Learn more about what the Refugee Education Center's services mean for local refugee students by reviewing our 2020 Annual Impact Report.

With schools returning to in-class sessions through hybrid learning, the Refugee Education Center is collecting backpacks and school supplies for our K-12 Project Faulu students.

Read WZZM13’s full story on the difficulties refugee students experience with online learning and how the Refugee Education Center is training families on technology.

The Refugee Education Center hired Trudy Ender as the organization’s new executive director. Ender began her role with the Kentwood-based refugee support organization on September 8, 2020.  

I stare at the elegant tangle of Burmese words that cascade down my screen, courtesy of Google Translate. To me, the graceful loops, spirals, and whorls are both beautiful and frustratingly incomprehensible. But that is just one of the many barriers I faced this summer in my work at the Refugee Education Center. There was the barrier of language, yes, but also the barrier of distance.

The Refugee Education Center is honored to receive a $10,000 grant from the Michigan College Access Network to support the High School Transitions program, which actively works one-on-one with local refugee students.

Due to public health circumstances, our tutoring program, Project Faulu, will be 100 percent virtual starting in September. While the Refugee Education Center team misses seeing our students, we are excited to be able to serve more students than ever before, which means we need more helping hands on deck!

We at the Refugee Education Center witness the effects of systemic racism and the consequential effects of historical inequalities every day in our work with refugees in West Michigan. As an organization, we serve the community with an aspirational vision of a thriving, multicultural West Michigan.

The Refugee Education Center is working with local schools and school districts to ensure that refugee students can engage with distance learning initiatives,. It is also developing ways to work with students and serve their needs now.

School facilities are closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year unless the Governor indicates it is safe to reopen and lifts the restrictions. This also includes sports and extracurricular activities.

Access a collection of COVID-19-related resources organized by 73 different languages. These educational resources include fact sheets, flyers, posters, audio recordings, videos, and more.

In light of Michigan school closings, the Refugee Education Center is canceling programs beginning Monday, March 16 - April 6.

The Refugee Education Center partners with the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District to offer their High School Transitions service to refugee students enrolled in the district’s high schools.

The Refugee Education Center’s mission drives our team now more than ever, as recent uncertainties with the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program have caused entire states and communities to rethink their stance on welcoming refugees.