Your support is critical to our success, and it will help our assigned family access essential resources and services as they rebuild their lives in the Chicagoland area. We have a goal of raising $10,000 for the HIAS Welcome Campaign. HIAS receives some government funds to help a refugee family become independent. However, there is always a large gap. The Welcome Campaign provides financial assistance to fill this gap as well as supports the activities and services of the HIAS Refugee Resettlement program.

HIAS Immigration & Citizenship began in the hearts and deeds of the Chicago Jewish community around 1900. Loosely organized in small associations within the city, its founders worked informally with the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of New York which later became HIAS - the international organization.

In 1911, Adolph Copeland organized a group of 20 Jewish leaders and chartered HIAS Immigration & Citizenship as an independent Illinois agency with its own board of directors. Through the board's leadership and commitment, HIAS Immigration & Citizenship developed a strong, cooperative relationship with the international HIAS network that still exists today.

Today, HIAS Immigration & Citizenship provides an array of comprehensive, cost-effective immigration and citizenship services to hundreds of individuals already living in the Chicago area as well as refugees being resettled here. As a program of JCFS Chicago, HIAS Immigration & Citizenship is proud to welcome and support individuals and families who have experienced the horrors of war and persecution and are now resiliently rebuilding their lives in Chicago. HIAS helps them transition from strangers in a new country to contributors in their communities and eventually American citizens.