We are the UConn Immigration Rights Initiative (UIRI) based at UConn Health. We are a group of medical students, medical residents, physicians, graduate students, healthcare and graduate education staff, friends and family, who support the right of immigrants and refugees to equitable health and wellbeing.
Our initiative spans the offering of free asylum forensic health evaluations, immigrant community outreach, and immigrant health education.
We have hosted documentary nights, paint night fundraisers, Know Your Rights campaigns, and made other efforts to advocate for Immigrant Rights.
We enthusiastically support the mission and work of IRIS in the greater New Haven community.
IRIS helps close to 2,000 refugees and immigrants each year. During the pandemic, IRIS helped more than 120 refugees and immigrants find work, provided $200,000 in rental assistance, taught students English, art, and music, helped adults with immigration legal needs, and fed 300+ families per week with essential groceries from our food pantry.
The mission of IRIS is to enable refugees, immigrants, and other displaced people to establish new lives, regain hope, and contribute to the vitality of Connecticut’s communities. Refugees are men, women and children who fled their countries of origin due to persecution on the basis of their race, nationality, religious belief, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
Currently, IRIS’s clients come from Syria, Afghanistan, Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and other countries. IRIS provides families with housing, food, clothing, and services such as education, English training, job preparation and placement, health care, and immigration legal aid.
