In the last ten years, the Russian-speaking refugee community in the United States has grown to over a half-million people. Though this group is one of the largest refugee populations in the country, and is characterized by high levels of education and professional skill, it has yet to achieve great success in organizing for community self-help.

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) is working to develop a national network to address this issue. The LOREO (Local Russian Emigree Organizations) project will help refugees from the FSU attain social and civic integration and strengthen ethnic self-help organizations within the Russian-speaking community. The LOREO network will provide Russian-speaking refugees with the information and skills they need to achieve social and civic integration into their new country and their new communities. The project aims to help refugees learn leadership, community organizing, and civic participation skills so they can advocate on their own behalf, overcome the problems they face, generate and control the resources that can alleviate these challenges and create a positive vision for the community's future.

There are three regional coordinators assigned to the project: Midwest/ Milwaukee, West Coast/California and Southeast/Atlanta. Irina Nikishin, the part-time coordinator for the project in the Southern region, will be working at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta once a week as part of her work on the LOREO project, in addition to her position at Jewish Family & Career Services as a Resettlement Program Manager. Irina's goal is to integrate newly-formed Russian leadership groups with already-existing Federation programs.

At the present time, Irina is working with a group of young adults to plan a Passover program designed to bring the community together and will introduce LOREO in a lively environment. Other events for Israel's Independence Day and Victory Day are also in the planning stages.  She is also working closely with other Jewish agencies to plan activities with those groups. Irina is seeking professionals in the Russian community to form an advisory committee and to develop an organizational plan for the group. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about LOREO, please contact Irina at (678) 222-3723.