Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri announced new staff members this week in expectation of being part of serving a 15-fold national increase in refugee admissions once President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
"We know that President-elect Biden has announced his intention to raise refugee admissions to 125,000 nationwide in the next year. Compare that to 8,000 refugees resettled nationwide over the past year," Dan Lester, executive director of the local Catholic Charities organization, said in a news release. "With almost 40 percent of the national refugee resettlement agencies being forced to close their doors over the last four years, we are committed to ensuring we are ready to take on this immense task."
Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri has split its Refugee and Immigration Services program into two distinct programs, which will "enable us to be ready for this tremendous growth in refugee arrivals and requests for immigration services," Lester said.
As of Monday, Samantha Moog serves as the new director of refugee resettlement.
Lorna Tran, who directed the refugee resettlement program and the immigration services program for the nonprofit for the last 13 years, will be the full-time director of immigration services.
Moog is a licensed clinical social worker with several years of experience in direct practice and clinical experience in case management, individual and group therapy, family and youth assessment, and crisis intervention with vulnerable populations. She has degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Chicago and a graduate certificate from the University of Missouri.
"As the only agency in Mid-Missouri that partners with the federal government to welcome refugees to our community, I am humbled to be a part of Catholic Charities, an organization that has a long history of welcoming refugees and has contributed to flourishing immigrant community," Moog said.
Refugee and Immigration Services has done that work for 45 years, originally housed under the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City before becoming a part of Catholic Charities in 2011.
Tran has been with the organization for more than 40 years.
"While I am moving out of the resettlement field, I very much look forward to continuing to engage with the Refugee Resettlement Program through my work in the Immigration Services Program," she said.
Lester said of Tran: "Her dedication to help those who have fled war, religious or political persecution has been life-changing to those who walk through RIS' doors and this division of programs will ensure that we maintain the highest bar of excellence in care for our clients that we have set for ourselves."
In addition to the new roles for Moog and Tran, there will also be two new associate directors within Refugee Resettlement - Senad Music and Grace Wildenhaus, who have worked with RIS for 21 years and three years, respectively.