Operation: One Greater Community

RefugeeConnect is an independent, private non-profit dedicated to creating a more welcoming community for refugee families in the Greater Cincinnati area. Our mission is to empower people who were forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster, to thrive in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with the vision of creating a vibrant, inclusive, safe, and diverse community. 

As a project of the Junior League of Cincinnati, RefugeeConnect was founded to identify and address gaps in services for refugees in the Greater Cincinnati area. Our programs include refugee school-based impact programming, the Refugee Empowerment Initiative which brings together over 100 immigrant and refugee organizations, a mentoring program for families and young adults, a scholarship program, and the annual World Refugee Day Cup. 

Even during times of normalcy, the refugee and asylee families supported by RefugeeConnect face many barriers to successfully integrating into their new community. These barriers have been amplified during COVID-19, impacting a family's ability to access the most basic resources. Barriers such as native language access, cultural relevance, accessibility of resources  and trauma-informed services have inhibited families from navigating community-based and social institutions to increase family stability.

In response to COVID-19, our goal is to provide support to refugee and asylee families affected by the global pandemic by addressing the families needs, connecting them to vital community resources, ensuring children are supported academically, families are educated in their home language about COVID-19, and the social-emotional needs of families are met. 

As an organization, RefugeeConnect has worked to ensure more equitable access to services during COVID-19 through the mobilization of 7 Community Navigators providing family support services. To date, we have supported 412 individuals from 86 families and we anticipate serving more throughout the school year!  

RefugeeConnect believes that the future of our programming includes creating a sustainable Community Navigator model. Currently, our Community Navigators are multilingual contract workers who represent the communities they serve. Collectively, our seven navigators speak 8 languages in addition to English. Community Navigators make a difference for families in accessing the community and social service resources that enable their family to become stable and to successfully integrate into their new society.

With your support, RefugeeConnect will be poised to continue the Community Navigator program to provide intensive support services to Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky refugee and asylee families.