Less than a tenth of a percentage of refugees around the globe are successfully resettled.
That’s where The Shapiro Foundation aims to help, says Larry Tobin, Hornstein MA’17, Heller MBA’17.
Tobin says that like Brandeis’ founding principles, The Shapiro Foundation is a Jewish foundation focused on social justice and on the Jewish community’s responsibility to improving the general society. The Shapiro Foundation pursues that work through refugee resettlement.
“Our obsession is around communities getting to welcome newcomers,” he says. “Private citizens using their own private resources to welcome and integrate additional refugees is the biggest win-win-win. We can now do that in the U.S. after watching Canada with envy for 40 years,” Tobin says, referencing Welcome Corps, the first private resettlement effort in America.
Tobin came to Brandeis as a recipient of the Melvin S. and Ryna G. Cohen Endowed Fellowship. While in the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, he had the opportunity to participate in the Myra Kraft Seminar in Israel with Rachel Fish, PhD’13, associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.
He describes the course and accompanying trip as “the most transformative experience of my academic life.”
“Unbeknownst to me, it was the start of my journey in grappling with the plight of refugees in host communities,” he says, recalling a visit with asylum seekers in Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Park.
Since graduation, Tobin has directed The Shapiro Foundation efforts across the globe. In addition to creating additional resettlement spaces and building community sponsorship, The Shapiro Foundation’s work centers around host communities viewing refugees as a net asset.
Since the fall of Kabul in 2021, The Shapiro Foundation has pivoted to become the most active investor in community sponsorship efforts across the U.S., starting with mobilizing sponsors for 5,000 Afghans and most recently has been welcoming hundreds of Ukrianians and Haitians. Now they’re working to ensure Welcome Corps’ successful launch.
Tobin, who personally welcomed four families from Afghanistan and Iraq last year, explains that the sponsor also benefits from the transformative experience of welcoming and hopes more people will have the life-changing opportunity.
“Any effort that has private citizens using their own private resources to welcome refugees should be something that is commended and that unifies the left and right in America. It strengthens America, it creates an additional durable solution for a family and it transforms lives locally,” Tobin says. “If you’d like to join me in sponsoring a refugee, you can sign up at WelcomeCorps.org.”