Our Story
Refugees are some of the world’s most resilient people, full of grit and determination. Indow knew this first hand because many of its most dedicated and hardworking employees at its manufacturing facility were refugees from Burma and Iraq.
In 2016, Indow saw the need to gather other businesses together to declare that refugees make our companies, economy and communities stronger. It found a partner in the nonprofit Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, which is the largest provider of refugee services in the state of Oregon. In January 2017, We Hire Refugees launched and began reaching out to businesses across Oregon and the U.S. to ask for their support for refugee resettlement.
In early 2020, We Hire connected with Amplio Recruiting, a company working across the U.S. to staff great companies with the dependable refugee workforce. Through this partnership, Pledge commitments grew to over 300 companies and became the adopted mission of Businesses for Refugees in 2021, a collaboration among all of the major refugee service providers across the US to build private sector support for welcoming New Americans.
We are so excited to see this collaboration lead to positive impact for both businesses and the refugee workforce. However, with the adoption of the Welcome Pledge project, We Hire Refugees needed a new mission!
We realized our experience and network could fill a much needed gap in the movement to hire refugees. Businesses on this journey need support in the form of resources and consulting services to successfully find and bring refugee employees on their team.
We now focus on providing businesses with resources & consulting to effectively engage, hire & retain the refugee workforce and are grateful to serve companies to reach their talent, diversity and inclusion goals.
“Small business owners have so much power to effect change and create welcoming communities for refugees.”
Carrie Sturrock
Board Member