Each year since its inception CASP has been growing in scale and organizational maturity. At the same time, public financial support has grown from $10,601 (2016) to $108,274 (2019).
Milestones along the way:
2016
- Contacts were made with Central American consulates in Texas.
- Community Asylum Seekers Project, Inc., was formed as a nonprofit.
- Work began on creating Safe Haven – a living space for an asylum-seeking family – through the dedicated support of community members, who contributed labor, materials, and funding.
2017
- An asylum-seeking family was welcomed to Safe Haven.
- The Board received training by the Refugee Immigration Ministry, a well-established organization with a similar mission.
- A volunteer case manager began working with CASP.
2018
- Three new asylum-seeking families joined us.
- Our first guest received employment authorization and found work.
2019
- Another family joined us, hosted by a unique collaboration between a local college and the townspeople.
- Another family arrived, reuniting a long-separated extended family under one roof.
- Several more guests received employment authorization and found work.
- CASP hired its first employees: a part-time Executive Director and part-time Case Manager.
- Several families increased their independence significantly as they moved out of their host homes into their own living spaces.
- CASP volunteers received the 2019 Unsung Heroes Award from Compassionate Brattleboro, an organization formed to foster compassion in the town of Brattleboro, VT.
2020
- CASP was invited by the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation to be a major partner in applying for a Working Communities Challenge Grant. The aim is to increase the capacity of southern Vermont to successfully integrate legal immigrants (including asylum seekers) into the fabric of our communities.
- CASP began exploring a new option for hosting our guests: making use of short-term hosting offers in order to increase the number of housing opportunities.
- A new guest arrived, while another guest family achieved full-time employment and moved into their own living space.
- Faced with the COVID-19 crisis, CASP found ways to provide for the safety and wellness of our guests, hosts, volunteers, and staff.