Blog
Neighbors, Not Enemies: Remembering Injustice and Resisting Its Return
Kimiko Hirota | November 13, 2025
In this powerful reflection, CWS’s Associate Director of Policy, Kimiko Hirota, recounts her experience at the 2025 Crystal City Pilgrimage, drawing connections between her family’s history and the renewed use of the Alien Enemies Act under the Trump administration. As immigrant communities face mass detention and deportation today, she calls on Americans to remember past injustices and resist their return …
Empowering Asylees in New York: Monthly Benefit Orientations Launch Statewide
CWS has launched monthly Asylee Benefit Orientations in partnership with New York stakeholders to provide newly granted asylees with timely, comprehensive support—including education, referral and access to critical services. New Asylee Benefit Orientations for New Yorkers Across the United States, fewer than 20% of newly granted asylees access Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) benefits and services within their first …
Rooted in Resilience: The Lasting Impact of CWS Recovery in Haiti
November 6, 2025
After Hurricane Matthew and the 2021 earthquake devastated communities in Haiti, CWS partnered with local leaders to rebuild and repair homes with resilience in mind. Today, those same homes are providing shelter and safety during Hurricane Melissa—proof that community-led recovery not only restores what was lost but builds lasting strength for the future. CWS-constructed homes, built in the aftermath of …
A Garden of Hope: Ukrainian Refugee Women Transform Telenești
November 5, 2025
At the Diamond Day Center in Telenești, Moldova, CWS and its local partners bring together Ukrainian refugees and Moldovan families to create a supportive and healing community. The following testimony was written by Aneta, co-founder and pedagogue of the Diamond Day Center. From Vulnerability to Strength: Refugee Women Leading Change In a small town with big hearts—Telenești, Moldova—a story of …
Transformation Begins With Women: Vivian’s Story from West Pokot
Mary Catherine Hinds | November 4, 2025
CWS Senior Director of Fundraising Strategy, Mary Catherine Hinds, shares her visit to Psirwo, Kenya, where women are transforming their community through water access, poultry farming and cooperative savings. From Water to Opportunity In early September 2025, I traveled to Psirwo in West Pokot, Kenya—where women are leading community transformation with support from CWS and our local partner, Yang’at. We …