Utah Refugee Connection

Target demographics: Relocated refugees

Geographic areas served: Northern Utah

Programs: Urc mentors, trains and assists refugees and operates the refugee welcome center. Urc also operates the global artisans program in collaboration with salt lake county. The purpose of global artisans is to enable refugees to work towards self-sufficiency and self-empowerment. The goal is that some particpants will eventually start their own businesses, while others may be able to supplement their incomes by selling the arts and crafts goods they produce. Participants are recruited through caseworkers from fefugee resettlement agencies, sucah as the international rescue committee, catholic community services, asian association of utah, volunteers, and through word of mouth. Every refugee that submits an application to the global artisans program is given the opportunity to participate. The first refugee partcipants started with bead making, sewing, and knitting in august 2009, and the variety of products has steadily increased ever since. Refugee participants are provided with meeting space, raw materials, and certain limited equipment. Participants are allowed, but not required, to sell their products through global artisans channels, including at special events and seasonal fairs. Urc has also found certain local and on-line retailers to carry global artisans products, and urc has developed a web site for sales of global artisans products, www. Globalartisans. Org. Products sold through global artisans are sold on a consignment basis. The participant is not paid unitl the product is sold. The success of global artisans cannot be measured by the value of the products sold, as the purpose of the sales by urc is strictly offset by the costs of the global artisans program. Nor can success be measured by how many participants ultimately start their own businesses. For example, co-op participants might start their own businesses or they might generate supplemental income through this consignment program. They might also benefit from the continued training and social environment. Most participants are women with few skills and little employment experience, and many come from cultures that restrict women from working outside the home. The largest gourp of participants are from nepal, followed by eritrea, sudan, myanmar, burundi and iraq. For these participants, the social outlet provided by working with other members of their communities is a unique opportunity, the value of which cannot be quantified.