The CAA Foundation is launching the Take Action: Refugees program to coincide with World Refugee Day (June 20), with plans to provide 40 educational and vocational scholarships to displaced persons and those seeking asylum.
Working in partnership with international and local aid organizations including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Iraqi Mutual Aid Society, World Relief Jacksonville, the Nashville International Center of Empowerment, The Refugee Council, and Münchner Flüchtlingsrat, the scholarships will provide financial assistance to refugees in the U.S., the U.K., and Germany.
Take Action: Refugee activities will include job-training as well as employee/client training to help individuals understand the issues facing displaced people. CAA is also planning a celebration of recently naturalized citizens.
Leading an effort to interview and collect stories and oral histories from refugees will be Dave Isay, 2015 TED Prize Winner and the founder of StoryCorps. All interviews will be added to the Story Corps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
“Education has long been the cornerstone of the CAA Foundation’s efforts and is vital to the successful integration and long-term success of refugees,” said Rachel Kropa, Co-Head of the CAA Foundation in a statement. “The scholarships are an immediate and long-lasting way for us to support the men, women, and children who have sought refuge in the communities in which CAA operates.”
The CAA Foundation was formed in 1995 and over the past two decades has worked with Amnesty International, the IRC, Save the Children, the World Food Programme, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), CARE and ShelterBox.
Take Action: Refugees expands upon CAA's Take Action Day, a day-long non-partisan summit earlier this year that brought employees and the creative community together to learn from thought leaders and policymakers on a wide range of topics, including immigration and refugees.