Donate to Support Refugees

It started with an observation. At some point in time, humanitarian organizations like ours had stopped thinking of refugees as their primary customer and instead become focused on large funders. We had deprioritized the people we are here to serve – and that wasn’t good enough. Kuja Kuja is our answer. It’s a real-time feedback system that tracks customers’ levels of satisfaction with products and services, records their ideas for how those services might be improved, and makes that data freely available for everyone to see and use. So after accessing water at a water point or getting health care at a clinic, refugees can share their experience and have real input in making the system better. Kuja Kuja is more than a moral obligation – it’s also good business. Understanding our customers more deeply will allow ARC to increase the value and impact that its services currently deliver and...

Mikes Joseph made the mistake of getting older. Turning 18 was hardly his fault, but when Joseph celebrated his birthday in New York in 2016 he lost his eligibility for a special immigrant juvenile visa from Haiti. His legal status was in limbo and HIAS stepped in to help. Joseph, who came to the United States from Haiti when he was 15, has been in a protracted struggle with the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service, or USCIS, to recognize his status and issue his green card, the identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. With HIAS’ assistance Joseph successfully appealed his case in 2019 and USCIS approved his green card application at the end of 2020. But they wouldn’t issue the card itself and that was both perplexing and a significant problem. Because he didn’t have the card, Joseph was being denied the...

Maha al-Obaidi studies for her citizenship exam in Astoria Park near her home in Queens, NY. A mother of five boys, Maha had to flee her home in Iraq after two of her sons and her husband were kidnapped and the family was forced to pay a ransom to secure their release. She lived in Jordan before she was resettled in the U.S. by the International Rescue Committee in 2014. Maha says that when she becomes a citizen, “I will put on my wings and I will fly. “Her family remains divided, with two of her sons, her husband, and a grandson still living in Jordan. She looks forward to travelling to visit them without worries after she gets her citizenship. Her dream is for her sons to join her in the United States and for her family to be together. Maha says, “I am an American woman, and I...