Join us in our new campaign "Beyond Horizons" to increase the Jobs and Educational Opportunities for Afghan Refugee women in the United States, especially in Northeast Florida.
Afghan Refugee women are one of the most Underrepresented Minorities in the world.
we can all make a difference in their lives!
The Afghan men and women were at the forefront of helping the US army in Afghanistan for two decades.
Some of these families have escaped the brutal Taliban Regimen and have come to the US as Refugees.
Thanks to organizations like Catholic Charities who have helped them with their initial struggles and resettlement.
However, these Afghan Refugee families continue to face significant challenges. Refugee women's education and job training are one of the most important challenges.
Aghan Refugee women have significant barriers to achieving primary education, learning the English language, and acquiring job skills to help them assimilate into US society.
How Building bridges 4 all was created
Building Bridges 4 All is a non-profit organization started in September 2021. After the Brutal Regimen takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the men and women who were helping the US military in Afghanistan had to flee the Taliban Regimen and come to the united states as refugees.
There was a humanitarian crisis and an emergency need for services for the displaced Afghan Refugees. During this time, tens of Afghan Refugee families were brought into the Jacksonville area in order to help them resettle and have a safe place away from the extremely brutal Regimen.
In view of the urgent needs of these displaced Afghan families who once were at the forefront of the war with the US forces in Afghanistan, Building Bridges 4 all was started in September 2021.
During this time the local charity organizations such as Catholic Charities were doing their best to help them with their initial resettlement. However, there was a huge need for more organizations and platforms to help the displaced Refugees. The need for volunteer efforts such as transportation, pick up from the airport, apartment preparation, language interpretation, and many more services were huge and needed to be addressed urgently.
we have been side by side with the Afghan refugees in helping them resettle into the American society. With time, our organization has realized that the efforts for integration of these refugees into the American society extends far beyond their initial survival needs. The real issues of education, job skills and survival have now become the most important issues for these refugee families.Building bridges 4 all is therefore, now focused to help these refugees get back on their feet. We are dedicated to guiding refugees at various stages of their journeys to help them stabilize and rebuild their lives as quickly as possible.
We have now evolved into a mission to advocate and struggle for Afghan Refugee women's education and job training for their integration into American society. At this time we are continuing with our support of their basic needs, however, our main focus is on the education and job training of the Afghan Refugee women. This is a very difficult task, but we are determined to make a difference.
What We Do
our Initial services since we first started include:
How we have Evolved
Our initial efforts focused on the emergency needs of the Refugees such as providing food, clothing, and transportation services to these families.
With time, we noticed that the Afghan Refugee men slowly started acquiring simple jobs such house keeping in hotels, working in the laundry departments of various hotels, cleaning, construction and other jobs that US was facing significant employee shortage due to various reasons.
However, what was noticeable was the significant lagging behind of the Afghan Refugee women in all areas including education and job skills development. The Afghan Refugee women not only continue to stay behind and exclusively stay home, but they also continue to face cultural, family, and personal barriers to progressing.
After speaking with several Afghan Refugee families and women, we realized that there is a need for a system development that is structured, organized, and replicable in order for it to achieve the goals it is aiming for.
We, therefore, started our " Beyond Horizons" campaign to spread awareness and initiate efforts to address this issue. As part of this campaign, we developed a 5-point system which is addressing the barriers faced by Afghan Refugee women and the solutions to increase the opportunities for these Refugee women to have the education and job skills training to help them become a productive part of society.
