Background: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in over 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities to restore safety, dignity and hope, the IRC leads the way from harm to home. Domestically, our 26 offices across the U.S. ensure new arrivals have food, shelter, and clothing, and work with refugees to help them gain self-sufficiency.

Scope of Work: The Extended Case Management (ECM) team provides case management services to up to 400 new clients each year at the IRC in Silver Spring. The team works directly with new refugees, asylees, parolees, and other humanitarian immigrants resettling in the DC Metro area, including Haitian, Ukrainian, Latin American, African, and Middle Eastern individuals; utilizing a holistic 2Gen household approach for the families served, the team addresses both short-term and long-term barriers to support overall well-being in the US. This position will report to one of the ECM caseworkers.

Responsibilities: 

Conduct check-in calls and send messages to clients to determine the status of any unresolved service provision and provide guidance or assistance with the support of supervisor. 

Submit and follow up with a variety of external referrals, including for English classes, health screenings, and housing assistance programs. 

Assist clients with scheduling and teaching them how to navigate various organizations, such as public benefit offices or medical offices. 

Assist clients with completing and following up on applications for public benefits, Medicaid, childcare vouchers, social security cards, and more. 

Research and build community resources to fill any gaps in services. 

Provide clients with public transportation orientations in the field if needed. 

Regularly track service provision through electronic data entry and organize required client documentation. 

Other duties as assigned by the ECM team.

Learning Objectives: 

Intern will gain US resettlement agency experience. 

Intern will acquire knowledge of internal programs and public benefits available to humanitarian immigrant families. 

Intern will learn how to communicate with a diverse population, including how to effectively utilize interpreters. 

Intern will gain skills in building resources and coaching limited English proficiency clients. 

Intern will learn tracking and reporting requirements for resettlement agencies and how capturing this data improves services.