In honor of World Refugee Day, the U.S. Embassy in Ljubljana and Slovenska Filantropija are pleased to announce a $25,000 project funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Julia Taft Fund for Refugees. The one-time grant will provide critical start-up funds to develop a community center to assist refugees and asylum-seeking children and families, as well as possible victims of gender-based violence within this community. The project will be implemented by Slovenska Filantropija. Over the next ten months the project will finance capital improvements, program development, and initial services. The main goal of the program is to contribute to the improvement of the psychosocial wellbeing of refugee and asylum-seeking parents and children, and enhance their social integration in society. The project will do this by providing community-based services and working to improve the community and network of those who help monitor the rights of vulnerable communities.
Charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy Gautam Rana said “the embassy is incredibly pleased to work with Slovenska Filantropija on a project designed to help support and integrate some of the world’s most vulnerable people.”
The Julia Taft Fund for Refugees is an initiative by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration to respond to critical unmet needs of refugees. Created in 2000, the Julia Taft Fund for Refugees supports small-scale, local-level projects that fill gaps in refugee service not already being addressed by other organizations. This is the first Julia Taft Fund for Refugees project to be implemented in Slovenia.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration provided $3.4 billion to humanitarian efforts globally, the majority of which went to overseas humanitarian assistance and refugee resettlement.
You can find out more about the bureau and its work at https://www.state.gov/j/prm
