

A Q&A with Kate Ayers of ReEstablish Richmond
ReEstablish Richmond creates a welcoming and supportive community for all newcomers through innovative programming, a robust volunteer network, and strong connections with community partners. Founded nearly 15 years ago to fill the gaps in services for Richmond’s growing refugee community, the organization later expanded to support all newcomers seeking to establish roots and reach self-sufficiency in a new community. Welcome.US spoke with Executive Director Katie Ayers to learn more.
You joined ReEstablish Richmond shortly after it was established. What inspired that move?
I had been working as a teacher in a local school system for the first decade of my career. In the midst of that, I took some classes about social justice that ignited in me this new interest in exploring issues specifically around refugees and immigration. I got connected through that class with a local resettlement agency, Catholic Charities, as a mentor. I went in deep with developing the connection and relationship with a family. Then, I went looking for a church that is engaged in that kind of work and more open, and I happened upon this church in Richmond called Tabernacle Baptist where a lot of Burmese refugees had found their home.

At the time, the resettlement agencies were very understaffed, sort of like we're seeing today. In this case, very basic humanitarian needs weren't even getting addressed. The church saw that, jumped in, and started doing things. So when I arrived, the church was in the midst of providing services and support specifically to the Burmese community at large. That was one of the biggest refugee populations at the time in Richmond.
A friend of mine was participating in a higher-level leadership academy for the city of Richmond, then learned about the next level system of refugee resettlement and was like, “Oh my gosh, there are all these gaps.” He founded [ReEstablish Richmond] specifically with the mission to fill gaps and create a longer support system that can last a little longer than the initial resettlement period. He invited me to a welcome introduction, and I walked out of that telling my husband, “I think I want to quit my job and do this.” It was very much one of those inspired decisions.
I joined as a volunteer, and then 12 years later, here I am—still working in this space.
Can you share more about the mission of ReEstablish Richmond and how it has evolved to meet new challenges?
The essence of our mission has always been the same, which has been very much to connect refugees [to services]. Then, we added in the term new immigrants, recognizing there was a myriad of individuals in our community with various immigrant statuses that needed the same kind of support. So, that was the big change, but the nature of our mission to connect people to the resources they need to establish roots and build community has always been the same.
Patrick [the founder] had a background in housing. He was trying to find some creative solutions to fill in the housing gaps that resettlement agencies often face… I have a background in education, so it made sense to lift more educationally focused programs off the ground.
Whatever clients are telling us that we need, that's how we decide what content we're going to offer. We always offer one-to-one support or support in group classes. The how we provide that stuff doesn't change, but what we provide really depends on what people tell us they need the most—that is currently English lessons, employment, and driver's licenses. Those three areas have consistently been areas people have requested the most.
The organization has built strong partnerships to assist in this work. What types of partnerships have been most critical to your success?
My approach is, how can we do this better together because of the funding streams in the resettlement space. We work to make sure that service providers across the spectrum are getting together to connect, collaborate, and share resources. We are a lead convener for the Advocates for Intercultural Richmond, Virgina (AIRVA), group, that has met regularly over the last decade. In 2023, we worked with local funders and key partner agencies on a Regional Strategic Plan that more closely looked at assets, gaps, and opportunities for future collaboration.
We've always been very community focused in how we deliver our services. We're either working in people's homes and going to them directly, or we're working with community partners who have space close to where clients are living. In the last year, we have held our English classes at the YMCA, and we have had them at a myriad of faith communities: Christian, Muslim, and Jewish spaces. We work closely with partners in that way—they act as the host, and we can act as bridge and the conveners. Of course, when you develop those kinds of partnerships, things evolve whether it's funding streams or more ways to tell your story and broaden your impact.
The third thing I'll say about that is, probably two years ago, we established a new programmatic model for client services delivery. Historically, we had mostly done our work one-to-one with a few classes sprinkled in. A couple of years ago, we established a side of client engagement called Newcomer Education. The programmatic model for that is really focused on bringing people together to learn a new skill. Our role in the newcomer education class is to figure out what people want to learn about, and then find the partners in the community to help make that happen. We launched an English class a couple of years ago with Richmond’s Adult Education system. They send a teacher… the YMCA hosts the program, and our role is really to build those wraparound services: childcare, transportation, registration, and that trusted person to help make sure that people are engaged in a meaningful way.
With English, the results are really strong. Our attendance rates are 85% and higher, which, adult ed classes are more like 50% attendance rate… That speaks to our role as the mediator, bridge builder, and wraparound support.
ReEstablish Richmond has developed unique programs like the Heela Sewing Course and Conversation Cafe. How do these programs help newcomers find belonging and reach self-sufficiency?
First, I'll briefly touch on Conversation Cafe because it's a partnership. That evolved out of a local church that was offering tutoring to students on Wednesday nights as part of their ministry, and they were bursting at the seams. They had so many peoples’ kids who wanted to attend, and then adults were dropping their kids off but also needed English support. We said, hey, you run your tutoring program, we'll run a Conversation Cafe at the same time for parents who were dropping their kids off. It's a great way to recruit volunteers, because it's a lower lift for people who want to get involved.
Heela evolved out of conversations we were having specifically with Afghan women, who have consistently made up about 70% of our client base. Many of them wanted to learn to sew or already knew how to sew but wanted a sewing machine or job in sewing. We initially partnered with another organization to set up the sewing place. They provided the volunteers, and we helped find space and recruited students. They developed the initial model, then that organization closed, and so we took it on as one of our primary programs. We have a consistent waiting list. It's extremely popular, even seven years later.
We offer two levels of class. Level one is just a beginner sewing class that is hybrid. …The sewing test at the end indicates that they can make some very basic things. They can help repair things for their kids or do projects at home. Then, we offer once a year a level two course that requires a certain level of English proficiency, because the assessment does qualify them to go seek a job as an official tailor or seamstress. A lot of our level two grads have gone on to work at places like David's Bridal or other tailoring.
Tell us about the annual Multicultural Festival! This event recognizes Immigrant Heritage Month and World Refugee Day in June, celebrating newcomer cultures from around the world that have found a home in Richmond.
We started doing a version of it about 10 years ago. It started off for World Refugee Day. We partnered with the local YMCA, we had a big community resources fair, and then we would integrate music and dance and food and all those kinds of things into it. It was a great way to bring in our community partners. The summer before COVID, we had almost 1,000 newcomers come to the event. Plus, we probably had 500 people through community partners and volunteers onsite. It became a very popular event, specifically for the refugee population.
Right after the Afghan evacuation happened, we started working more closely with the City of Richmond. We found out they were having this multicultural festival around the same time in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month and World Refugee Day that offered the same things—community resources, dance, music—but with being the city, they had a much bigger footprint, and were able to scale it. We decided to join efforts and have the Multiculural Festival in honor of World Refugee Day and Immigrant Heritage Month. This partnership allowed us to scale this event and be more inclusive of all immigration communities that have resettled in Richmond.
We still deliver invitations to our clients door to door, and we provide transportation if they need it. Our work is really how we can get our clients to this event and build those bridges.
Your volunteer opportunities cover a wide range of needs. What is the best way for our Welcomer community to get involved or support your work?
There's always the top three: time, treasure, and talent. Give your time, or volunteer. There are a lot of people doing a lot of this welcoming work on the ground. Faith communities rally around this issue of welcoming strangers. Tied to every faith background is part of that theology—how can we equip people who want to do that outside of the theological reason to help? How can this be sustainable? What we find is when volunteers aren't provided resources and support, the burnout rate is extremely high in this space. So volunteer, but do it with an organization that has some of those supportive measures in place.
Then there is your treasure. We are all going to rely very heavily on independent and individual donors over the next couple of years. That's something that's really important right now.
And then I would say, storytelling, advocacy, and sharing your personal experiences. I think storytelling is the only way to change the narrative that is currently out there. The more people that can share stories and experiences, the more we can work toward our vision.
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