Our Mission
The mission of NEKASAN is to empower asylum seekers and refugees by helping them navigate access to essential services, community support, and legal advocacy; allowing them to build safe, dignified, and hopeful lives in their new communities.
Our History
Established in 2020, the Northeast Kingdom Asylum Seekers Assistance Network (NEKASAN) is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is part of a Vermont-New Hampshire Asylum Seekers Network.
Asylum seekers are referred to NEKASAN while they are being held in detention centers or homeless shelters on the border or in major cities across the United States. We are in collaboration with other Asylum Seekers Assistance Networks in Vermont and New Hampshire (ASANs) to provide hope, support, and community for these immigrants as they seek a new life. Asylum seekers have fled persecution and often violence in their own countries due to religious affiliation, tribal membership, political activity, or sexual orientation. Many have undertaken long, arduous journeys to reach our border.
Once here, guests stay with paid host families or in rental apartments and receive monthly stipends to help with food and personal needs. We help them obtain Medicaid and connect them with primary care. We help them apply to obtain work permits. We also connect them with immigration lawyers who may offer their services pro bono; sometimes we help pay a lawyer’s retainer and fees.
The US government requires asylum seekers to write a document establishing the “credible fear” that caused them to flee their home countries. If they are unable to write this in English, we help find a qualified translator. While asylum seekers wait for permission to work in this country, we provide access to ESL classes as well as conversation practice with volunteers. Volunteers also socialize, play sports, join entertainment events, and help guests obtain a driver’s license or open a bank account. We have paid for training in fields such as Dental Assistant or Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning; we also help guests gain certification for professions they practiced in their home countries. Some of our former guests have relocated to find work while other guests work and live locally and become financially independent.
We have welcomed asylum seekers from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Our goal is always to provide community and a road to self-sufficiency for these new Vermonters.
