Useful Links
- U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) – Annual Reports to Congress
Provides official statistics on refugee arrivals, demographics, employment, and integration outcomes across the U.S., including Illinois and the Chicagoland area.
ORR Annual Reports to Congress - Migration Policy Institute – Refugee and Asylee Data Profiles
Delivers in-depth data on refugee populations by state, employment rates, education levels, and workforce participation, supporting the narrative’s focus on barriers and opportunities.
MPI – Refugees and Asylees in the United States - Illinois Department of Human Services – Refugee and Immigrant Services Data
Offers state-specific data on services provided to refugees, including employment, training, and integration outcomes in Illinois.
IDHS – Refugee and Immigrant Services - National Skills Coalition – Workforce and Vocational Training Data
Presents research and statistics on workforce development, skills gaps, and the economic impact of vocational training for immigrants and refugees.
National Skills Coalition – Illinois Workforce Data - CDC Modeling Study PDF: “COVID-19–Associated Orphanhood and Caregiver Loss”
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/149650/cdc_149650_DS1.pdf
This observational modeling report details the methodology—combining fertility rates, excess mortality, and household composition—to estimate orphanhood and caregiver loss across 192 countries through April 2021, ensuring transparency for grant evaluators. It provides supplemental tables with age- and region-specific orphanhood estimates critical for designing age-appropriate educational and psychosocial programs. - UNICEF Data: “COVID-19 and Children”
https://data.unicef.org/covid-19-and-children/
UNICEF’s interactive portal offers real-time dashboards on orphanhood, school closures, malnutrition risk, and mental-health indicators from over 70 countries, helping donors visualize where needs are greatest. It also provides downloadable datasets on financial gaps in child protection and education funding—useful for grant makers to benchmark investment levels. - UNESCO Institute for Statistics: “COVID-19 Education Response Data”
https://covid19.uis.unesco.org/data/
This UNESCO-UIS database tracks the duration of school closures affecting 1.6 billion learners globally and the percentage of students still out of school by country, informing the scale of catch-up education needed. It also publishes quarterly surveys on national education planning units’ responses—key for understanding where community education and remote-learning support are most effective. - JAMA Pediatrics: “Orphanhood and Caregiver Loss Based on Global Excess COVID-19 Mortality”
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2795650
This peer-reviewed article updates global orphanhood estimates to May 1, 2022, reporting 10.5 million children orphaned and 7.5 million who lost a primary caregiver, lending academic rigor to programproposals. Its supplementary tables break out mother-only vs. father-only losses and provide regional comparisons—critical for tailoring psychosocial support and caregiver-education initiatives.
