Wausau, Wisconsin — On January 19, a Congolese family arrived at the Wausau Central from a refugee camp in Zambia, Africa. The family, consisting of a couple and their four children, lived in a refugee camp for decades. All of the four children were born in the camp. The oldest is 12.
ECDC’s Wisconsin branch office, the Multicultural Community Center, celebrated its 1st Anniversary, and its parent organization, the ECDC based in Arlington, also kicked off its commemorative year for its 40th year of operations at an event held in Wausau on January 19th.
As 2023 rings in ECDC’s 40th year, the community-based resettlement agency is preparing to commemorate its 40th year through a series of in-person and virtual events involving its 22-plus resettlement network of agencies across the United States, the clients it serves, and the communities it operates in.
To increase its capacity to resettle more refugees in the coming years without overwhelming saturated resettlement sites, ECDC will expand its operations to five new locations this year.
We are celebrating one year since ECDC launched co-sponsorship programs at ten sites across our network. Hear what this program entails and the benefits it offers from both newcomers and co-sponsors in their own words.