The Center’s building in Utica is quieter these days, but with remote working, translating, and distributing information, work hasn’t slowed down.

Executive Director Shelly Callahan says she didn’t start her career in human services work, but she fell in love with the refugee center when she came to Utica.

“My grandma always said, ‘Just go out there and be useful,’ ” Callahan said. “I certainly feel like what this agency does is useful, and it’s just an honor to get to help people start to rebuild their lives.”

Callahan says the number of arriving refugees significantly dropped during Donald Trump’s presidency.

“Across the country, sites like this called ‘an affiliate resettlement site’ … I think 134 or so of those have actually closed,” she said.

She’s hoping President Joe Biden’s administration will rebuild the U.S. Refugee Resettlement program.

“It’s probably gonna be late this year, like late summer, fall, or even next year before we start to see just a return to normalcy in the program,” Callahan said, “which is not to say that we won’t get arrivals between then and now, but to get the flow really back and going, it’s going to take a while.”

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