Our Work
We are effective leaders, storytellers, and advocates who use our expertise and lived experiences as refugees and asylum seekers to share information and advocate for policies and practices that positively impact our communities.
We work at local, state, national and global levels to ensure that the expertise and lived experiences of forcibly displaced people are meaningfully included in decisions impacting our communities. We believe that policies and programs are more inclusive and equitable when they are informed and crafted by those who have experienced forced displacement.
Refugee Congress collaborates with refugee resettlement agencies, nonprofit organizations, public and private sector organizations, and grassroots organizers across the nation on common goals and interests. We are members of the Refugee Council USA coalition, a core partner in the Refugee Advocacy Lab and Refugee Storytellers Collective, advisory and executive committee members of We Are All America, advisory committee members of the Welcome With Dignity campaign, and a founding partner of the US Refugee Advisory Board. Our partnerships help ensure that interconnected efforts across local, state, national, and global spaces center refugee leadership.
Our work if focused on three key areas:
Public Education & Narrative Change
Policy Advocacy
Leadership Development & Enhancement
Public Education & Narrative Shift
Refugee Congress Delegates combine their lived and professional expertise to engage the public about the many ways that forcibly displaced people impact and contribute to our communities. We provide critical thought leadership on best practices for effectively engaging refugee leaders and, working with partners. Refugee Congress creates spaces that foster opportunities for leaders with lived expertise to harness their skills.
Check out the Refugee Storytellers Collective to learn more about our work and partnerships in storytelling and narrative shift.
Policy Advocacy
Delegates work closely with community members, non-governmental organizations, and elected officials at the local, state, national, and global levels, advocating for welcoming, equitable, and inclusive policies for all who have experienced forced displacement.
Leadership Development & Enhancement
Refugee Congress works across a variety of coalition spaces and is a core partner to a number of campaigns and initiatives. Our participation across the field of forced displacement allows us to cultivate and support opportunities for leadership development and enhancement for people with lived experience and leverage their skills in meaningful and influential ways.
