, green spaces, and technology Health disparities hurt everyone. They contribute to societal issues that cost taxpayers money and restrict the economic growth of our state. More importantly, they lead to avoidable human suffering and death.
When all Iowans have the opportunity to live healthy lives—regardless of their ethnicity, language, or country of origin—then our state and its people can reach their full potential.
The health of each one of us affects the health of all of us.
VACCINE EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
As soon as the COVID-19 vaccines became available in the spring of 2021, we started offering culturally-responsive education and outreach. We also began registering people for appointments through various multilingual helplines. The work has continued nonstop since then.
By developing culturallyand linguistically-appropriate materials, sharing information through trusted messengers, and connecting people with resources, we help refugees and immigrants make informed choices about vaccines, so we can all stay healthy. In partnership with immigrantled organizations, such as Knock
and Drop Iowa, MiSalud Iowa, and Latinx Immigrants of Iowa, as well as community health care providers, such as Primary Health Care, Marshalltown Public Health, and Broadlawns Medical Center, we’ve organized or supported over 60 clinics designed to provide vaccines to specific cultural communities. Speakers of diverse
languages provide interpretation for clients, answer questions, and assist throughout the process. We also deliver vaccine education at a wide range of events across Iowa. We continue to host and support vaccine clinics designed to serve refugees and immigrants, including the Latinx and African communities.
UNDERSTANDING VACCINE HESITANCY
By Jaymes Flores
Vaccines save lives. Promoting vaccines, especially for COVID-19 and the flu, is a key part of our health equity work. But we know that a significant proportion of refugees and immigrants are hesitant to get vaccines.
In February, I began a monthslong research project aimed at understanding the broader social, economic, and cultural factors that contribute to vaccine hesitancy among refugee and immigrant populations. The project involved a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including a survey and interviews.
To get survey responses, we met people where they were—at cultural events, resource fairs, and local stores and restaurants that cater to refugee and immigrant communities. The survey, with questions based on the social determinants of health, was available in English, French, Spanish, and Dari. Here’s an overview of what we found:
40% of respondents expressed low trust in health care institutions.
45% preferred cultural remedies over modern medical practices.
40% expressed fear of the vaccine itself, citing concerns about side effects.
50% reported encountering misleading information about vaccines.
25% highlighted limited access to vaccine sites and language barriers in health care settings.
Respondents with lower education levels were more likely to be hesitant or unsure about getting vaccinated.
25% responded that they were hesitant but open to more information, while 20% said they would refuse a vaccine.
My interviews uncovered similar results, with fear being the biggest barrier among the people I talked to. Many were worried about getting sick from the vaccine, as they could not afford to miss any work. Others lacked credible sources for vaccine information, as they couldn’t read English nor their native language.
Overall, my research highlighted the importance of RIVA’s work using trusted messengers to provide vaccine outreach and education, as well as the continued need for culturally tailored messaging that meets people where they are.
Based on my research, I created dozens of social media posts in Spanish and English promoting the COVID vaccine and annual flu shot, which will be distributed on our partners’ social media channels. The research will also inform future outreach efforts in refugee and immigrant communities and our partnerships with health care providers who are working to improve their culturally-competent communication. ◆
JAYMES FLORES after presenting his research to RIVA staff
Moving Beyond Translation
Co-creating health education with refugee and immigrant communities
By Rachel Vogel Quinn
OUR VOICES IN ACTION
Learn more about our health equity efforts at the RIVA blog, Our Voices Visit rivaiowa.org/blog to read and subscribe.
Samantha Dzangare, Health Equity Coordinator at RIVA, is not a fan of translated fliers. When it comes to health care education, translating materials from English to another language is “not as useful as it seems,” she says. But she keeps seeing health care providers and service agencies rely on this method to get the word out about important topics like vaccination.
To help educate the larger health care community about the importance of going beyond translation, Dzangare presented at a breakout session at the firstever Iowa Immunization Summit in September. Her session, “Vaccine Advocacy in Refugee & Immigrant Communities,” was a joint presentation with Zuli Garcia from Knock and Drop Iowa and Audri La-Uhlken from Monsoon Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (see photo above)
Dzangare focused her remarks on the need for health care providers and public health organizations to do more than use translated fliers for their outreach and education efforts. Effective cross-cultural communication, Dzangare says, is based on a dialogue about what the community needs and wants, rather than just assuming that the same message used for English speakers will apply to other cultures.
Dzangare used RIVA’s health equity work as an example of effective cross-cultural communication. We partner with trusted individuals from each particular ethnic or cultural community to meet people where they are and discuss their questions and concerns about vaccines. We also provide valuable resources, such as COVID-19 test kits, health care supplies, and referrals to support services to demonstrate goodwill and build trust over the long term.
Originally from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Dzangare came to the United States to pursue further education. As someone who has lived in both developing and developed countries, Dzangare has a unique perspective to share with health care providers and advocates.
“These experiences have fueled my passion for bridging these gaps and ensuring that everyone, regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic status, has access to quality health care,” says Dzangare. “This drives my work at RIVA, where I strive to create meaningful change and advocate for a more equitable world.”
SAMANTHA DZANGARE
By Ruxandra Marcu
Latinx Voices of Iowa
Building Community Capacity
Through Nonprofit Partnerships
Take a look at how RIVA staff, alongside our partner organizations, are helping shape the future of health care in Iowa. A recent co-authored article in the Iowa Nurse Reporter (Volume 7, Number 4) highlights the powerful work of Latinx Voices of Iowa, a grassroots coalition focused on improving the health and lives of the Latinx community in Iowa. The article, “Empowering Health Equity: The Crucial Role of Nurses on Boards and in Nonprofit Leadership in Iowa” by Dr. Jimmy Reyes et al., highlights the importance of nurses stepping outside of direct patient care and taking on leadership roles.
Latinx Voices of Iowa—which includes RIVA, MiSalud Iowa, Knock and Drop Iowa, Latinx Immigrants of Iowa, and L.U.N.A. (Latinas Unidas Por Un Nuevo Amanecer)—brings together nonprofits with a shared mission to uplift underserved populations. The coalition works to build community capacity by leveraging the expertise of community leaders, public
HEALTH IS WEALTH
This summer and fall, RIVA handed out hundreds of Health Kits to refugee and immigrant community members at cultural events and resource fairs in Iowa, alongside COVID test kits and educational materials about vaccines in Spanish and English.
WHAT’S INSIDE?
Thermometer, adhesive bandages, disposable masks, disinfectant wipes, and an informative handout about disease prevention.
health advocates, nurses, and other health care professionals.
At the forefront of RIVA’s involvement in the coalition is Priscilla Marquez, a certified nurse, passionate patient advocate, and Latinx Community Health Equity Program Manager at RIVA. Priscilla brings invaluable nursing experience to the group’s efforts, helping to translate patient needs into actionable strategies. Nurses are the backbone of health care, but their influence can grow exponentially when they contribute to shaping policies and programs at the board level.
This is particularly crucial when it comes to serving vulnerable populations, such as refugees and immigrants. Nurses on governing boards and leadership teams can use their firsthand knowledge to advocate for these groups, ensuring their specific health needs are addressed.
Latinx Voices of Iowa provides a real-world example of this dynamic in action. By organizing vaccination drives, health screenings, and educational programs tailored to the Latinx community and other immigrant populations, the coalition is making a tangible difference in community health.
KNOCK AND DROP IOWA
Ending hunger and promoting health in the Latinx community
By Ashlee Seaton
One in four Latinos in the U.S. experienced food insecurity in 2023, according to Feeding America, meaning they didn’t have enough nutritious food to eat and didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.
Latinos in the U.S. are two times more likely to experience food insecurity than their white neighbors who don’t identify as Hispanic or Latino. In Iowa, 18% of Latinos are foodinsecure, compared to only 9% of the white, non-Hispanic population.
This is where Knock and Drop Iowa (KADI), one of RIVA’s community partners, comes into play. KADI’s mission is to implement helpful programs in the Latinx community, such as food resources and health clinics. One of their main goals is to stop hunger by gathering food and providing it to those in need.
“People think that only the poor visit a food pantry,” says Zuli Garcia, KADI’s Chief Executive Director. ”We need to stop labeling people and look at how expensive the food is, especially in an economy with no income increases and many job losses. Why are businesses closing and not providing severance packages that will help these folks while their benefits kick in?”
Food insecurity, especially within the Latinx population, is the result of a domino effect that starts with racial discrimination and ends with language and cultural barriers and immigration challenges. With Latinx households earning $20,000 less than white households, on average, it’s difficult for families to prioritize between paying for food, health care, or housing.
Thanks to Garcia and the team at KADI, thousands of people from the Latinx community in central Iowa have been able to cook nutritious meals for their families, using ingredients and recipes they’ve eaten all their lives.
HOMEMADE FOOD FOR A NEW HOME
Every week, KADI runs a food pantry for the Latinx community at Franklin Junior High in Des Moines. Within two hours, the pantry serves 250-300 people on average. In the winter, this number tends to increase to 500-600 as layoffs occur. During the cold season, KADI also provides hot meals.
By the end of each evening, KADI typically runs out of fresh food and has to start handing out canned goods. That’s why KADI does not currently advertise its food pantry.
“Unfortunately, our food pantry is not promoted due to the limited funds we receive,” says Garcia. “If we did advertise it, we’d be done with food in 30 minutes.”
As a culturally-specific food pantry, KADI offers certain items that no other pantry in Iowa
needed. Other external factors—such as work schedules, chronic health conditions, and lack of transportation—can also limit people’s access to basic necessities. Volunteers from the community work to help their neighbors overcome these barriers, but it’s a never-ending battle, given the challenges that many Latinx immigrants and their families face.
A HEALTHY PARTNERSHIP
Kodavatiganti is just one of the many RIVA AmeriCorps members who have volunteered at the food pantry since RIVA began partnering with KADI in June 2023.
provides. This includes maseca, an expensive corn-based flour that is used to make tortillas, tamales, and pupusas.
Serving culturallyappropriate foods like this can help immigrants feel more comfortable and at home in Iowa. However, they still deal with the stigma attached to the label of “food insecure.” This prejudice is particularly intense for the Latinx community.
“All you hear in the media is how we are lazy, freeloaders, gang members—so much negativity,” Garcia says. This stigma leads to anxiety and can prevent people from coming to the pantry when
“For me, attending the food pantry hosted by KADI was about gaining hands-on experience working with underserved communities,” says Chandana Kodavatiganti, a RIVA AmeriCorps member who served over the summer. “An instance that stood out to me was when a family came in to gather groceries, mentioning they also had to pick up a bag for their sister who couldn’t make it due to work commitments.”
To address barriers like this, KADI began hosting the food pantry twice a week, ensuring that those who couldn’t make it on the first day still had an opportunity to receive food.
“As a public health student, I recognize the importance of addressing social determinants of health,” says Kodavatiganti, who attends the University of Iowa. “Hearing firsthand about the challenges families face in accessing the pantry, such as work-related issues, was enlightening.”
“RIVA has been an amazing partner, with their support, guidance and advocacy,” says Garcia. “They have shown us the way and helped us grow in areas we were interested in.”
Through this partnership, KADI has been able to reach areas outside of Des Moines. They turned a van into a mobile food pantry to travel to rural areas as far away as Storm Lake, where many Latinx immigrants live and work.
KADI is also a member of the Latinx Voices in Iowa coalition, which offers health screenings, vaccine clinics, and health education at the food pantry and other cultural events. KADI has also hosted Cervical Cancer Chats for Latina women to learn from cancer survivors in a safe space, discuss risks, ask questions, and educate themselves about the HPV vaccine.
Knock and Drop’s vision of an engaged, vibrant, and healthy community is coming to life more and more every week. With RIVA’s support, they are getting closer to fulfilling their vision that no child in their community ever goes to bed hungry.
◆
ZULI GARCIA
BRAVING LA AGUJA : A PERSONAL STORY OF DIABETES
How free health screenings change lives
Written by Rachel Vogel Quinn
Photo by Ashlee Seaton
When Jose Alvarado was a young boy in Mexico, he used to run away from nurses with needles (las agujas, en español). His mom had to catch him and coax him back so he could get his shots.
Decades later, Alvarado is still pretty afraid of needles, like over half of adults worldwide. Fortunately, he overcame that fear last year to get a free health screening offered at a community event as part of RIVA’s Health Equity Campaign. The results changed his life.
TAKING A STAND
Alvarado is the founder and president of Latinx Immigrants of Iowa, a close partner of RIVA and a member of Latinx Voices of Iowa (see page 37). After living in Iowa for more than 20 years, he considers it his home. Alvarado’s guiding values of respect, honesty, and fairness led him to become a community activist.
“When I see something wrong, when I see people lying, I have to do something,” Alvarado says.
In 2016, Alvarado founded Latinx
Immigrants of Iowa, an ethnic community-based organization dedicated to empowering Latino immigrants in Iowa through education, health, cultural events, and civic engagement. It offers a range of programs— from ESL classes, legal aid, and computer skills training to cultural celebrations—all designed to promote personal growth, preserve cultural heritage, and encourage active participation in society.
A PRICK OF THE FINGER
For the past 18 months, Latinx of Immigrants of Iowa has been partnering with RIVA, MiSalud Iowa, and other community organizations to offer free health screenings at cultural events (see sidebar). At one such event in late 2023, Alvarado decided to get a screening himself. It had been years since he’d seen a doctor, but he had been feeling extra tired recently, and his temperament had changed. So he pushed past his fear of la aguja to get the health screening, which includes pricking a fingertip to measure blood sugar levels.
When the woman doing the screening got the results, her eyebrows shot up, and Alvarado immediately knew something was wrong. It turned out that Alvarado's blood glucose level was the highest the screener had ever seen. She recommended he see a doctor as soon as possible. In the following weeks, Alvarado experienced dizziness, nausea, and difficulty controlling his emotions. When he finally got his doctor’s appointment, he was diagnosed with diabetes.
DIABETES DISPARITIES
Unfortunately, Alvarado’s diagnosis is not uncommon for Latino Americans. Over half of Hispanic/ Latino adults are predicted to develop type 2 diabetes during their lives, according to the American Diabetes Association.
The higher prevalence of diabetes among Latinx individuals and the worse health outcomes for the community are strongly influenced by the social determinants of health—including income, education, food security, housing,
and access to health care. Studies have linked lower income levels to a higher prevalence of diabetes. One reason for this is the expense of healthy food, especially fresh vegetables, compared to processed food. Language barriers, limited digital literacy skills, and fewer educational opportunities also make it harder for Latinx people to learn about healthy behaviors and to get preventative health care before developing the disease, as well as to receive treatment afterwards.
HOPE FOR HEALTH
As soon as Alvarado was diagnosed with diabetes, he started medication and completely changed his diet and lifestyle. He went from drinking 6-7 Cokes a day to indulging in just two a month. Instead of Mexican
bread for breakfast, he switched to chicken and vegetables. After several months, Alvarado’s glucose levels dropped from dangerously high to normal. Now his symptoms are completely gone.
Alvarado’s good health has returned, but his mission is far from over. Inspired by his experience, he is working to educate people in his community about diabetes and encourage them to get screened. Latinx Immigrants of Iowa is collaborating with RIVA and other partners to create Spanish-language fliers, posters, and other educational materials about diabetes, as well as a more personal video about his diagnosis to share with the community.
“We need to take care of ourselves,” Alvarado tells his community. “If you get yourself checked in time, there’s hope.”
SCREENING PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE
As part of our Health Equity Campaign, RIVA partners with MiSalud Iowa to train community volunteers to perform free health screenings for the immigrant community.
MiSalud Iowa provides medical expertise, as well as professional and cultural knowledge about the most pressing health disparities experienced by immigrant communities.
Dr. Jimmy Reyes, Ph.D., founder and executive director, oversees the distribution of screening kits and the scientific validation of the training.
“Conducting health screenings is essential to addressing health disparities and preventing chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes, which are prevalent in this population,” says Reyes.
The first stage of the project has focused on
training members of the Latinx Voices of Iowa coalition (see page 37), including RIVA, Knock and Drop Iowa, Latinx Immigrants of Iowa, and L.U.N.A. (Latinas Unidas Por Un Nuevo Amanecer).
Participants learn both how to perform the health screenings and how to train others to conduct them. Over time, this trainthe-trainer model leads to an exponential increase in trained volunteers and the number of screenings conducted.
So far, nine RIVA staff and AmeriCorps members have received this specialized training. They conduct free health screenings during cultural and community events and resource pop-ups. Each screening includes checks for blood pressure and blood sugar levels, offering immediate results.
Between July 2023 and October 2024, volunteers performed 924 health screenings at 24 events and made 15 referrals to Primary Health Care.
As part of the process, participants are encouraged to fill out an intake survey, available in both Spanish and English. Here’s a look at the results:
•52% did not have health insurance.
•14% had been diagnosed with diabetes.
•56% had a family member with diabetes.
•19% had high blood pressure or hypertension.
•48% had a family member with high blood pressure or hypertension.
“These screenings help with early detection and management,” says Reyes, “empowering
community members to take proactive steps towards better health and reducing the risk of severe complications over time.”
JIMMY REYES
IMPACT INCUBATOR
Cultivating refugee and immigrant leaders
and organizations
By Emma Young
RIVA’S IMPACT INCUBATOR provides organizational support to emerging ethnic community-based organizations (ECBOs), grassroots groups, and community leaders. We provide mentoring, professional development, and networking opportunities to leaders and help organizations more effectively support their communities’ specific needs, including housing, food, education, employment, and health care.
What makes the program so unique is its adaptability; no two organizations are alike, and therefore no two require the same level and type of support. Rather than offering a rigid curriculum or pre-developed training, the Impact Incubator responds to the unique needs and strengths of each leader and prioritizes their goals for the organization.
RIVA’s support can take many forms, but all are grounded in a framework of sustainable organizational development. The goal is to nurture the groups into sustainable and impactful nonprofits. We provide accessible
trainings on nonprofit operations and best practices—including board management, data collection, and report creation— and connect them to helpful nonprofit resources.
Some organizations come to the Impact Incubator seeking a fiscal sponsor, mentorship for board member development, or other technical assistance. Other leaders come for guidance on how to leverage their communities’ stories to create systemic change, ensuring that immigrant and refugee voices are heard at policymaking tables.
Each nonprofit in our Impact Incubator program participates in an organizational assessment that covers governance, financial management, human resources, grant management, and more. An organizational development coach then serves as their champion, meeting regularly with them to provide guidance, help them track their progress, solve problems, and develop strategic plans to meet their targets.
The Impact Incubator is currently providing a significant amount of support to five organizations: Afghan Partners in Iowa, Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County, Knock and Drop Iowa, Latinx Immigrants of Iowa, and MiSalud Iowa. Additional support is provided through RIVA AmeriCorps members who serve at these or other ECBOs across the state. These ethnicbased community organizations primarily serve Afghan, Latinx, and African immigrants and refugees settled in Iowa.
Ultimately, the Impact Incubator seeks to strengthen a network of refugee- and immigrantled organizations across the state—thus empowering more newcomers with the knowledge and skills they need to live healthy and meaningful lives in Iowa.
ETHNIC COMMUNITY- BASED ORGANIZATIONS (ECBOS)
Ethnic community-based organizations (ECBOs) are founded and led by refugees or immigrants. They are usually formed by a specific ethnic or cultural group and work to provide culturally- and linguisticallyappropriate services to their community. Typically nonprofits, these organizations support refugees and immigrants in all facets of their lives.
The newcomer experience—a term coined to encompass the varied experiences of immigrants and refugees settling in a new place—is unique to each individual, family, and cultural group. But many of the services offered to newcomers through public agencies and mainstream nonprofits are one-size-fits-all.
ECBOs, on the other hand, provide services
and referrals that are specifically tailored to their ethnic and/or cultural community. As immigrants and refugees themselves, ECBO leaders know what members of the community want and need and how to best provide support. They are instrumental in helping their community become selfsufficient, empowering people from the same cultural background to help one another thrive in their new lives.
Most ECBOs use unpaid volunteer staff members and have limited access to funding. That’s where RIVA comes in. By providing organizational development training and, in some cases, fiscal sponsorship—as well as connecting them to funding opportunities— RIVA helps ECBOs reach long-term stability and expand their impact.
AFGHAN PARTNERS IN IOWA
Supporting victims of terrorism and recent refugees
By Emma Young
Afghan Partners in Iowa was born from a deep desire to uplift the community and the caring heart of Shir Agha Safi. The origins of the organization can be traced to the tragic death of a 25-year-old Afghan refugee, who was hit by a car in Urbandale because he didn’t understand American traffic laws. As Safi mourned alongside his community,
he recognized that something had to change—to prevent more needless deaths, but also to help the Afghan community successfully integrate into their new lives in Iowa.
As of August 2022, Iowa had received roughly 900 Afghan refugees, and many more have arrived in the two years since then—exposing weak spots in the immigrant and refugee welcome
systems. Still reeling from the loss of their former lives, Afghan refugees face many new challenges after settling in Iowa—from getting driver’s licenses to enrolling their children in American school systems.
Safi saw that his compatriots from Afghanistan needed support with the very basics of life—food, housing, employment, and health care—as well as leaders and advocates who understood their unique situation and could respond in culturally- and linguistically-appropriate ways. The community was already supporting one another as best as they could, as many newcomer communities do, but a more formal, structured organization could provide funding and resources that volunteers couldn’t access on their own.
In 2022, after meeting with RIVA founder and executive director Henny Ohr—who has direct experience starting and growing a grassroots mutual aid organization—the community decided to form a new nonprofit, Afghan Partners in Iowa, and named Safi as its executive director.
THE STARTUP STAGE
Immediately, Afghan Partners joined RIVA’s Impact Incubator program, which is designed to nurture ethnic community-based organizations (ECBOs) into sustainable, effective nonprofits. During an initial organizational assessment, Safi and other Afghan leaders set goals and made strategic plans for the future— defining what success looks like, reflecting on how their backgrounds would influence the work, and discussing how to continue beyond the initial startup period.
that come with starting a new ECBO.
“RIVA as an organization exists to make other organizations stronger,” says Crull.
BEYOND THE FIRST BREATH
In August 2023, Crull and RIVA AmeriCorps member Jesse Bolinger created a two-day Impact Incubator training for Afghan Partners in Iowa. It was framed around the specific needs of the organization: training board members, providing assistance with paperwork, and explaining nonprofit structure in the U.S. Before designing the training, Bolinger conducted a series of interviews with community members about Afghan leadership structures and cultural norms in order to better explain American legal systems.
Safi says that, with the Impact Incubator’s training, support, and guidance, Afghan Partners has been able to successfully move beyond startup headaches and enter into a more productive, impactful stage.
“Everything we achieved was with the help of RIVA,” Safi says. “The beginning was hard—with all the paperwork, the nonprofit culture, thinking how we can take our first breath as an organization. RIVA helped with all of that."
“If Afghan Partners is a body, RIVA is the soul.”
— Shir Agha Safi
“Any kind of startup requires a very unique person,” says April Crull, Director of Organizational Development and Learning at RIVA. “One question for sustainability is: How can we grow beyond this unique personality? How can we make it work long term?”
Moving beyond the early days is no easy task for any nonprofit, but when staff and volunteers have to deal with language barriers, adapt to a new culture, and navigate unfamiliar legal and bureaucratic systems and structures, long-term success is far from guaranteed.
As is the case for many refugees and immigrants, the board members, directors, and volunteers of Afghan Partners brought multiple degrees, decades of professional experience, and established leadership structures from their former lives in Afghanistan. What they needed was assistance navigating American culture and systems. This is exactly what the Impact Incubator aims to do—uplift people who are striving to make a difference in their new home and help groups navigate the obstacles
BODY AND SOUL
Afghan Partners supports new arrivals with many aspects of adjusting to life in the U.S., including finding a bus stop, understanding grocery stores, learning how to get gas, and scheduling doctor appointments. The organization offers English classes for all ages, cultural classes for children, and driving permit classes. Through a partnership with the Iowa Department of Transportation, they also help clients get drivers’ licenses. Additionally, women-only Learning Circles are held for women and children to share their thoughts, build community, and learn from one another in a comfortable, welcoming space.
Building on the accomplishments of their first two years, the future for Afghan Partners is bright. They plan to further expand their current programs for the community and add departments and staff, and they hope to provide their own immigration attorneys and legal aid services. They also remain committed to supporting the cultural needs of Afghans in Iowa , such as celebrating cultural holidays and important life events like marriage or funerals.
“For growth, I work with RIVA constantly, “ Safi says. “I plan all these programs to grow our organization. Working together with RIVA has helped significantly. If Afghan Partners is a body, RIVA is the soul.”
IMMIGRANT WELCOME NETWORK OF JOHNSON COUNTY:
INCUBATING HOPES AND DREAMS IN IOWA CITY
By Rachel Reyes and Ashlee Seaton
Like RIVA, the Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County (IWNJC) is deeply rooted in the belief that the best solutions arise from those directly affected by the challenges. Founded in 2023 by a diverse group of Iowa City residents, their mission is to prevent homelessness among immigrant and refugee communities and create pathways to stability, opportunity, and empowerment.
As a relatively new nonprofit, IWNJC participates in RIVA’s Impact Incubator program and serves as a RIVA AmeriCorps service site. Its executive director, Mazahir Salih, is also a RIVA staff member, as well as an Iowa City council member and mayor pro tem. In less than two years, IWNJC has made a significant impact on refugee and immigrant families in the Iowa City area, including the Sánchez family, whose story showcases the fact that refugees and immigrants are not passive receivers of support but unique individuals who shape their own futures and communities in ways that benefit everyone in Iowa.
HOUSING, EMPLOYMENT, AND HEALTH CARE
With his wife and three children, Raúl Sánchez came to the United States from Mexico seeking asylum. Having originally settled in Alabama, the family relocated to Iowa in March 2024. Upon arrival, they visited IWNJC for assistance with food, shelter, work, and education for their children.
First, the family was given temporary housing at IWNJC’s Welcome House—as the organization is committed to a housingfirst policy. The Sánchez family was also provided with contacts and addresses for multiple food banks, as well as information on how to obtain a state ID.
Next, IWNJC staff and RIVA AmeriCorps members helped enroll the two older children in kindergarten and fourth grade at a local elementary school. They also booked vaccination appointments for them at the Healthy Kids Clinic and made sure the family was assigned a caseworker through the Iowa City School District.
Once food and shelter were covered, IWNJC staff and AmeriCorps members began helping Raúl and his wife Mariana find employment. Although they both had work permits, they also faced some common challenges for refugees and immigrants: a lack of digital literacy, language barriers, and a shortage of work, in this case, in Raúl’s chosen field of forklift driving. Staff and AmeriCorps members created accounts for both adults on multiple staffing agency sites and taught them how to use the platforms. Soon after, they both found work at Procter & Gamble
in Iowa City and began taking weekly English classes at a local nonprofit, Center for Worker Justice.
As the mother of two children under five, Mariana was signed up for the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program, which provides supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education. While waiting for her first appointment, she told IWNJC staff about an unhealed surgical wound from her time in Alabama. Rather than risking complications before the appointment, IWNJC directed her to free health clinics where all uninsured members of the family could find care.
CHILD CARE CHALLENGES
Finding affordable, high-quality child care is a challenge for all working parents, but it’s especially difficult for immigrants and refugees with limited English skills and a lack of knowledge about the child care system in the U.S. When the family first visited IWNJC, staff and AmeriCorps members helped
Mariana enroll in a program for free child care for her youngest for up to a month, while also filling out an application for Iowa’s Child Care Assistance program. After a week in child care, the youngest child fell sick for several days. Once the child recovered, Mariana confessed that she was too uncomfortable with the idea of having her child away from her at such a young age.
After a in-depth conversation with IWNJC staff and reassurance about the safety and benefits of child care, Mariana made her decision. She pulled her child out of the program and contacted her supervisor at work, requesting to work the third shift so that she could stay at home with her baby in the mornings. In doing so, Mariana showed that she was willing and able to resolve her challenges according to her own needs and desires, rather than simply taking direction from others. This kind of empowerment, where the voices and choices of refugees and immigrants are prioritized, is central to the missions of both IWNJC and RIVA.
FAMILY REUNION
In May, Raúl’s brother Alejandro arrived in Iowa City with his three daughters. In need of shelter, work, education, and food security,
Alejandro’s family was provided with the same support as his brother’s. The children were vaccinated, enrolled in school, and given school supplies through the district under the care of an assigned social worker.
After settling into IWNJC’s Welcome House next to his brother’s family, Alejandro was introduced to local staffing agencies through which to find work, and his account information was written down and given to him for future use. Ultimately, he found employment at Procter & Gamble alongside his brother and sister-in-law. He also began taking morning English classes at a local community college.
While he was applying for jobs, IWNJC staff noted that Alejandro was interested in multiple positions that required a driver’s license, so they gave him driving manuals and practice exams in Spanish and showed him how to set a date online for both a knowledge test and a driving test.
With steady incomes from their new jobs, both families are searching for apartments so they can move out of the Welcome House and make room for other new arrivals. While attending English classes, the men are also searching for other work that better fits their skills and interests.
Raúl, Mariana, Alejandro, and the six Sánchez children have much in common with other newly arrived immigrants and refugees. But they are also singular individuals with their own challenges, strengths, and desires. With RIVA’s support, IWNJC is able to meet each client where they are, customize services and referrals to each person’s needs and talents, and empower them to make decisions for themselves and their families that align with their cultural traditions, their personal values, and their own particular goals and dreams.
RACHEL REYES
Former RIVA AmeriCorps member, IWNJC
An undergraduate student at the University of Iowa studying English, human rights, and public affairs, Rachel Reyes joined RIVA AmeriCorps in March 2024 and served as a Community Navigator at IWNJC for three months. This summer, she served as a volunteer staff member at the organization.
As Director of Community Engagement, Reyes was responsible for building and maintaining strong relationships with the community. Her role focused on outreach, community organizing, and ensuring that the organization’s programs and services were accessible and inclusive. She also worked to engage community members, fostering trust and collaboration.
Believing in the vulnerability and power of both the written and spoken word, Reyes aims to serve Iowa’s refugee and immigrant community with compassion and sensitivity. In her free time, she enjoys writing, singing, and trying her best to follow along with YouTube sewing tutorials.
Feeling welcomed and respected as individual human beings, refugees and immigrants can then contribute to their local community and the larger public in the most impactful way possible—benefiting everyone who calls Iowa home.
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
Leading community-driven research to improve support for refugees and immigrants
RIVA has always prioritized rigorous evaluation, measurable results, and continuous improvement, which has enabled our programs to grow statewide. We use quantitative data to track objectives and outcomes, as well as linguisticallyand culturally-appropriate assessment and feedback tools, including translated questionnaires, oral interviews, surveys, and one-on-one conversations with participants and stakeholders.
Unlike most community groups, we have professional researchers on staff. We partner with government agencies and national organizations to complete equity-based
research, focus groups, and assessments to learn more about the needs, strengths, and goals of refugee and immigrant communities in Iowa. This data helps guide organizations that serve these communities and strengthen local, state, and national advocacy efforts.
RESEARCH TO REINFORCE THE SAFETY NET
In 2022, RIVA was chosen as the anchor partner in Iowa for a research initiative by the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition (PIF). With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the project explores how the establishment of local collaborative tables in key communities could thaw the
chilling effect resulting from the Trump Administration’s public charge policy and improve immigrant families’ access to safety net programs.
CHANGING PUBLIC CHARGE POLICIES
The term “public charge” refers to criteria that immigrant officials use when determining whether to grant applicants a Green Card or visa. These officials must decide whether the individual is likely to become dependent on certain government benefits, which would make them a “public charge.”
In 2019, the Trump Administration announced a change to the public charge policies—allowing immigration officials to consider
By Yeon Erin Kim-Cho
The findings will inform efforts to close communication gaps.
an individual’s use of certain previously excluded programs, such as non-emergency Medicaid for non-pregnant adults, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and several housing programs.
After the rule was struck down by several courts, the Biden Administration reversed the policy change in 2022 and returned to the previous guidance established in 1999, making it safe for immigrant families to use health, nutrition, and housing programs for which they qualify.
THAWING THE “CHILLING EFFECT”
An extensive body of research documents the harm done by the Trump Administration’s public charge policy. According to PIF, the recent policy victory will only result in improved health and well-being for immigrant families if they know the policy has changed and believe that applying for health care and other assistance will not affect future immigration applications.
Research suggests that local outreach efforts can ease people’s fears about using these benefits. To achieve this, PIF plans to facilitate local collaboratives that bring immigrant rights and health and human services organizations together to thaw the chill and increase the number of immigrant families enrolled in safety net programs, while building power to create long-term change. These local tables will be led by anchor organizations in the community.
RESEARCH FIRST
Before implementing local tables nationwide, PIF established a research initiative to learn how different types of community organizations support immigrant families and what it would take to strengthen collaboration among organizations.
Des Moines was one of only three metro areas, along with Atlanta and Philadelphia, selected for the research initiative, and RIVA was chosen as the area’s anchor partner to facilitate connections to refugee and immigrant communities in Iowa.
As Director of Research and Evaluation at RIVA, I led the research team’s work in Des Moines and Iowa City, with support from the Urban Institute. This included research to understand local demographics and organizational structures, focus groups in multiple languages with immigrant families, and interviews with local leaders from a wide range of sectors. The final report includes quantitative data, feedback from immigrant families and community organizations, suggestions for improving collaboration, and policy recommendations.
CLOSING THE GAPS
In June, I was invited to attend a meeting at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, along with RIVA’s Executive Director Henny Ohr, to present the research results.
The research revealed communication gaps among state and county government agencies, nonprofits, community-based organizations, and immigrant and refugee community members. The findings will inform efforts to close those gaps through more effective and sustainable collaboration— which should improve immigrant families’ access to services crucial to their health and well-being.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Community-based organizations (CBOs) in Iowa are closely connected and working together.
• Because Des Moines is a relatively small metropolitan area compared to other states, statewide organizations such as RIVA play a crucial role in bridging organizational capacities and services across Iowa.
• CBOs were the primary access points for refugee and immigrant families seeking help, including assistance applying for public benefit programs.
॰ Focus group participants in all three groups showed a high level of trust toward CBOs.
॰ They were more comfortable visiting CBOs than state and county buildings.
॰ Many knew staff members personally or became involved with the organization as volunteers.
• CBOs need more funding to offer additional support for immigrant families. Many CBOs have good ideas, based on their knowledge of the community, that cannot be implemented due to lack of capacity, especially funding and staff members.
IMMIGRANTS & REFUGEES
IN DES MOINES & IOWA CITY
USING PHONE INTERPRETATION
FOR PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH
More than one in five U.S. residents speaks a language other than English at home—a figure that has doubled since the 1980s, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As linguistic diversity in the U.S. grows, ensuring language access in public health data collection, interventions, and programs is crucial to advancing health equity and improving overall community well-being.
In a pilot project with the National Center for Farmworker Health (NCFH), RIVA examined how interpretation, especially remote interpretation, is experienced, perceived, and used by diverse communities. The research included a pilot test conducted with meatpacking workers and farmworkers in two locations in the U.S. The project was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation.
The goal of the research was to provide public health practitioners with actionable knowledge about incorporating high-quality interpretation services into their research and
data-collection efforts. Five key themes emerged, reflecting both the benefits and challenges of using phone interpretation. On the positive side, remote interpretation was found to enhance safety and communication effectiveness. However, we identified challenges related to interpreter qualifications, nonverbal communication barriers, and technological issues.
Despite these challenges, phone interpretation proved to be convenient and cost-effective, especially by eliminating travel expenses for fieldwork. It also offers a practical solution when finding a trained, in-person interpreter for specific Indigenous languages is difficult.
Based on this research, RIVA created a communications toolkit that provides best practices for integrating remote interpretation services into public health research and data collection, particularly when working with those who speak low-incidence languages such as Karen, Karenni, and Chin dialects. A report on the research will be published in a journal in early 2025.
DR. YEON ERIN KIM-CHO
COMMUNITY CATALYST
How community-based organizations like RIVA helped get the pandemic under control
By Rachel Vogel Quinn
Although COVID is still a public health threat, especially for the immunocompromised and unvaccinated, the World Health Organization officially declared the end of the pandemic phase in May 2023. We’re all grateful it’s behind us, but many people are under the impression that the pandemic fizzled out over time, like a fire burning down to its embers.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. The pandemic was defeated by the rapid development and widespread distribution of vaccines. Community-based organizations like RIVA played a critical role getting those vaccines out to the people most at risk from the pandemic, like refugees and immigrants. Since 2021, RIVA has provided vaccine education to nearly 30,000 individuals, offered information at over 260 community events, hosted or participated in more than 60 vaccine clinics, and given COVID and flu vaccines to nearly 4,000 people. This lifesaving work was made possible through
partnerships with community organizations, health care providers, and public and private funders— especially Community Catalyst, a national nonprofit health advocacy organization. From 2021 to 2024, RIVA received grant funding from Community Catalyst’s Vaccine Equity and Access Program (VEAP), which focused on growing vaccine confidence, access, and availability among communities of color.
The partnership greatly expanded RIVA’s capacity to reach refugee and immigrant communities across the state. And, according to Community Catalyst, it proved the effectiveness of working directly with local organizations that know the community best— a model that may transform public health initiatives in the years to come.
ADDRESSING HEALTH DISPARITIES
Community Catalyst is working to build a society where health is a right for all. The organization was
SHEREE H. KEITT
NICHOLLE CROSS
founded in 1998 on the belief that people, not health care companies, should be at the center of decisions about our health system.
“Our work is focused on making sure that everyone has an equitable access to the health care system,” says Sheree H. Keitt, DrPH, Director of Public Health Strategy and Programs at Community Catalyst.
With over 20 years of experience in public health, Keitt leads Community Catalyst’s efforts to address health disparities, which were further exacerbated by the pandemic. Refugees and immigrants were hit especially hard. According to an article in The Lancet medical journal, migrants were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic at all levels, including increased risk of infection, more severe cases requiring hospitalization, and higher mortality rates.
In 2021, Community Catalyst created the Vaccine Equity and Access Program (VEAP) to address disparities like these. The program received funding from the CDC as part of its Partnering for Vaccine Equity (P4VE) program.
TRAINING TRUSTED MESSENGERS
From their years developing partnerships across the country, Community Catalyst knew that communitybased organizations (CBOs) like RIVA were best situated to help people overcome barriers to getting the COVID vaccine. Ultimately, VEAP provided support and funding to 90 CBOs, including RIVA.
RIVA staff and AmeriCorps members worked tirelessly to develop culturally- and linguisticallyappropriate education campaigns, host and support vaccine clinics, and organize pop-ups at cultural events to provide educational materials and support services to refugee and immigrant communities. RIVA also trained influential and trusted community members to become ambassadors of scientifically accurate and unbiased information about COVID and flu vaccines.
“Everyone at RIVA has been very communicative and passionate about the work, which I really appreciated,” says Nicholle Cross, MPH, Strategic Manager for VEAP at Community Catalyst, who served as the first point of contact for RIVA and other organizations funded by the program. “You take a really creative approach to the things that you do.”
NOT FIGHTING ALONE
Over the three-year grant period, Community Catalyst offered regular trainings and webinars to CBOs. RIVA staff even traveled to national conferences to share best practices and lessons learned and build connections among people doing similar work in different parts of the country.
“Community-based organizations are the core of public health.”
Sheree H. Keitt
“This is my first job,” says Samantha Dzangare, Health Equity Coordinator at RIVA. “I really appreciate all the opportunities to meet these great people in the field. They make it possible for me to dream and expand my skills and grow.”
Although the grant period ended in April 2024, Community Catalyst has not stopped supporting RIVA. When the CDC’s Bridge Access Program that provided free vaccines ended in August, the work got even more difficult. Still, RIVA continues to educate people about the vaccine and partner with organizations like Primary Health Care and Broadlawns Medical Center to offer vaccines for free.
“Community Catalyst is still finding ways to help us,” says Dzangare. “It’s very inspiring. They give growing organizations like RIVA hope that this work can still be done, that we can still fight, that we’re not all on our own.”
THE CORE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Although there’s still work to be done, RIVA and our community partners can celebrate the achievements of the past three years. Our efforts, combined with those of other grassroots organizations across the country, were instrumental in ending the pandemic.
In VEAP’s first year, 51 million people across the U.S. received critical information about COVID and flu vaccines and 145,000 people were vaccinated through the program’s CBOs. This was all done with limited resources and little time to plan.
Keitt says that VEAP demonstrated the crucial role of CBOs in public health work. Recently, at a meeting with White House representatives, Keitt advocated for sending local public health funding directly to community-based organizations like RIVA, rather than pushing it through health departments.
“Community-based organizations are the core of public health,” says Keitt. “They are public health agents in their communities. It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic to show that organizations like yours deserve this money because of the work that you’ve been doing.”
Our Mission Partners
We are grateful for the work of our mission partners, who share their time, expertise, and resources to make our shared vision of empowered communities a reality.
• Afghan Partners in Iowa
• Amani Community Services
• A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS)
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice
• ArtForce Iowa
• Big Brothers Big Sisters, Heart of Iowa
• Broadlawns Medical Center
• Catherine McAuley Center
• Centers Against Abuse & Sexual Assault (CAASA)
• Carver Community School
• Center for Worker Justice
• Child Abuse Prevention Services
• Children and Families of Iowa
• Christ Apostolic Temple
• City of Decorah
• Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
• Columbus Junction Library
• Common Good Iowa
• Crisis Intervention & Advocacy
• Crisis Intervention Services
• Diversity Insurance
• Diversity Service Center of Iowa
• Domestic Violence Intervention Program
• Family Crisis Center of Iowa
• Hoover Community School
• Hiatt Middle School
• Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal, Mi Casa de Restauración
• Iglesia Pentecoste
• Immigrant Allies of Marshalltown
• Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County
• Infinite Resources
• Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
• Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Iowa Immunizes
• Iowa Legal Aid
• Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice
• Knock and Drop Iowa
• Kirkwood Community College
• Latinos Unidos West Liberty
• La Luz Centro Cultural
• Latinx Immigrants of Iowa
• Latinas Unidas Por Un Nuevo Amanecer (L.U.N.A.)
• Linn County Public Health
• Lower Beaver Neighborhood Association
• Luther College
• Marshall County Community Response Coalition
• MiSalud Iowa
• Nisaa African Family Services
• Northeast Iowa Peace & Justice Center
• O’Brien County Public Health
• PaTi’s Libelulas
• Peoples Community Health Clinic
• Polk County Health Department
• Primary Health Care
• Protecting Immigrant Families
• Proteus, Inc.
• Refugee and Immigrant Association
• Refugee & Immigrant Youth Organization (RIYO)
• Roosevelt High School
• SafePlace
• Shalom Community Impact Center
• United We March Forward
• Voices of Christ Ministries International
• Volunteer Iowa
• Weeks Middle School
Our Philanthropic Partners
The stories and successes of the past two years would not have been possible without our philanthropic supporters. Thank you for believing in our mission.
• AARP Iowa
• American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation
• AmeriCorps
• Amerigroup Iowa, Inc.
• Black Hawk County Gaming Association
• BWA Foundation & Harriet S. Macomber
• CDC Foundation
• Chrysalis Foundation
• Community Catalyst
• Delta Dental
• GreenState Foundation
• Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service
• Iowa Department of Education
• Iowa Economic Development Authority
• Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
• Iowa Department of Justice, Crime Victim Assistance Division
• Iowa State University
• John Deere Foundation
• Mid-Iowa Health Foundation
• National Immigration Law Center
• National Partnership for New Americans
• Polk County Community, Family & Youth Services
• Robert Woods Johnson Foundation
• Tri-County Children and Family Development Council
• University of Iowa
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement
• U.S. Office on Violence Against Women
• World Education Services
We apologize for any omissions or errors in recognizing our partners.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER
Immigrants Refugees
Second& thirdgeneration Americans Allies
All of us are here in Iowa because of immigration, except for our Indigenous friends and neighbors. Whether you made the move yourself, your parents did, or your great-greatgreat grandparents, you’ve benefited from our country’s rich legacy of welcoming newcomers.
Whenever immigrants have come to America—whether in 2020, 1880, or 1620—they’ve received support from the people already here, they’ve contributed their own sweat, smarts, and skills to society, and they’ve created communities to help one another thrive.
We’re building a movement of solidarity that brings together people of diverse backgrounds to stand up for our immigrant heritage and our collective values of inclusion, community, and respect.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME HERE
With your support, we can make Iowa stronger for every single one of us. Your donation empowers the communities and people Iowa needs to thrive!
