Honoring FORA’s Volunteer Community Volunteer Appreciation 2026
Dear FORA Community, There are a multitude of reasons I am grateful for FORA’s tutors and volunteers: for your dedication to refugee education; for your kindness towards these children whom I love; for the continual reminders that, if we choose, we can be in this together. Lately, however, what I have been most grateful for is the hope I gain knowing that, as much of the world is full of cruelty and selfishness, it is also full of you all. People who go beyond the feeling of conviction and turn it into action. People who pursue equity and justice with equal parts dedication and gentleness. Hope is what propels us through struggle after struggle into a future that has the potential to be better. Thank you for the work you have done and for the hope that I will bring with me moving forward.
Alia Mnayer Director of Outreach
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With your support...
We welcomed 34 new students
We served 125 students
We will celebrate 6 students graduating high school this spring!
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Meet Debby Braun FORA 100
Debby Braun has been with FORA since the Spring of 2025. A retired special education teacher, she is a firm believer that every child deserves an education. Despite learning key differences from her former profession since beginning at FORA, Debby said that through FORA she “realized that additional tutoring can be a form of therapy.” Her favorite aspect of tutoring is English, and specifically, reading with the students. Debby’s time at FORA has brought her closer to the community, and she is always happy to show up and see the kids get involved and excited in their tutoring sessions.
I have volunteered for a lot of places in a lot of contexts. FORA is different because they appreciate the volunteers so much.”
Follow our social media @refugeefora to stay up to date on what our community is doing!
Yearly Recap
April 2025 - March 2026
94 Community Impact awards granted
15% 40%
Of tutors returned from 2025
25,000+
7
Community events
50+ Community and university partnerships to date
Of tutors are virtual tutors
590 Active Tutors
523 Volunteers
141 Interns
Total hours tutoring
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Meet Royana Yousefzai Programmatic Intern
Royana is a student at Loyola University Chicago, currently pursuing her Masters in Public Health. During her time at FORA, she has been developing a list of resources for FORA’s families to help them navigate the American health system. She understands the need for refugee families to have support in this area, saying, “You can tell a person where to go, but without them knowing how to get there and what they do once they get there, you can’t really do much.”
FORA doesn’t just provide tutoring. Seeing how generous and how much FORA cares for each parent and each child to make sure that they are able to succeed is very inspiring.
Royana cites the community work environment as one of her favorite things about FORA. She said favorite part is working with everyone, “and seeing how quickly we can put things together that will really help these families and students.”
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Meet Lillian Haase
Northeastern Illinois University Work Study Lillian started at FORA in August 2025, when an interest in teaching led her to look for somewhere that would provide her with classroom experience. Her time at FORA led her to get a certification in teaching English as a foreign language, and she now teaches an English second language class on Thursday evening during FORA’s tutoring session. Outside of FORA, Lillian is currently pursuing her Bachelors degree in anthropology and sociology at NEIU.
Finding Home at FORA Lillian feels connected to FORA’s community through her own background. Her mother and father were both immigrants to Australia, her mother immigrating at age nine with no knowledge in English. Originally from Australia herself, she was drawn to FORA because of their service to individuals from outside of the United States.
You realize that you are needed. And just by being there, you are helping. Just you being you and having life experience in this world is appreciated.”
Key Recruitment Partners FORA would not be possible without our wonderful community partners.
Chicagoland Beacon Academy DePaul University Evanston Township High School Lake Forest College Latin School of Chicago Loyola University Chicago Naperville North High School Niles West High School
North Park University Northeastern Illinois University Northside Prep Northwestern University School of the Art Institute of Chicago University of Chicago University of Illinois Chicago Von Steuben High School
Nationwide
Amherst College Vanderbilt University Claremont McKenna College Pomona College Scripps College University of Illinois Local University Highlights:
551
Students recruited from Loyola University Chicago
61
Students recruited from DePaul University
47
Students recruited from Northwestern University
8
Students recruited from Northeastern Illinois University
FORA is here!
Together, we are... Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America.
6435 N. California Avenue, Chicago, IL 60645 (312) 685-2655 | info@refugeefora.org
www.refugeefora.org