Older Adult Refugees and Friends program

Inside a conference room a diverse group of older adult refugees sit around a table taking notes and talking with each other.

DRCOG works in partnership with the Aurora Center for Active Adults to offer the Older Adult Refugees and Friends program (formerly the Elder Refugee program). Older adults in refugee and immigrant communities from across the globe participate in activities that reduce social isolation and increase integration and connection in the community and promote health and wellness. Participants and their families receive information about services for older adults, as well as help enhance the skills of service providers who work with refugees. The program is funded through the federal Older Americans Act and a state grant from the Colorado Refugee Services program.

DRCOG’s Older Adult Refugees and Friends program strives to:

Provide the Denver region’s elder refugees with information and assistance and improved access to Older Americans Act programs
Ensure inclusion of the elder refugee voice and perspective in future planning for older adults in the region
Fund programs for elder refugees at the Aurora Center for Active Adults, including exercise classes and recreation
Supply cultural competency training and cross-training for both traditional aging service providers and the refugee resettlement agencies in the Denver region.

Interested in learning how we developed our program? Want to know more about serving these populations? Click here for best practices documents.

Who is a refugee?
A refugee is someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Links and Resources

Additional Resources

United States Resettlement Facts

Since World War II, the United States has made it a central mandate and mission to provide humanitarian protection to refugees fleeing conflict and persecution around the world.

For additional information about the United States’ history of refugee resettlement, consult the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s website.

Refugee Information

DOWNLOADS

Refugee program brochure

Refugees in Colorado

Colorado resettles nearly 2,000 refugees a year. These newcomers are given legal and permanent status, work authorization, five years of English as a second language classes, and access to public assistance to help them obtain financial sufficiency.

For more information about newly-arriving refugee populations, visit the Colorado Refugee Services program site.