Refugee-Run Grassroots Organizations: Responsive Assistance beyond the Constraints of US Resettlement Policy

Abstract

Refugee-resettlement policy as constitutive of neoliberal governance has been critically examined as delimiting service provision by state-contracted refugee-serving agencies. What remains unexamined is how state-detached refugee-run organizations at the grassroots fit into the privatized, marketized and technocratic modalities of such governance. This study examines Refugee Community Organizations (RCOs) in the US and their scope of services in relation to publicly funded resettlement services, drawing on focus groups and 40 interviews with RCO leaders of Bhutanese communities in 35 US cities. Findings illustrate RCOs with a wide scope of services, in terms of eligibility, time limits, proximity and modality. Who and when: RCOs target those neglected by work-oriented policies and provide assistance well beyond policy time limits. Where and how: RCOs are closer to communities in terms of both geographical and sociocultural proximity. Issues of equity and social justice are thus raised, as RCOs aim to assume important functions of the state and pursue the mandates of federal policy, without adequate resources and legitimacy.