Community Sponsorship Hub (CSH) is a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors that coordinates programs initiated by the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to resettle refugees and other immigrants within communities throughout the United States.

Organization

Community Sponsorship Hub (CSH) is a fiscally sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors founded in 2001. It is designed to grow community support for the protection, resettlement, and integration of refugees and other immigrants by coordinating the efforts of public, private, and philanthropic groups to foster community sponsorship of immigrants. ^{1 2}

Programs

Welcome Corps

Community Sponsorship Hub, the United States Department of State, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Church World Services (CWS), Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), International Rescue Committee, and Welcome.US sponsor and administer the Welcome Corps. ³

The Corps, a public-private organization, is a response to President Joe Biden’s executive order titled “Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees.” Private sponsors may now refer refugee applicants for consideration for those they wish to provide resettlement and integration services. ⁴

The program has been extended to Welcome Corps on Campus and Welcome Corps at Work. ⁵

Sponsorship Circles

The Sponsorship Circles program was launched by the United States Department of State in 2021 in response to the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan to resettle Afghan refugees and later to support Americans welcoming Ukrainians through Uniting for Ukraine. The program houses, initially through Airbnb, supplies food, connects children to schools, income support, and finds employment for participating refugees. ^{6 7}

Catalyst Fund

Catalyst Fund provides financial support for 40 local, regional, and national level programs, and 90 communities that resettle immigrants and refugees in local environments. ⁸

Initial funding in 2019 was provided by the Open Society Foundations, Shapiro Foundation, G. Barrie Landry, and Laurie T. Franz. ⁹

Grant recipients of the fund include World Relief Chicagoland, New Roots Fund, Ethiopian Community Development Council, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, Interfaith Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), and Home for Refugees USA. ¹⁰

Sponsor Fund

Sponsor Fund provides welcoming services through Uniting for Ukraine and the Process for Venezuelans in the formation of a sponsor circle to aid in offsetting the cost of sponsorship. ¹¹

Innovation and Thought Leadership

In 2022, CSH along with IRAP, the Niskanen Center, and Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) made recommendations for the U.S. Private Sponsorship Pilot for Refugees that included this statement, “the private sponsorship program should reference PRM’s intended goal of additionality by noting that the private sponsorship program will ultimately be used to increase the number of refugees resettled in the United States annually.” ¹²

People

Annie Nolte-Henning is executive director of Community Sponsorship Hub and was the director for the Americas at Alight, a humanitarian agency that works with displaced people.

Basma Alawee is co-deputy executive director at CSH and was director of external affairs. Jeremy Haldeman co-deputy executive director and was a senior staff member in the U.S. Congress and associate director of the Peace Corps. ^{13 14 15 16}

Community Sponsorship’s advisory board members include Gregory Maniatis, the program director of the International Migration Initiative at Open Society Foundations; Ed Shapiro, the managing trustee of the Shapiro Foundation; and Diya Abdo, the founder and director of Every Campus a Refuge (ECAR). ¹⁷

1. “Position Description.” Bridge Partners LLC. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://www.bridgepartnersllc.com/assets/pdf/Position-Description-Dep-ED-Community-Sponsorship-Hub.pdf
2. “About” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/about/
3. “Welcome Corps.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/our-work/welcome-corps/
4. “About” Welcome Corps. Accessed December 3, 2023 https://welcomecorps.org/about/
5. “About” Welcome Corps. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://welcomecorps.org/about/
6. “Sponsorship Circles.” Accessed December 3, 2023. https://www.sponsorcircles.org
7. “Our Work.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/our-work/sponsor-circles/
8. “Catalyst Fund.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/catalyst-fund/
9. “Catalyst Fund.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/catalyst-fund/
10. “Grantees.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/catalyst-fund/grantees/
11. “Sponsor Fund.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/news-stories/introducing-the-sponsor-fund-a-new-resource-to-help-communities-overcome-barriers-to-sponsorship/
12. “Recommendations.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/March-2022-PSR-Recommendations.pdf
13. “Executive Leadership Team.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/news-stories/meet-cshs-executive-leadership-team/
14. “Annie Nolte-Henning.” Linked In. Accessed December 3, 2023.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/annienoltehenning/
15. “Basma Alawee.” Linked In. Accessed December 3, 2023.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/basma-alawee-826b26184/
16. “Jeremy Haldeman.” Linked In. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-haldeman-9a00445/
17. “About Team.” Community Sponsorship Hub. Accessed December 3, 2023. https://communitysponsorshiphub.org/about/team/