What Refugee Services does
Nine services for people starting over in Houston
Every family has a caseworker who knows them, and the work is practical and measured in months.
Arrival welcome
Families are met on arrival, with airport pickups supported by staff and volunteers.
Establishing a household
Housing setup and the basics a first apartment needs, ready before the family walks in.
Supporting employment
Job readiness, placement and mentoring, from a résumé to a first day at work.
Connecting with schools
School enrollment and registration for children.
Transportation
Bus and rail orientation, rides to appointments, and driver’s education.
ESL
English classes for adults.
Medical services
Health care navigation, refugee medical assistance and intensive medical case management.
Legal services
Immigration legal services from a team accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Cultural orientation
Orientation to life, work and community in the United States.
Results in fiscal 2026
96%
90-day employment retention: 322 clients entered employment and 309 were still working at 90 days
184
Immigration legal services enrollments
1,069
Clients who received rental assistance
610
Clients who received food assistance
167
Driver’s education clients
Source: IM Houston Refugee Services, fiscal 2026 (July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026), from the August 2026 RS Committee Dashboard. Assistance and legal figures count enrollments, and one client may appear in more than one program. See all the numbers.
Refugee volunteer opportunities in Houston
Volunteer with refugees in Houston
Six ways to walk alongside a family. No prior skills or training needed. Every volunteer has an interview first, then training, then a placement that fits what you can actually give.
Family mentor
Be a cultural guide to one family or individual: exploring the city, practicing English, learning the bus and rail system.
1 to 2 hours weekly or every other week, for about six months
Employment mentor
Work with one client on a résumé, interview practice, how American workplaces operate, job applications and rides to interviews.
2 to 3 hours weekly or every other week, until the client is hired
Case management support
Back up clients and caseworkers with airport pickups, school registration and rides to appointments.
Mostly business hours; a flexible schedule helps
Medical case management
Help clients get to health appointments, through clinic visits and to the pharmacy. A medical or social work background helps, as does Arabic, Farsi, Pashto or Swahili.
Appointments are usually in the daytime
Translator
Translate in person or by phone for clients, caseworkers and other volunteers. Arabic and Swahili are the languages we are short of.
Varies, including business hours and weekend events
Special events and projects
The annual scholarship luncheon, Women’s Empowerment Groups, fundraising events and projects such as organizing donated supplies.
Varies; some daytime, some evenings and weekends
Before you apply
Refugee Services volunteers must be 21 or older, and some projects are a good fit for families volunteering together. You will meet clients at their homes or at our building on Main Street. Many of the people we serve are working, so some roles are in the evenings or on weekends.
The qualities that matter most are patience, flexibility and following through on what you have committed to. A volunteer a family can count on means a great deal to them.
Not able to give time right now? You can hold a donation drive instead. Email volunteerinfo@imgh.org and we will tell you what we are short of.
Programs within Refugee Services
Women’s Empowerment Groups and the Youth Art Program
Women’s Empowerment Groups
198 women served in 2025-26, across four groups held in Dari, Pashto, Arabic and Spanish.
Youth Art Program
165 youth served since 2023 in a nine-month Arts in Health program for refugee youth.
En español
Servicios para refugiados en Houston
IM Houston ayuda a refugiados, asilados y otros recién llegados a establecerse en Houston. Ofrecemos reasentamiento, manejo de casos, ayuda para conseguir empleo, clases de inglés y servicios legales de inmigración, con intérpretes disponibles.
Importante
No somos un albergue ni ofrecemos vivienda de emergencia para personas sin hogar. Si necesita un refugio o alojamiento de emergencia, llame al 211.
Si es nuevo en Houston y busca ayuda con reasentamiento o inmigración, llame al 713-533-4900 y pida Refugee Services (Servicios para Refugiados).
About the program
Resettlement is a process, not an arrival
We work with people who left home in fear of political, social or religious persecution and who arrive here with legal status. Over four decades we have served clients from more than forty countries, resettling families in partnership with the U.S. State Department and affiliated partner organizations.
The work runs in phases. It starts with basic needs and a first job. It moves to the wrap-around support that makes a household stable enough to think past this month: English classes, health care navigation, school enrollment, financial footing. After five years in the United States, it ends where clients have been heading the whole time, with an application for citizenship.
More than 80% of the people we serve are self-sufficient within six to twelve months. Our legal team handles that last step in-house, rather than at a cost most families cannot carry.
A designated hub
IM Houston is the sole designated local resettlement hub in the regional reception system, which means other agencies coordinate arrivals through us.
Fiscal year 2026
Refugee Services in numbers
July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. Every figure below is from our published FY26 Refugee Services infographic.
3,108
Client enrollments across programs
Counted across programs, so one person receiving two services appears twice1,138
New Social Adjustment Services enrollments
Across 3,363 days of service670
New Employment Services enrollments
322
Clients who entered employment
309
Still employed at 90 days
A 96% retention rate96
Vocational training clients
5
Professional recertification clients
167
Driver’s education clients
184
Immigration legal services enrollments
1,069
Clients who received rental assistance
610
Clients who received food assistance
40
Clients who received utility assistance
183
Refugee Cash Assistance enrollments
84
Refugee Medical Assistance enrollments
63
Intensive medical case management clients
518
Health education and wellness participants
The women’s group, Youth Arts in Health, the Refugee Care Navigator app and the men’s support group198
Women served through Women’s Empowerment Groups
Four groups, in Dari, Pashto, Arabic and Spanish165
Youth served by the Youth Art Program since 2023
A nine-month Arts in Health programWho we serve
Gender
Race and ethnicity
Age
What a client can receive
Nine service areas, which is the fullest answer to what Refugee Services actually does.
- Arrival welcome
- Establishing a household
- Supporting employment
- Connecting with schools
- Transportation
- ESL
- Medical services
- Legal services
- Cultural orientation
Source: IM Houston Refugee Services infographic, fiscal 2026, drawn from the August 2026 RS Committee Dashboard. Enrollment totals may include the same client across more than one program, so they count services delivered rather than individual people.
Drive Dreams Forward
One license changes the future of an entire family
In Houston you cannot get far without a car. For a family that arrived last year, that is not an inconvenience. It is a wall between them and work, school, doctors and independence.
We have watched that wall come down. Roya now drives herself to a job she could not reach before. Hasan found stability after the hardest loss of his life. A driver’s license turns out to be about far more than getting around.
This service used to be government funded. That funding is gone. When one person earns a license the whole family rises: children get to school, parents reach better jobs, and a household stops depending on rides from other people.
We are close to a $50,000 goal to help 100 refugee clients earn their licenses.
What a gift covers
Written test preparation, the driving hours a first-time driver in a new country actually needs, translation where the material assumes English, and the fees themselves.
Every client in this program was legally resettled and is working toward self-sufficiency. Over 80% reach it within six to twelve months.