Claire Holba

Claire Holba is a Senior Fellow at Patchwork Indy and a co-founder of the organization. In her previous role as Director of Policy and Advocacy, Claire led Patchwork Indy to become one of the first Private Sponsorship Organizations in Indiana under the federal Welcome Corps program, and drove Indiana to become the number one state in the country for Americans applying to be matched by the government to refugee families in need of safety. Overall, Indiana became the number 6 state in the nation for the highest engagement of everyday Americans in private refugee sponsorship. As Senior Fellow, Claire advises on special projects adapting the community-based resettlement model; most recently she is supporting Patchwork’s efforts to bring Afghan Allies and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders to safety after the U.S. Refugee Program was stopped. She is helping Patchwork build a state-wide collaborative network to promote holistic integration and mutual flourishing between long-time residents and newly arrived neighbors.

Claire is an Immigration Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center in Washington, D.C., where she leads Niskanen’s U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and humanitarian policy portfolio. Her work has focused on building support and developing policy around private refugee sponsorship, emphasizing the state and local levels. Her research highlights the economic and cultural contributions of refugees and immigrants as well as effective models for integration. She participates in various global networks and forums including IRISE (the International Refugee Integration and Settlement Exchange) and the GRSI (Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative).

Claire holds a Master of Science in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from DePaul University with a geographic focus on the Asia-Pacific. Previously, Claire led research and human rights projects overseas with refugee communities in camps in South and Southeast Asia, developing education access for students displaced by conflict and building capacity of NGOs to document and report human rights violations.  Her research on complementary pathways out of protracted displacement has been featured in the United Nations Refugee Higher Education Global Newsletter.

In a past life, Claire started her career as an Auditor with Ernst and Young in the New York City Financial Services Office, Japanese Business Unit.  Then in 2016 she began working as a Compliance Examiner for The National Futures Association, the self-regulatory body for the Commodities Trading industry. Her time in New York City allowed for an understanding of process flow and risk assessment. She uses her knowledge of the international business realm to inform new possibilities to further human rights dialogue and international development.

Notably, she was a 2023 recipient of the U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship, a program equipping select graduates to contribute to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security. Through the program, she completed an intensive Mandarin Chinese language program in Taiwan during summer 2023 and she passionately continues to study Chinese (and a bunch of other languages)!