Refugee Services of Texas closing Fort Worth office as it seeks more funds
FORT WORTH, Texas - One of the largest refugee services in Texas is shutting down its offices in Fort Worth and Houston.
They said an increase in refugees and a slowdown of fundraising has caused a budget shortfall.
The largest non-combatant evacuation in American history was Afghanistan in August 2021.
A year later, the crisis between Ukraine and Russia sent thousands fleeing in search of safety.
"That required us to draw down our resources dramatically, and we’ve been playing catch up ever since," said Chris Kelley, with Refugee Services Texas.
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In Fort Worth, a charity assisting many refugees from the two regions is in dire straits.
"Those two global crises played out in Texas in great numbers, and it did deplete our resources very quickly," Kelley explained. "We had budgeted to serve about 1,600 refugees in that 18-month period, and we ended up serving over 4,500."
Refugee Services of Texas is closing its Fort Worth office in La Gran Plaza. It will also shutter its Houston location.
Its Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Amarillo, and Harlingen locations remain intact.
Its work includes finding homes, school, and employment for refugees.
While the government provides a part of its funding, the private funds have been scarce.
"We reached a point with some of our funders, the softness of the economy, particularly in the high tech sector, that we just drew down our resources dramatically, so we’ve had to cut back our expenses to align with our revenue," Kelley said.
Dozens of the charity’s staff will be laid off, and there is now a 120-day pause on accommodating any new refugees.
"We will refer those cases to other refugee charities in North Texas like Catholic Charities, like International Rescue Committee, some of the more national, deep-pocketed agencies, if you will," Kelley said. "We just need to get this gap between what the government provides for services and what we as a public private partnership has to generate."
Refugee Services Texas is appealing to the public for donations to recover from the hardship and continue its work.
"It’s just a pause. It’s not an, ‘it’s over,’ it’s just a pause. We fully expect to be back leaner but stronger than ever by, we hope certainly around the September/October time," Kelley said.