Supporting over 600 refugees and immigrants each year in Albany, NY

Annual Goal: $20,000.00

Year to Date Gifts: $2,475.00

While a patchwork of services exists to serve these Refugees and Immigrants, RISSE is the only nonprofit agency in the region which provides a full range of comprehensive services under one roof (youth and adult educational programming, social supports, meals, childcare, employment placement and more) to refugee and immigrant families. Furthermore, RISSE's experience and growing expertise in serving this community allows us to engage with our constituents and enact a lasting impact, where other projects may not. RISSE’s mission is to equip refugees and recent immigrants to build sustainable, independent lives by offering language and literacy instruction, as well as support with life skills and integration into the United States culture and community. Our vision is to create a community in which refugees and immigrants are able to create lives that are safe, satisfying and sustainable. We endeavor to promote our values through the work we do: -Empowerment - of families and individuals to build their lives in the U.S. - Community – encouraging refugee families to support and assist one another, while inviting community organizations, institutions, and churches to come together to strengthen the network of support. - Dignity – All services and activities of RISSE will promote dignity and self-determination for beneficiaries. RISSE has become within the refugee community as being a welcoming community center and “one stop shop”. Currently, RISSE serves over 250 families each year, representing 22+ countries. RISSE receives numerous referrals from adult education providers in Albany for learners that cannot be placed in their programs, due to their level being “too low”. RISSE is committed to serving all adults in need of ESL services, regardless of skill level, or disability. RISSE works to serve our constituents needs by providing comprehensive English Language learning for adults (including help with employment preparation, placement and ongoing support), as well as youth programming (after school) and a specialized summer school program (for the most recently arrived youth). In addition, RISSE provides the range of needed supportive services (described in more detail in the 2015, report). We believe that by working closely with our community, we can build trust and work together to help individuals and families become successfully integrated into their new lives here in the United States. Unlike other programs, RISSE provides comprehensive, culturally relevant and ongoing support to those in need.

In working towards our mission, RISSE has 5 general goals: 1 : Empower adults to be successful in their new homes in the united states by: learning English, becoming employed, and supporting their children’s education. 2 : Support children and youth success by helping them to learn English and achieve in school, and culturally, socially and emotionally adjust to life in the US (especially regarding their school experience). 3 : Build upon our program’s success/build on our momentum to strengthen our programmatic capacity, date and develop more enhanced methods for evaluating our programs. 4 : Strengthen our resource mobilization strategies by further diversifying our funding sources and number of sources. 5 : Continue to build and strengthen our network of support for our community.

As a result of our work, we would like to see our community members have a greater agency and greater self determination. We expect to see this result as an outcome of our English language programs, our youth development (after school and summer) programming, and all of our supportive programs. More practically, we expect to see changes in rates or employment and retained employment. We expect to see children receive more support from their parents in their education, and also expect to see children begin to transition into school and do well at school (as well as have a positive school experience).