Dallas-Forth Worth has become one of the country’s largest Iraqi refugee communities, reports Laura Burke of the Texas Observer. According to Burke’s report, The United States has offered refuge to tens of thousands of Iraqis. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, established Muslims are working hard to keep refugees from falling through the cracks. Their efforts are attracting growing numbers of Iraqis to the area.
“I think there’s a lot more coming because they know we’re providing this assistance,” says Aisha Waheed, refugee coordinator at the American Islamic center of Dallas. “There are very few cities that provide the continuous work that we do.”
Matsuda, heads the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation and helped form the Iraqi association in late 2008. She is one of many pillars of this emerging community’s structure. The five-year-old foundation has doled out more than $60,000 since its inception. (read the entire article in the Texas Observer).
