More people turning to Champaign County refugee center

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - A growing number of immigrants and refugees in Champaign County are turning to The Refugee Center for help.

Executive Director Lisa Wilson tells The (Champaign) News-Gazette that she believes the 17 percent increase in recent months is tied to immigrants who have come to the center and are now letting family and friends in their native countries that they were made to feel welcome there.

Things are going so well at The Refugee Center - formally called the Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center -that it recently moved from Urbana to a bigger office at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District building in Champaign. And Wilson says that move should help drive the numbers up even more because many refugees and immigrants already use services provided by the public health district.