Mission
The mission of the Center for African Refugees and Immigrants (CARI), a division of ECDC, is to promote the well-being of African refugees and immigrants by:
- Building the capacities of African community-based organizations and other service providers serving African newcomer communities in the United States.
- Enhancing and broadening public knowledge and understanding of African refugee and immigrant issues and concerns.
- Strengthening cross-cultural communication among different African communities and building consensus about issues of concern to community members.
History
Since 1991, ECDC has increased national public awareness of African refugee and immigrant concerns and assisted African community-based organizations (CBOs) across the United States to build their capacities to provide diverse services to the African newcomer community.
These initiatives expanded in 2002 in response to the increasing number of African newcomers to the United States. Initially known as the African Resource Network Division, CARI now comprises several programs and services and regularly develops new publications and educational materials that support the African newcomer community and its community organizations.
In its efforts to strengthen the African newcomer community, CARI has fostered the development of the African Resource Network (ARN), a network of ethnically diverse African CBOs located across the United States which is hosted and administered by CARI. CARI provides the network training and technical assistance in the areas of organizational development,
project management
and advocacy.
ECDC’s launch of CARI represents an exciting period of growth and improvement for African immigrant community development nationwide. To learn how you can support CARI, African CBOs, and the rapidly growing African immigrant and refugee community, please visit CARI’s What You Can Do page.
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