Bridge Refugee Services

What can you invest in your community? Looking for amount suggestions?

$1,500 – offsets one month of market rate housing assistance

$240 – allows for four hours of interpretation services

$200 – covers Refugee Emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for one family

$70 – pays for 100 miles of Case Manager transport to our clients

$30 – provides for 30 day bus passes for local transportation

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Bridge Refugee Services (BRS) is the only refugee and international protected class resettlement agency in East Tennessee and, despite closures to the US Refugee Admissions Program, continues to work with ~750 legacy clients throughout East Tennessee.

These clients arrived from every part of the world (including via the immediate service Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) humanitarian parolee program) and arrive needing access to housing, healthcare, public services, employment, and food security.

The BRS mission is to provide opportunities for clients to rebuild their lives after suffering persecution so that they may become productive, contributing members of the community.

BRS professionally preserves the Dignity, Hope, and Opportunities of the newest members in the community by:
1. Promoting their rights within their communities, and help them find peace in their new homeland.
2. Stewarding financial donation to help refugees reach these goals.
3. Connecting to employment and social services so they grow and thrive in their new homes.

The three pillars in search of refugee self-sufficiency concern:
1. Learning English
2. Workforce Development
3. Community Engagement

BRS has expanded into increased advocacy and direct lobbying on the statewide level. As a major player in the regional space, the agency looking to directly combat policies which improperly effect client well-being (for example, gaining exemptions to the citizenship requirement in the award letter for the East Tennessee Collaborative or challenging HB 1730 which would have unfairly and uneconomically required English to be the only language on offer for the written drivers license test).

Most recently, as PL 119-21 removes vital access to social services like SNAP and Medicaid from our clients, BRS has stepped in to provide culturally meaningful food security.

As one agency with the mission coverage from Chattanooga to the Tri-Cities, the responsibility is for careful growth beyond the city centers to leverage all of
the resources the region has to offer!