Friends of Refugees Inc

Friends of Refugees envisions refugees experiencing abundant life in flourishing communities, and to accomplish this we operate multiple programs that provide opportunities for their health and well-being, education, and employment. Our approaches are shaped by our core values:

•Relationship. We believe that none can attain an abundant, thriving life alone. We partner with volunteers, community members, financial supporters, churches, foundations, businesses, and community development organizations to leverage our relationships in impacting the lives of refugees.

•Empowerment. Working with the vulnerable carries the risk of creating dependency. We focus on initiatives which offer a path to greater self-sufficiency. We create opportunities for accountable, supportive and effective decision-making. We provide environments where people are free to contribute not only to their own well-being, but also to the well-being of their families, neighbors and communities.

•Stewardship. We believe that maximum influence and benefit for refugees require excellence in programs, continual improvement by staff and partners, and delivery of unparalleled value in the way we manage all of our resources.

Our strategies focus on expanding our community impact and improving our effectiveness. We are expanding program capacity to engage more refugees in our community, and collaborating with a growing network of partners.

We are investing in improved processes, professional development for our team, goal setting and performance measurement for program effectiveness, and building development capabilities to help expand our community of financial supporters.

We employ 20 full-time staff, over 30 part-time staff, and hundreds of volunteers to deliver our programs. Our team includes a Director of Community and Volunteer Engagement to lead the recruitment, on-boarding, and orientation of volunteers. Across our programs, our staff have deep experience in the refugee community and have earned the community's trust and respect. Our staff includes people from 15 different countries, and collectively our team speaks 23 different languages. This enables us to build deep relationships and work in close collaboration with community members and partners.

We have accomplished our goals of expanding impact by serving over 5,000 refugees across multiple programs while investing in organization capacity for the future. We continue to grow our service capacity, including physical expansion for our employment, family literacy, and youth programs.