Refugee Services of Texas

Refugee Services of Texas (RST) assists thousands of newly arriving refugees each year as they integrate into their new communities in the United States. RST's pilot, Refugee Mobile, applies mobile technology to improve the quality and speed of assimilation in four cities in Texas. This pilot project gives 250 individual refugee families smartphones and specialized training upon their entry to the United States, providing access to approximately 750 individuals, and informs development for a range of mobile services aimed at refugees. The smartphones are pre-loaded with relevant applications to ease communications, translation, transportation, banking, and other functions of daily life. The phones and data plans are subsidized during the pilot phase to test whether access and training with this technology aids refugees in their search for employment and their broader transition to American life. RST's pilot includes an assessment to measure the individual outcomes of refugee families in the pilot and to determine how the model can be scaled nationwide.