Demographics at Spokane's Thrive center change

 

By Catherine Ferguson SNJM

According to Mark Finney, executive director of Thrive International, the demographics of its Spokane facility have completely changed since the beginning of the current U.S. administration.

"Prior to this administration, we were completely full and had a waiting list. Ninety percent of our residents then were Ukrainians. Today in Spokane we are 90 percent full, with no waiting list and we are truly international, with residents from about 20 different nationalities all over the world."

"Since 2025, no Ukrainians have been admitted to the United States so now Ukrainians only make up about only 30 percent of our residents. The others have moved on, becoming independent, finding work and housing," said Mark.

"I am surprised the press hasn't picked up on the fact that no Ukrainians are being allowed in the U.S., but the administration has been quiet about it. In fact, about the only immigrants being allowed to enter the U.S. at this time as refugees are white South Africans—7,500 of them—and the rest of the world doesn't even recognize them as refugees," he explained.

Mark has always felt the need to understand what refugees experience and to understand what special needs they might have and how better to be able to provide for them.

Over the past 10 years, he has visited refugee camps throughout the world. He visited in Ethiopia, Malawi and Bangladesh. In 2022, he visited a camp in Slovakia just after the invasion of Ukraine. He has also visited shelters in the borderlands of Texas and California—El Paso, Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana. His learnings there have impacted his actions as executive director of Thrive and his desire to provide as many services as possible at one site.

Since its founding in 2022, Thrive International has become Washington State's largest provider of supportive housing for migrants. Its facilities in Spokane and Tacoma provide shelter for approximately 220 residents in Spokane and 370 in Tacoma.

"Because we no longer have a waiting list in Spokane," Mark said, "we can allow residents to stay until they feel ready to move on and become independent. We don't have to try to hurry them through this initial period of getting acclimated to the U.S. If they need it, we can give them a longer time to experience the stability, safety and the pathway to belonging that we provide under our one roof."

The mission of Thrive International hasn't changed since the current U.S. administration initiated "its various draconian policies towards immigrants and refugees" in the last year, said Mark.

It still aims to empower multicultural communities to thrive while providing housing and on-site programming and education tailored to their needs. Other elements of how they carry out this mission, however, have adapted to the changing situation.

Thrive never relied on federal funding for its operations. It did, however, get about half of its funding from state and local governments. This funding source has been much reduced owing to the state's budget crunch, and currently Mark estimates that about a third of their funding now comes from private sources and about 35 percent from program fees.

"Our goal is to eventually grow the private funding so that very little relies on government sources, which change depending on who is in office," he explained.

"I believe that many people in Spokane underestimate the impact of the immigrant community. We have more than 10,000 immigrants living here, and they keep a low profile, especially in this time with ICE activity in public spaces and in the workplace. The immigrant community is constantly experiencing fear and uncertainty," Mark said. "Regardless of their documentation, which ICE seems to ignore when it carries out a raid, they don't know from one day to the next if they will be picked up and detained, if they will have a job, if they and their families will be safe."

An American Immigration Council analysis says that immigrants in Spokane County significantly boost its local economy, contributing $1.8 billion to the GDP—6.1 percent of the total—in 2024 while making up 5.4 percent of the population.

As of 2019, immigrants and refugees in Spokane were 20.7 percent more likely to be of working age—77.5 percent—compared to the U.S.-born population—64.2 percent—helping fill regional labor needs. They comprised 12.7 percent of manufacturing, 8.7 percent of educational services and 7.8 percent of healthcare workers.

In that same year, taxes and spending power added to the city of Spokane's economy, holding $307.6 million in spending power, paying more than $116 million in taxes and contributing nearly $44 million to Social Security and Medicare in 2019. They also are strong contributors to the local economy as small business owners, startup founders and workers in STEM industries.

However, to be a refugee or an immigrant in the U.S. at the present time is expensive.

Mark cited a case where a family of three were applying for a two-year extension of their visa and had to pay $7,000 but they still had no guarantee that it would be granted or even acted upon prior to the expiration of their current visa.

According to a recent report on public radio, the Department of Homeland Security is implementing a policy of inaction on application requests from immigrants from certain unnamed countries. The immigrants send in their paperwork with the proper payment, but no response is given.

Mark is pleased with the recent action by Spokane's Mayor Lisa Brown and the City Council to offset some of the costs incurred by those who have been detained by ICE. They have set aside $100,000 for these needs to be administered by the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition with the hope that this will also be seed money for other donations.

The significant decrease in funding has led to other less desirable changes in the program at Thrive.

Many of the programs—like the Youth Program—continue with the existing staff, but some programs have been cut.

"We have had to let about half of our employees go, and this has impacted the services we can offer," Mark explained. "We used to have a cultural integration program that was important to help refugees move out into the community here and feel comfortable at home.

"We would take them out to different significant sites in the city and county, like Riverfront Park, when there were cultural events or up to Mount Spokane or other outdoor sites. These field trips really helped give them a feel for the vibrant life of Spokane," he said.

Mark encourages people to do anything they can to show they stand with refugees and immigrants—even something as simple as smiling and being friendly to them, and also actions like volunteering and donating to the various local agencies.

Thrive itself needs volunteers for tasks, from interacting with young children to assisting at the reception desk.

If anyone speaks a language of the many folks present at Thrive—among them Venezuelans, Colombians, Sudanese, Eritreans, Afghanis—this is especially useful, according to Mark. He also notes that some receptionists and residents have become adept at using the Google Translate app to understand each other regardless of their first languages.

 

For information, email mark@thriveinternational.org or to volunteer - connie@thriveinternational.org.