New refugee settlement group opens shop in Hoover

Birmingham Cross Cultural Connections, a new refugee settlement and development organization in Hoover, will hold a grand opening and open house at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 16, at their office at 2025 Patton Chapel Road, Suite B.

The organization has already welcomed its first refugee families and plans to resettle 120 people by December 2025. BCCC is an affiliate of World Relief, a global Christian humanitarian organization that has been resettling refugees in other parts of the United States since 1979.

Katherine Woods, executive director of BCCC, said the organization’s mission is to ensure that all nationalities thrive here “as they discover and implement God’s good plan for their lives.”

Their work covers two areas: firstly, the settlement of refugees and support in starting their new life here, and secondly, the long-term care of refugees to help them to be successful.

In addition to the refugees BCCC has already taken in for resettlement, the team is currently helping 11 families who have dropped out of other organizations’ programs but still need support. BCCC helps all refugees in its care with the essentials to start their new lives and offers personal development courses on topics ranging from budgeting to job searches.

They also help with things like getting a driver’s license, enrolling in school and taking the citizenship test. The goal is to help refugees become self-sufficient, Woods said.

For more information, visit bhmccc.org.