04/16/2026
We are grateful for the support and trust of Human Service Chamber of Franklin County.
“I'm telling everyone that it's not time to rest, it's time to take advantage of the opportunity to do uninterrupted work.
This Administration has a greater long-term vision of chopping our democracy into pieces, and it just so happened that the first attack has been on the immigrant and refugee community. But this is not going to be their endpoint. This is about our democracy, not just about our neighbors being targeted because they just so happen to not have been born in the United States. This is far bigger than what TV might have you thinking.
Another thing to note is that while the Somali community was the most targeted in the news the past few months, it was still 90 percent of our Latino neighbors that were being detained during the ICE enforcement surge in central Ohio. It was a very targeted and focused increase in ICE activity to locate and deport our neighbors.
When the adults aren't able to go to work, they aren’t able to maintain their households. So in situations where we know that people are already struggling with housing insecurity and food insecurity, those challenges are exacerbated. And then we have the children that live in those households. When parents fear for their lives, their immediate thought is to fear for the lives of their children, so we have school districts that are reporting increased absences. We know that every single day counts at school, and not just because of the educational value, but the socialization that children get, the free warm food that they receive, and the fact that they get to actually be outside of the house and supervised while parents are at work. So there's so many hidden layers to this, and the trauma of not only seeing your own parents in fear, but also having to watch this unfold across the nation… that vicarious trauma moves through immigrant communities here in the United States, and we will feel it for generations to come.
In this moment of internalized terror, we are changing the fibers of our community.
But for those who think the economy is the only thing that matters, I’ll also say that the immigrant community in Central Ohio has been responsible for bringing many corridors back to life. They’ve been the reason our overall population has increased, and why we’re one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.
I'm just humbled that we get to play a small part in taking our democracy back, and we're joined by so many people in central Ohio that agree that our democracy is worth fighting for. Our Helpers serves at least 150 families every single week. And we do our due diligence to reach out to those families to make sure their situations haven't changed, to make sure that they are sheltering in their home for their safety.
But it can be scary. I remember talking to my sister in Florida, and she was telling me I should do a daily blog about what the work is looking like, and I said, ‘I don't know that I'm ready for my face to be connected to this work.’
I never imagined a day when leading a nonprofit organization in Central Ohio would be a hazardous occupation. One of my children asked me why I do this when this work has gotten so scary for everyone. And I said, ‘Because there's no way that any of us should be able to sleep without knowing that we were on the right side of this movement.’
So if anyone's looking for inspiration, it's just a mere reminder that this is not a moment. This is a movement, and if we aren't gonna get our butts up out of our chairs to take back our democracy, then none of us are going to have a leg to stand on when they start coming for each and every one of us, community by community, one by one.”
- Dr. Dorothy Hassan is the CEO of Our helpers, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of immigrant and refugee families in Central Ohio.
