Enriching summer ahead!
Lisa La Vallee | Published on 5/15/2018
This spring, volunteers have been busy making our organization more efficient and developing a new summer enrichment pilot program for refugee families that we hope to launch this summer with your help.
Here’s a quick update of what we’ve been up to:
- Created a formal employment team and recruited seven volunteers to help find sufficient employment for the Congolese family that we began assisting in December. The family has several adult children. The employment team is also helping our Syrian families find supplemental employment to help make ends meet.
- Placed nine volunteers at Kenwood Academy to work as classroom assistants with English Language Learners during the school day.
- Created a formal volunteer intake system that we will implement soon (online volunteer application and background checks will be done directly by the Hyde Park Refugee Project)
- Welcomed three interns from the Public Church Program at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago this spring. These graduate students bring sustained energy and are directly responsible for some major organizational growth this spring.
Now we need your help!
This summer the Hyde Park Refugee Project is piloting a summer enrichment program for the families supported by the Hyde Park Refugee Project. Your generous support is needed to cover the costs of summer enrichment activities that will help children and young adults in our community whose lives have been disrupted by war and conflict. As this Wall Street Journal article points out, children and teens that come to the US as refugees have unique educational challenges.
The Hyde Park Refugee Project has a vision to provide a two-week English language immersion program in mid-summer that will instruct, integrate, and enrich the lives of parents and children alike. We are also in discussions with local sports, arts and other non-profits to provide additional summer enrichment opportunities for the many refugee children living in Hyde Park. If anyone is interested in volunteering with us this summer or is associated with a local organization that might be willing to donate or give reduced enrichment opportunities this summer, please contact us at hydeparkrefugeeproject@gmail.com.
To make an online donation to help fund summer enrichment for our community’s refugee family, please click on the DONATE button at the top of the page.
We thank you for your ongoing support!