Mission: The mission of Stamford Interfaith Refugee Settlement (SIRS) is to welcome and resettle a refugee family by providing advocacy and support in Stamford as they work toward self-sufficiency to become productive members of our community.
Vision: SIRS’s vision is to make a difference in the refugee crisis – one life, one family at a time – by providing the support to welcome and resettle refugee families in Stamford to become self-sufficient within a year or two.
What we do:
We started our group in January 2016, when interested volunteers met and “SIRS” was created to provide a wide variety of services to welcome and assist refugee families and Special Immigrant Visa holders (SIVs) and help them build the skills they need to become self-sufficient.
Because of the current Federal administration’s refugee policy we are currently not planning to welcome and support any new refugee families in 2026.
Our assistance typically includes securing affordable housing, collecting furniture and other household items, and helping refugees access the public benefits (HUSKY/Medicaid, SNAP/food stamps, and Temporary Financial Assistance cash) that they need before becoming employed. We also enroll children in school & adults in ESL, facilitate job searches, and help the family understand and adapt to a new country and culture.
We welcomed a Syrian refugee family of six in April 2016 and assisted them for a year, until they relocated to California.
An Afghan SIV family of three arrived in January 2019 and became financially self-sufficient within two years. They still live in Stamford.
anniversary of their 2019 arrival.
In response to the escalating refugee crisis, SIRS offered to welcome two new refugee families in 2021. In November 2021 we welcomed an Afghan evacuee family of six and worked with them for eighteen months until they achieved independence and moved in June 2023 to the Atlanta area to be with a large Pashto-speaking community. The second family assigned in 2021 arrived at the end of March 2022 and then in a few days out-migrated to join family in Canada.
the Hazrat Zai family moved to Georgia to join a large Pashto-speaking community, 2023.
In March 2022 a SIRS volunteer’s four children welcomed an Afghan family with four children.
A Ukrainian family of five came to Stamford in late November 2022 under the U.S. government’s Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), which gave the family Humanitarian Parole in the U.S. for two years (and since renewed). Within six months the family became largely self-sufficient.
By November 2023 SIRS had recruited and trained more volunteers, so we could tell IRIS we were ready to assist a new family. In late November SIRS welcomed and started working with a Special Immigrant Visa family of four from Afghanistan. The 7-year-old started school and the 5-year-old, pre-school. The parents took ESL classes, which SIRS supplemented with in-home tutoring. The father quickly found a full-time job to help the family work towards independence. The young boy gained confidence through Tae Kwon Do lessons and both children did well in school. At the end of their lease in June 2026, the family moved to North Carolina, where they can find lower apartment rental prices.
In late October 2024, SIRS was pleased to be able to sponsor — via World Relief — one of the Afghan tutors who (after working remotely from Pakistan to provide ESL sessions for one of the SIRS families in their native language) received refugee status.
He quickly found employment and became financially independent. In October 2026 he moved to North Carolina, where he is launching an online marketing business while driving to pay his bills. His wife, currently in Germany on a student visa, has applied for refugee status as well so that she can join him at some point.
In addition SIRS responded to IRIS’s request to welcome and start supporting an additional family before mid-January 2025. We welcomed a family of 4 Afghan adult refugees on December 30th, 2024. Two young adults found jobs in Stamford and the third moved to Seattle, where a friend lives, to find employment. The young woman became a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and found a CNA job, while she works towards an LPN degree.
Currently SIRS does not need to provide rental assistance for any of the families still in Stamford, but we assist with immigration fees, some education expenses, dental expenses, swimming lessons and camp fees. We also provide some transportation for children (to camp or lessons) or for appointments not reachable by bus. (See sirsct.com/donate if you can help.)
Volunteers — Sample opportunities for volunteering with SIRS include these:
- Pre-arrival apartment set-up. This is complete for the moment
- ESL tutoring & reading and teaching practical English (groceries, etc.)
- Job search assistance. We can use your help here!
- Identifying interpreters (in family’s language) for meetings and appointments. We are set for this family.
- Providing rides to appointments and shopping
When we can again welcome a new refugee family to Stamford, we will appreciate your help. (You would use our Contact page to let us know your interest.)
Who we are:
We are a Stamford-based interfaith “community co-sponsorship” group of enthusiastic volunteers representing multiple faiths and additional groups, who have come together to provide support for refugee families resettling in Stamford and to help them achieve self-sufficiency.
“It is so rewarding to help refugee families gain confidence in their new home.”
A SIRS volunteer
As “community co-sponsors”, we partner with our sponsor, IRIS—Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, which provides the training, guidance and coaching so that we can effectively support the family we are settling in our community.
Who we partner with:
IRIS- Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services
Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) is a non-profit agency whose mission is to help refugees and other displaced people establish new lives, strengthen hope, and contribute to the vitality of Connecticut’s communities. Since 1982, IRIS has been helping newcomers on the road to self-sufficiency by providing lifesaving support during their transition to life in the United States.
IRIS contracts with a national organization to participate in the Federal refugee resettlement program, creating the relationship through which refugee families can be welcomed to Connecticut. IRIS resettles refugees in the New Haven and Hartford areas itself . It also partners with local community groups — variously called “co-sponsors”, “sponsor circles” or “sponsor groups”, depending on the program — to train and coach these local groups in helping refugee families restart their lives in other Connecticut towns and cities, like Stamford.
IRIS is a leader in the movement to promote the community co-sponsorship model – both nationally and internationally – to expand grass-roots support for refugee settlement and give the local volunteers the skills they need. SIRS was one of the first community co-sponsor groups to work with IRIS.
The January 2025 executive order to freeze all refugee admissions to the US — and to freeze funding already pledged for recently-arrived refugees — has caused IRIS to cut staff while trying to support recent arrivals.
Northeast Community Cycle
Northeast Community Cycles donates bikes and helmets free to local charities. They quickly provided to four SIRS refugee families bikes and helmets so the fathers could get to work more quickly and so the children could play.
First Congregational Church of Stamford:
While SIRS is an interfaith group, we originated with and continue to be sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Stamford.