Press & Media 

It’s a busy Saturday at Art Corner, an unassuming cafe with baked Ukrainian sweets and Arabic shawarma near the intersection of Gaskins Road and Patterson Avenue.

With an art easel hair clip holding up her flaxen hair, Tania Rudenskykh sings happy birthday as she walks a cake to a teenage customer. Meanwhile, in an adjacent studio space, about half a dozen people participate in an art therapy class.

The increased need also is reflected in the numbers of visitors to the Commonwealth Catholic Charities Dibert Food Pantry, located at its Rolling Hills Drive location in Henrico's West End.

Open most weekdays, except for Tuesdays, when the staff restocks, the CCC serves many single parents, seniors on a fixed income, refugees and immigrants as well as people who choose the pantry as it is located on GRTC's No. 79 bus line.

Ground was broken and faith renewed when Bishop Barry C. Knestout and others drove their shovels into the earth on Sept. 21 near St. Elizabeth, Richmond. Though gray clouds hung over the morning event, there are hopes for a bright future for the Northside neighborhood as Bishop Knestout blessed the ground on which a new affordable housing community will be built.

Local leaders and congregants of St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church broke ground Sunday morning on a new community for low-income individuals.

As nearly 100 runners laced up for a 5K race in support of refugees, attorney Jaime McGuire has been running her own race. A legal sprint to help immigrants from sudden deportation amid an intensifying federal enforcement. 

The runners gathered at Rivers Edge North on a hot, muggy June morning, stretching, laughing and pinning on race bibs for Commonwealth Catholic Charities’ “Spring into Action 5K Run for Refugees.” Some came with strollers, others with their dogs, but all came with purpose to help the mission of refugee resettlement. 

Commonwealth Catholic Charities, based in the greater Richmond region, Newport News and Roanoke, had its refugee resettlement program funding frozen by the Trump administration. 

The funding freeze resulted in layoffs and reduced services for refugees. CCC continues to provide limited services, but the future of the program is uncertain. 

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - President Donald Trump’s new travel ban is triggering many questions and concerns from those who work with people who may be impacted.

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“The biggest concern is that it will impact individuals from Afghanistan, specifically individuals who are here on a special immigrant visa or are waiting for a special immigrant visa,” Katie Dillion with Commonwealth Catholic Charities said.

Concern is now growing among immigrant communities and their advocates after President Trump announced a ban on 19 countries, blocking or restricting access to U.S visas for millions of people around the world.

“Those are the individuals who worked with our military for the last 20-something years in Afghanistan, and so we promised them that we could keep them safe and that they would have access to come into the United States,” Dillon said.

(OSV News) — Mission is at the heart of Caroline Stanfill’s life. Among her many jobs, she’s worked in special education; for religious sisters; within the diocesan office of social ministries; and as a hospice chaplain. So after years of discernment, she decided to become a foster parent.

“We are all one family and we are our brother’s keeper,” Stanfill told OSV News. “My faith and my understanding of God’s love is what led me to want to be a parent in any sense of the word.”

Stanfill is one of many Catholics across the country working with agencies like Catholic Charities to become foster parents.

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The U.S. refugee resettlement program often engages faith-based organizations in this effort, and for 15 years, Commonwealth Catholic Charities (CCC), a Richmond-based nonprofit, has provided resettlement services in Virginia.

That transition to a productive life in America was imperiled when the new administration abruptly ended the program and stopped payment to organizations like CCC. Losing reimbursement for expenses incurred before the order essentially abandons the 378 refugees whom the U.S. brought to Virginia and sent to CCC with the assurance that they would be supported so they could become an asset, not a burden, to the commonwealth.

Cliona Robb, chair of the CCC Richmond Advisory Committee

A major refugee resettlement program serving Richmond has indefinitely shut down after President Trump froze funding for a federal refugee program.

Why it matters: Thousands of refugees across Virginia, including over 900 kids, rely on that program for help with housing and food.

Refugees living in Roanoke are facing an increasingly unstable future in the wake of federal funding cuts and executive orders.

Commonwealth Catholic Charities, a nonprofit authorized by the government to help resettle refugees, has laid off 26 employees in Virginia, including eight in Roanoke.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Samjana Dahal, resettlement program supervisor in Roanoke. “It’s very difficult trying to meet the needs of our clients with limited staff.”

Faith communities across the U.S. view developments on their vacant properties as a way to bring in revenue and address the affordable housing crunch in their neighborhoods. But it’s not easy to do, even when elected officials seem eager to help.

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One project she said has been successful in addressing neighbors’ concerns is that of St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in the Highland Park area of Richmond, the state capital. The 56 affordable homes in the development will be divided among 14 fourplexes, with an architectural style that mimics that of the American Foursquare houses common in the area.

A freeze on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments (SNAP) is set to take effect, impacting more than 800,000 Virginians and placing pressure on food pantries.

There are countless organizations with religious ties helping Hispanic families in the Roanoke Valley.

A project to develop dozens of affordable housing units in the backyard of a Richmond, Virginia, parish is underscoring the ongoing need for more housing in the United States.

Despite ongoing challenges — including travel bans for refugees and immigrants, budget cuts, and a growing perception of hostility toward newcomers — Commonwealth Catholic Charities (CCC) wants the Roanoke community to know: they’re still here.

The impact on Catholic Charities organizations across the country has been devastating — agencies have both laid off employees, and halted their refugee resettlement programs.

“We’re still surviving,” said Katie Dillon, communications manager at Commonwealth Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia.

“At the beginning — back in January, February, March — it was chaotic. We were really struggling, and trying to figure out what we were going to do. At that time, we had been sent by the federal government over 350 refugees. And then all of a sudden they said, ‘We’re not going to pay for it’ — for the resettlement,” Dillon shared. “So we really struggled at the beginning — just to figure out what we were going to do, and how we were going to do it without the funding.”

After the shock wore off, Dillon found assistance.

“With the help of our amazing community here in Virginia — donors, board members, different community groups, faith groups — we were able to keep those 350 people housed, with all of the resources they needed,” she said.

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — New travel restrictions put in place by President Donald Trump have concerned Virginia-based organizations that focus on reunifying and resettling immigrants and refugees.

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"We are still working to understand the full impact this ban will have on CCC, our programs, and those we serve. But we are saddened by the news.

The United States is a country of immigrants. Our legacy is one of welcoming those seeking safety and shelter. Refugees and immigrants are vital to the strength of our communities—they enrich our culture and make invaluable contributions to our economy.

At CCC, we remain committed to standing with our immigrant and refugee neighbors and to continuing our work in building a more inclusive and compassionate community.” - Katie Dillon, Communications Manager, Commonwealth Catholic Charities

“It’s not easy to come here and just enjoy it.”

After evacuating Afghanistan in 2021, Abdullah Zarify has made a life for himself in Richmond. He spends most of his time running his own market to support his wife and three children. He’s even made friends playing in a regional cricket league.

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Rabiul Alam says he loves everything about America, the country he thought he'd never call home.

"I'm from Burma, originally," Alam said Tuesday, speaking with CBS 6 near his home in Midlothian.

Before turning 10 years old, Alam said warfare in his home country displaced his family.

He was forced to leave them, taking a perilous journey overseas in a boat alone among more than 400 strangers looking to flee to safety.

By Jay Brown, CCC CEO

Commonwealth Catholic Charities (CCC) has partnered with the government for over 15 years to welcome new Americans through the United States Refugee Admissions program. Despite evidence that refugee arrivals provide significant economic returns and no threat to public safety, the Refugee Admissions program was abruptly halted on January 20. 

Commonwealth Catholic Charities, a faith-based nonprofit that works with immigrant and refugee populations in Hampton Roads, Richmond and Roanoke, laid off 26 people and ceased a refugee resettlement program in the wake of sweeping federal cuts and executive orders.

The organization has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on things such as direct support and rental assistance for refugees that will not be reimbursed by the federal government, and must now rely more heavily on donations to assist families who have already relocated to Virginia.

Adulthood can be hard to navigate.

It’s especially tough for young adults without a suitable support system.

Andi Weissbart is a volunteer with The Success Foundation. She helps guide young people as they age out of foster care.

“It’s been an awesome journey,” Weissbart said. “Honestly, I think I get more out of it than the young folks do.”

Azizgul Ahmadi was devastated when her long-awaited reunion with her parents was canceled. 

After almost four years apart, Ahmadi, a former member of the Afghan military, learned in October last year that her parents were finally cleared to enter the United States and join her in Blacksburg.

She says her father received correspondence from a U.S. Department of State official to prepare for a flight to the U.S., then the next day, her father, still in Afghanistan, learned that his immigration plans were canceled.