The Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR) movement taps into the idea that college and university campuses have what’s needed to take in refugees, support them and assist them in resettlement efforts – from housing to food, care and skills. Institutions partner with local refugee resettlement agencies to assist refugees with things such as public transportation, English conversation, mail services and more. So far, there are 14 ECAR chapters throughout the U.S., including at James Madison University (VA), Siena College (NY), Lafayette College (PA), Wake Forest University (NC) and more.
ECAR was founded in 2015 at Guilford College by Dr. Diya Abdo to support refugees as they begin life in their new homes. Their website says their global call is “For Every College and University to Host One Refugee Family.”
Steve Grande, director of Community Service-Learning at James Madison University (JMU), explained that, “Becoming an ECAR campus not only improves the quality of life in Harrisonburg for refugees, more fully integrating them into the fabric of the community, but it also bolsters the education of JMU students and serves our civic mission. One of the developments we’re really excited about is creating a new grant-funded summer internship program where students will provide transition support to recently arrived refugee families temporarily residing on campus.”
Read more about the efforts at JMU here.
And learn about the ECAR movement here.
