Every year, scholars, writers, artists, filmmakers, playwrights, musicians, journalists, and cultural and human rights defenders are forced to leave their home countries and resettle elsewhere. Some flee harassment, censorship, or the threat of arrest or imprisonment. Others flee threats to their physical safety during wars, coups, government crackdowns, or other periods of turmoil. Still others are members of persecuted groups or movements who find it impossible to express themselves freely.
Most who leave take shelter in nearby countries, but many find their way to the United States, often with the assistance of universities, professional associations, or civil society organizations that provide them with residencies, fellowships, scholarships, or other temporary forms of support.
Their saga does not end when they arrive. Settling in a new place – acquiring housing, healthcare, schooling, child care, internet, phone, driver’s licenses, language lessons, etc. – is never easy. Nor is restarting a career or reclaiming a professional identity. Yet from the moment they arrive, they need to be planning for what to do next. Sadly, few host institutions are equipped to offer them the kind of guidance they need to find stable situations once their initial placement is over.
ONWARDS grew out of conversations between Ithaca City of Asylum (a project of the Center for Transformative Action, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Cornell University) and Global Cornell, the university’s office for international programs. This led to discussions with the US Protection Group for Cultural Rights Defenders and Human Rights Defenders, an informal network of organizations that support at-risk scholars, artists, writers, cultural workers, and human rights advocates.
A working group that included members from PEN America Artists at Risk Connection, Scholars at Risk, City of Asylum Pittsburgh, the Artistic Freedom Initiative, and Harvard Scholars at Risk began to sketch out a plan for a pilot series of free online workshops, resource lists, and other services. Global Cornell provided funding through a sub-grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures Initiative and ONWARDS was born.