If you are interested in more information about the programs outlined below, please contact Ronald Kirby, Director of Community Programs.

Refugee Community Building
ICP has been awarded a five-year demonstration grant to model a community-building project for refugee communities in Harrisburg and Erie, Pennsylvania. Included in the project are recently arrived Bosnian, African, Russian, Iraqi, Kurdish and Cuban refugees. This project encourages refugee communities to participate in collaborative efforts and create a shared, multi-ethnic vision for immigrant communities whose numbers are too small in any given location to sustain independent community organization (see Refugee Community Building). ICP's partners for this project include Tressler Lutheran Services and the Hispanic Council of Erie.

Refugee Services Coalition of Central Pennsylvania
In March of 2000, all of the officially recognized refugee service organizations in the Central Pennsylvania region agreed to form a cooperative organization in order to best serve the needs of refugees arriving in Central Pennsylvania communities. This organization, The Refugee Services Coalition of Central Pennsylvania (RSCCP), has the following membership: Immigration and Refugee Services, Catholic Charities (IRS/CC); Refugee and Immigration Services, Tressler-Lutheran Services (RIS/TLS); PRIME - Ecumenical Commitment to Refugees (PRIME-ECR); International Services Center (ISC); and the Institute for Cultural Partnerships (ICP). Member organizations are equal partners in this coalition. Coalition members collectively function as the regional refugee social services provider. The Coalition’s directing and policy-making body is a management team made up of the directors of these five refugee service organizations. The management team meets regularly to assure proper cooperation and coordination among the service providers and invites other non-refugee service organizations to meetings as well.