Afghan refugees

Bilingual International Assistant Services, a St. Louis nonprofit received a $1.8 million federal grant to provide mental health support to Afghans who resettled in St. Louis after August 2021. The grant will provide therapy and other support to about 600 Afghans suffering from trauma of war.

Many women who fled Afghanistan and Syria over the past year are experiencing PTSD and suffering from other mental health illnesses. The Oasis International organization is hosting a free group therapy session for Afghans and Syrians refugees to help them as they learn to live in a new environment.

The International Institute of St. Louis is opening an Afghan Community Center and national Afghan Chamber of Commerce in south St. Louis in February. The center and chamber will offer financial literacy courses, after-school programs and entrepreneurship classes.

Newly arriving Afghans, who came to St. Louis after fleeing Afghanistan in August 2021 are settling into the city and creating businesses to build the economy. The International Institute of St. Louis has programs to help get Afghan businesses started.

In the coming months, the International Institute of St. Louis plans to welcome Afghan refugees from Albania, where they have been for months. Institute officials say they will be more prepared for the latest arrivals.

This month, the Biden Administration hopes to expedite the process by eliminating temporary humanitarian parole and concentrating resources instead on permanent visas.

The International Institute of St. Louis is ready to welcome more Afghan families and refugees from other countries. Officials with the U.S. State and Health and Human Services departments and the International Nonprofit Immigrant Organization met with International Institute officials Monday.

Aug. 15 marks the one-year anniversary of Zamzama Safi’s escape from Afghanistan. The former translator for U.S. forces reflects on living in Missouri for nearly a year — and her hopes for the future.

Business leaders, immigration activists and Missouri politicians are urging the federal government to issue visas to 380 more refugees who fled Afghanistan in 2021 and are now stranded in Albania, a small country on the Balkan Peninsula. The first members of the group arrived in St. Louis on Monday, but hundreds more are waiting on the U.S. government to issue them visas.

Ann Wittman was once a stay-at-home mom focused on caring for her sons. Now, she’s dedicated to helping refugees with her new nonprofit, HumanKind STL — beginning with a capital campaign to buy Afghans used cars.