Noel De La Rosa, chief program officer for Journey’s End Refugee Services, is pictured. Submitted photo

While the refugee resettlement program has not yet started in Jamestown, conversations concerning the resettlement of refugees in the city continue to advance.

In August, the Rev. Luke Fodor told The Post-Journal that refugees could be relocated to the area through the Buffalo-based program, Journey’s End, as soon as this fall. Although Journey’s End does not yet have a timeline for the first wave of refugees, the organization expressed optimism for the future of the program as it looks to expand to the Jamestown region.

“It’s going great,” Noel De La Rosa, chief program officer for Journey’s End, said. “We’re definitely excited. We’re continuing the conversations. We have been speaking with Reverend Luke since the beginning of this year, and we’ve been talking throughout the year. I’d say our next step is having a physical presence in Jamestown.”

Journey’s End helps refugees resettle in a new location, offers opportunities for adult education, helps refugees find employment and offers other programs and services for refugees and low-income immigrants in the western New York area.

Rosa explained the timeline for refugee resettlement in the area depends on the organization’s connections with national affiliates.

“Right now, our pipeline of clients is dependent on our national affiliates, so it really depends on the when the clients are coming into the country,” he said. “The process may take a few years but we’re obviously hopeful that we’ll see clients soon.”

Journey’s End has been operating in Buffalo since 1985, providing a variety of resources for refugees as they transition into the community. Rosa said the Jamestown community initiated the conversation about Journey’s End expanding into the area.

“My understanding is that this has been kicked around since 2019,” he said. “I think this year is the opportunity where everything is kind of aligning. Obviously the community is very enthusiastic, they have been taking a lot of initiative and they’re a pleasure to work with.”

While discussions about the expansion may have been started by local leaders, Rosa said the idea of expanding Journey’s End’s “footprint” was something the agency believed would help provide better opportunities for the organization to serve more refugees and immigrants.

“We will continue the Jamestown conversations,” he said. “This year, we’ve been reviewing the resources that community can bring to bear, such as housing stock, access to services, the willingness of community leaders to step in, and then on our side, we’ve been reviewing our contracts and resources to see what we can invest in, for example, staffing costs. ”

The process for refugee resettlement in Jamestown will be very similar to the approach Journey’s End has used in the Buffalo region. Rosa said the organization provides refugees with “close case management” for 90 days, after which, the refugees have access to the agency for up to five years.’

According to Rosa, each refugee resettlement case can be different, with different individuals requiring different resources and services.

“Part of the role of the case managers is to work with each of the clients to achieve their goals in order to achieve self sufficiency,” he said. “The starting point can be different, and we work with the clients, the case managers, and in this case with the community to see where the startup will be and what that pathway could look like.”

Rosa said the refugee resettlement program would provide the local community with new opportunities to learn and interact with “new neighbors.” He stressed the benefits that can be shared as the community embraces the unknown; however, he encouraged people to not treat the refugees as outsiders.

“I think with any new person, that brings in opportunities for learning, opportunities to interact with different people,” he said. “They would be getting new neighbors. It would be like welcoming anyone into the town. We don’t want our clients to feel like ‘other.’ I think that’s what we would ask for the people in Jamestown, to just be welcoming.”

As Journey’s End moves forward with its plan to hire a staffing person and open a Jamestown branch of the program, Rosa said the agency has held multiple conversations with community members. Based on those conversations, Rosa said he believes the community is very supportive of the program and is ready to welcome refugees into the area when the opportunity arises.

Asked how the community can contribute to the program, Rosa said, “They would be getting new neighbors, so anything that they would do to welcome a new neighbor that’s moving into a neighborhood, same process.”

Currently, Journey’s End does not have a definitive number of refugees that could potentially be relocated to the area. Rosa said there are multiple factors that would be taken into consideration.

“Because our pipeline can vary, it’s hard to really narrow down the number,” he said. “We want to always make sure that the community and our case managers can handle the caseload.”

Regardless of the number of refugees, Rosa said the expansion of the program is “exciting” due to the number of opportunities that would be available for the refugees, the organization itself and the Jamestown community.

Despite some concerns regarding the potential impact refugee resettlement could have on the community, Rosa said relocating refugees to the area would actually have a positive impact on the community.

“The refugees in Buffalo have added to the city and revitalized it in terms of restaurants and in terms of just seeing different people down the street,” he said. ” I know that’s part of the exciting thing for me and my colleagues here at Journey’s End. Of course we want to help clients, but we want to not just bring people into the city, but we want to bring a revitalization so that people can feel proud of Jamestown, when they may take it for granted.”

As Journey’s End continues to establish plans for expanding into Jamestown, Rosa said the organization will collaborate with community leaders to create a smooth process for everyone involved.

“Anything that benefits our clients would benefit the city, and we’d like to work hand in hand with city leaders to kind of achieve that at some point,” he said.