This non-profit organization plays a major role in refugee resettlement in the USA and has regional offices all over the country. Record-keeping used to be decentralized, making it difficult to analyze needs and issues, to plan well for the future, or to report to the State Department.
We created a secure database for the organization and an internal website, centralizing all regional and central office data. This means that staff can now use database filters to instantly find the most optimal placement for a new refugee or refugee family in terms of a huge number of variables—including employment opportunities, suitable housing availability, existing cultural & language resources in the community, special health resources that may be required, etc. This enables the organization to better place refugees where they are most likely to settle well and thrive.
The database also enables better tracking of the success and problems of placements, generating reports for the organization’s internal review as well as for the State Department auditing.
There are nine non-profit organizations working with the State Department handling refugee resettlement in the United States and this database was hailed by the other organizations as a model for using technology to optimize refugee resettlement.
2017