Events & Calendars Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA) Info Session

The mission of FORA (Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America) is to ensure that refugee families are provided access to an education sufficient to prepare them to become economically self-sufficient and robustly engaged in American civic life. Founded in 2018 in response to the international Rohingya crisis, the organization specializes in helping recently arrived refugee children who have previously been denied an education, and are illiterate in their native languages, to gain foundational education skills so that school becomes meaningful for them.

As of 2023, FORA serves over 100 students and is based in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago near the corner of California Ave., a neighborhood with thousands of recently arrived immigrants, refugees and asylees from Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Syria, Afghanistan and Angola.  In 2023, FORA was named a finalist of the .ORG Awards, a global initiative to recognize the phenomenal work of organizations associated with a ".org" domain.

Students across ALL class years and majors are welcome to attend this session to hear from visiting alum founder Michael O'Connor '91 about FORA's open internship and fellowship opportunities! In the leadup, you may also wish to familiarize yourself with the following:

--FORA's Mission Video: https://vimeo.com/882531940

--FORA's Feature in the Chicago Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/education/ct-refugee-students-tutoring-fora-20231126-pqqx2mvi2fg2tbauy7k3pmhttq-story.html

--FORA's 2023 Annual Report: https://issuu.com/refugeefora/docs/fora_2023-impactreport_final_highres