Help Duquesne Students Support Refugee Families

Who are we?

We are McAnulty College of Liberal Arts students in Dr. Jennie Schulze's "Politics of Immigration" class, which explores the challenges of immigrant incorporation in an increasingly transnational world. As part of this course, we widen our understanding of this topic through community engaged learning activities with Pittsburgh partner institutions.

What is our goal?

To help us directly engage, learn from and address the unique challenges of refugee families in the Greater Pittsburgh area, along with our community partners, we are:

• organizing a family fun event for refugee families in the Greater Pittsburgh area, which will provide these families with the opportunity to participate in some of the experiences Pittsburgh natives have enjoyed.  We are choosing an art centered event, to give our refugee families the opportunity to express their creative juices while with our Pittsburgh community partners.
• also participating in an after-school mentoring program which gives the students an opportunity to create meaningful bonds in an educational setting with people outside of their everyday lives. Ultimately, we hope to utilize our funds to help our refugee families feel welcome in Pittsburgh and familiarized with American culture. The after-school program was recently featured on NPR.

Our Partners?

• JFCS
  • Jewish Family & Community Services is a team of talented and dedicated professionals that have been committed to positively benefiting the Pittsburgh community for the past 80 years. Their Refugee & Immigrant Services help refugees find housing, obtain jobs, enroll their children into school, and help them gain access to government programs. Their efforts, along with support of over 100 volunteers, allow refugees to develop a foundation for building a new life in America and assists them in navigating a new culture.
• ARYSE
  • The Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education (ARYSE) supports immigrant and refugee youth in becoming prepared, engaged, and confident members of American society. Through individualized mentoring, after-school programming, and advocacy training, ARYSE helps refugee and immigrant youth take their place as leaders within their community and our world.

Why are We Crowdfunding?

Organizing a family fun event for our refugee families will be costly. We are crowdfunding to cover our location, entertainment, food, decorations, transportation and any unforeseen logistics. We are also utilizing our funding to help pay for school supplies for an after-school mentoring program that we will be participating in. Our class understands the positive implications we can create in the Pittsburgh community when the word spreads about this event’s success.

Why Should You Want to Help Us Reach Our Goal?

If we reach our goal we will:

• Organize one of the most successful events in Pittsburgh for refugees.
• Help spread awareness about refugees in our community.
• Integrate refugee families into the Pittsburgh community.

Please Give Now and Help Spread the Word!

We ask that you please donate today to help the collaboration between Duquesne University students, community non-profits, and the refugee community. Any donation will help in our effort to make Pittsburgh feel like home for refugee families. You can also help by spreading the word about this campaign to others via social media, e-mail, and text. Make sure to include the hashtag #POIduq! Thank you!