With Heart and Soul: Closing a Faith-Based Refugee Resettlement Office

This paper begins with a brief review of the literature on nonprofit and faith-based service organizations, many of whom rely on government grants and contracts. The following section summarizes refugee resettlement policy and partners in the U.S and examines how its implementation relies on local communities and nonprofit agencies. Only a few social scientists have begun research directed at understanding the process and impact of refugee resettlement (Ives, Sinha and Cnaan 2010; Nawyn 2006, 2010). Yet this topic connects to several key dimensions that are of current concern in the broader discussions of public-nonprofit partnerships, faith-based services, inter-organizational coordination, human service networks, and so on. The study is based on document analysis, personal observation, and in-depth interviews with current and former employees of the nonprofit agency, its national headquarters, and other agencies. By examining the case of a faith-based agency in North Carolina, I show how an agency that was largely reliant upon federal and state funding became so financially fragile that it resorted to closing its most successful and visible refugee resettlement office. This paper is the beginning of a broader study of the complex U.S. refugee resettlement system, policies, and programs