Catherine McAuley Center veteran takes lead with new vision amid unprecedented cuts

CEDAR RAPIDS — The timing of Anne Dugger’s latest promotion arguably was one of the worst a job candidate could hope for in her field.

Named executive director of the Catherine McAuley Center on Jan. 14, Dugger took the helm of the nonprofit service provider for refugees, immigrants, women and adult learners about eight months after starting as interim director and after almost 10 years with the organization.

It was also just 10 days before the returning Trump administration abruptly ended federal funding for programs that help stabilize newly-arrived refugees. The dramatic reversal of funding forced the Catherine McAuley Center to lay off nearly half its staff and find ways to honor its commitment to refugees already here.

But despite the unprecedented challenges, Dugger calls the permanent position, assumed two days before her birthday, “a good gift.”

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“I joked, ‘Why did I say yes?’ but I’m glad it was me, because I know the staff, the clients, I know who’s in our building and what kind of community we have,” she said.

In circumstances that might have frightened the uninitiated, Dugger’s profound sense of optimism in her vision for the organization stems not from what it may have to do without, but knowing what it has within: a loyal set of community support networks ready to fortify their support to Cedar Rapids’ newest neighbors even more.

But perhaps what’s more is that this enthusiasm is not just a facade of resistance. She already sees a plan on how to work with the hand the organization, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1989, has been dealt.

In some ways, the vision is understatedly simple: to continue the work.

“We have people in this community who need a community, who need to know that people see them, that people hear them,” Dugger said. “This happened. How do we move forward? You can rail against (change), you can choose to sit unhappy in it, or look forward.”

With no federal relief expected for at least four years, the center’s remaining staff look forward with what they have — a robust offering of women’s services for transitional and supportive housing, adult basics education and English classes.

After working in health care for much of her life, Dugger taught anatomy, physiology, and health care-related information in Barbados. After funding for her program ran out, she came home.

But teaching, she realized, was the calling she wanted to follow.

The Cedar Rapids native finished her bachelor of arts in English from Coe College at age 40 and finished her master’s degree in education from Mount Mercy University while overseeing education services and refugee/immigrant services at the center.

She remains confident, no matter the political winds of the day, that Cedar Rapids will remain a foundation the organization can count on. As funding shifts to increased reliance on private donations, the center’s network of partner organizations and volunteers remain at the ready.

“Cedar Rapidians have always been a community. I know when faced with someone with a need, they’ll help no matter what,” she said. “I have faith in this community to help those who need help.”

Numerous partners and community leaders have affirmed their support for the McAuley Center’s mission in recent days, Dugger said. Now, the organization will need to make good on the relationships built over 36 years, especially as it looks to assist refugee families who may need extra help later this year.

With such sudden cuts, the center was forced to push up services it can usually take more time to disperse to clients — making sure clients acclimate to culture shock, knowing how to enter the workforce, understanding professional behavior standards, and knowing how to pay rent or utilities.

“(Cuts have) affected everybody in the biggest way in terms of just not having enough time to get acclimated, and being scared,” Dugger said. “A lot of people are going to need more help down the road because everything was going so fast.”

English classes can be one great point of contact for building and maintaining those relationships, even if refugee resettlement services cease.

Being a place of so many languages, new challenges, cultures and new people who choose to be part of Cedar Rapids makes the McAuley Center the gift that keeps giving, the executive director said — and the reason she has stayed for the last decade.

But the longer she works there, the more examples she compiles of how people from far-flung corners of the world are more similar to native Iowans than they are different as they figure out how to provide for their families and navigate what the American dream means.

“The first part of our mission statement is to offer hope and opportunity. I can’t imagine better things to offer people,” she said. “This place helps people find a purpose. Sometimes it’s here, but sometimes it’s outside of here. They carry that hope and opportunity out into the world.”

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.