International Institute of St. Louis

The International Institute of St. Louis and Global Foods Group have put out a regionwide call to action for residents and restaurants to submit their favorite dishes that use internationally sourced ingredients.

The International Institute of St. Louis wants health care providers to make sure they’re able to communicate with an expected surge of new arrivals from other countries. The institute’s leaders say it can often be difficult for refugees and immigrants to understand the country’s health care system.

The International Institute of St. Louis opened the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Community Center on Friday to help promote entrepreneurship among Afghan refugees in the region.

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.

The International Institute of St. Louis will open the Anna E. Crosslin Center for Multicultural Excellence in January. The center will provide cultural workshops, training, programming and events to residents and business owners.

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.

The Biden administration’s Uniting for Ukraine program allows people from the war-torn country to temporarily stay in the U.S., and hundreds are coming to St. Louis. But Ukrainians don’t qualify for the benefits that other refugees receive, leaving local agencies and American sponsors scrambling to help them.

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.