Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Bloom.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kristen. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. I never moved a day in my life until the day I left for college in Washington, D.C. Whereas my childhood was defined by stability, my adult life has been defined by constant change. I have moved nine times in 14 years, starting with a move to Peru as a Peace Corps Volunteer and later as an Air Force Spouse to places including Okinawa, Japan, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Miami, Alabama, and Tampa.
After moving to Miami, I was looking for a way to get involved and meet like-minded people. I attended one of the first Syrian Supper Club dinners, and even though I was among strangers, I immediately felt at home. I felt so inspired by sitting at that dinner. There we were, people from all different backgrounds, who had come together to learn how we could collectively and individually help these refugee families make South Florida their home. The Syrian families spoke of their struggles to resettle here – the difficulties in finding a job, in learning English, in building a community. I felt so much empathy for them.
On the one hand, I could not imagine all they had been through, but on the other hand, I felt like I could relate so well because I’ve had to start over so many times. I know what it’s like to move somewhere where you do not know anyone, where everything is so foreign. But the thing that was different for me was that I had a support network every place I went, and from what I heard from these families, they didn’t have that.
I knew I had to help. I have experience teaching English as a Second Language, so I started by volunteering to teach English to one family. After my first day with them, I realized two things — the first was that they needed much more help than just English. They needed a local counterpart, a friend, to help them navigate life here – and second, that I was hooked. I don’t speak Arabic, I was also new to Miami, I knew nothing about the refugee resettlement process, but I knew I couldn’t turn my back on them. I went back to the organizers of the dinner and told them I wanted to do more. They helped me recruit more volunteers to work with these families, and I volunteered to organize the volunteers.
I could never have anticipated what that offer to organize volunteers would bring. This little grassroots project of offering in-home English lessons began to grow and gain traction. Six months into doing this, I decided to formalize the program and started a nonprofit organization called Refugee Assistance Alliance.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not! Moving so many times has challenges both personally and professionally. I enjoy working, and I always knew I wanted to have a career, but if you asked me when I graduated from college where I would be in 15 years, I never could have imagined I would be running a nonprofit organization! Every place we have lived, I have worked hard to find a job that aligns with my values and career goals, but it has not been easy. I often find that just when I feel I am getting into the groove of a job, it is time to move again. Starting over again and again takes a lot of mental stamina, and there were many days in the past 15 years when I have wanted to quit. Adding kids to the mix is a whole new ball game, and I struggle a lot with work-life balance.
When we moved to Miami, my kids were just one and four years old. I decided to take a break from working full-time to focus more on my family. I significantly underestimated how hard the transition would be from full-time working-mom to full-time stay-at-home mom in a city where I did not know anyone. I struggled to find my place and quickly realized that as much as I loved being at home with my kids, I felt like something was missing. That is when I started looking for a way to get involved and stumbled upon the Syrian Supper Club; you know where the story goes from there.
This work is both incredibly rewarding and extremely challenging. I have never worked for a nonprofit organization before, let alone run one. My only business “training” was watching my dad run his own business, and my only experience with fundraising was selling magazines and candy through school fundraisers. Ignorance is bliss, right?! Add to that the fact that I started a business in a city where I hardly knew anyone, working with clients with whom I do not share a language or culture, and in a sector (refugee resettlement) I know nothing about. I joke with people that the learning curve is so steep I feel like I’m falling over backward!
Has it been a challenge? That’s an understatement! I try to take things one day at a time and remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. I am learning as much as possible as quickly as possible – not only about business and fundraising, but also about the refugee resettlement process, the cultures of the families we work with, and the best ways to meet their needs.
Oh, and I have also moved twice since I started Refugee Assistance Alliance. We thought we would be in Miami for much longer than we were, but the Air Force often has different plans for us than we do. Since starting the organization, I have lived in Alabama and now Tampa. Running a startup organization from afar adds many additional challenges. Luckily, I have been surrounded by an amazing team since day one. RAA has a Director of Operations in Miami who is the “face of” RAA and the main point of contact for our families and volunteers. We also have a dedicated Board of Directors and an all-star cast of volunteers. None of this would be possible without all of them.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
Refugee Assistance Alliance was formed to mobilize South Florida’s communities to provide the only support offered to refugees from Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries. These refugees cannot read our alphabet or understand our language and struggle, both practically, to navigate basic needs (healthcare, public transport), and emotionally, with social isolation. We recruit, train and manage a volunteer force of Florida residents who teach English in refugee homes, support educationally at-risk refugee children with homework, provide practical assistance, offer friendship and enable access to educational and economic opportunities for refugee families struggling with the transition to becoming residents. RAA improves lives – both by helping desperately in-need refugee families become fulfilled and successful members of our community, but also by bringing together volunteers with refugees. We help build bridges between communities by breaking the cycle of social isolation and promoting friendship and understanding between longtime and newly-arrived residents.
We are really proud to be the only organization in South Florida offering desperately needed support to refugees who do not come from Spanish- or Creole-speaking countries. It is not to say those refugees do not also have a hard time settling, but life in South Florida is much easier to navigate in Spanish or Creole. There are many already existing resources for those refugees – many of which they can access in their native language. That kind of support does not exist for the refugees we work with. The refugees RAA helps are fleeing from war, violence, persecution and economic hardship in Syria, Iraq, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Palestine, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Because there are no embedded migrant communities from their home countries, we are working hard every day to create and be that support network for them. We currently have nearly 90 volunteers working with about 100 refugees throughout Miami-Dade and Broward counties – refugees who would otherwise have no support.
There is no blueprint for the work we are doing. Refugees receive official government support for three to six months after arrival. After that, most refugees are left on their own. Providing post-resettlement support, like we do at RAA, is new. In the past two to ten years, many organizations have started around the country to provide this much-needed support because we see the value in embracing our newest neighbors and giving them the support and tools needed to succeed in their new homeland. We are proud to be a founding member of the Hello Neighbor Network, a leadership cohort of eight like-minded organizations around the United States who are working together to combat polarization and increase inclusiveness for refugees in communities across the nation.
Finally, we are proud to know that our volunteers get just as much out of this as our clients. We set out to help our clients adapt to their new lives in America, and in turn we have found that our refugees teach just as much as they learn. We always say in order to join RAA you only need to have two things – an open mind and a warm heart. We started by teaching English, but ultimately we hope to promote peace and understanding among the people of South Florida.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our biggest goal right now is to build financial stability. Like any new startup organization, our biggest challenge is finding the funding to continue doing what we are doing. We are proud to have made it two years, but there is a long road ahead. We depend on individual donations to keep going, so right now fundraising is our number one priority. More than 50% of nonprofits fail within the first five years, in large part due to lack of funding. We don’t want to become part of that statistic. After we raise enough funds to be able to sustain ourselves, we would like to expand our services to other areas of Florida.
Pricing:
- $75 provides 3 hours of GED prep to help a refugee woman obtain her high school diploma
- $100 provides 1 month of homework assistance to a refugee child
- $150 provides 1 month of in-home English tutoring to a refugee mother
Contact Info:
- Address: 1825 Ponce de Leon Blvd. #145
Coral Gables, FL 33134 - Website: https://www.refugeeassistancealliance.org
- Phone: 786-408-3992
- Email: refugeeassistancealliance@gmail.com
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