Munatsi Manyande has met several asylum seekers in his lifetime, each looking to call the U.S. home.
Some are fleeing their own country due to religious persecution, while others are seeking protection from being targeted for their race, nationality, social group or political opinion.
As the executive director of the DASH Network, Manyande leads other members of the Fort Worth faith-based nonprofit to help asylum seekers while they wait to be granted a work permit.
Once they receive a permit, the asylum seekers can look to the DASH Network to help them find a job, housing and modes of transportation as they transition into independent life over a period of five to six months.
When the DASH Network works with a family seeking asylum, there are some words of comfort the nonprofit always offers, Manyande said.
“We’ll say, ‘Hey, we know navigating this process is really hard, and the process doesn’t move nearly as fast as you would like it to move and we can’t really do much about that,’” Manyande said. “‘But what we can do is guarantee you that you’re going to have a roof over your head (while you wait).’”
The building purchase came just a day after Manyande received the 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Award during the Fort Worth Sister Cities’ Mayor’s International Dinner and Global Awards.
The plaque, awarded to him by Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Fort Worth Sister Cities, was in recognition of the DASH Network’s efforts to help asylum seekers in the community.
“The award for me just kind of put me in a place where I could pause for a little bit and kind of remember the journey that we’ve been on,” Manyande said.
DASH got its start caring for asylum seekers as a ministry in 2012 and became a stand-alone nonprofit in 2017. The nonprofit has served more than 270 asylum seekers since its inception, according to a 2023 impact report. Texas was ranked second out of the six states with the largest immigrant population in the U.S., at 1.6 million people, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center study.
The DASH Network is preparing all the units for move-in, Manyande said, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony expected in early 2025.
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.