Agency Details:

The mission of the Refugee Family Services is to support the efforts of refugee women and children to achieve self-sufficiency in the United States by providing education and economic opportunity.

Description:
Refugee Family Services is located in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain, Georgia, within a primary refugee resettlement area. From here, we're able to serve some 2,500 refugee and immigrant women and children each year. Families from Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, Afghanistan, Liberia, Bosnia, Myanmar, Bhutan, and other countries, arrive here speaking little or no English. Unaware of the different customs, practices, and systems of their new surroundings, they seek our guidance and support so that they may regain the self-sufficiency they had know before being forced to flee their homes.
The RFS Community Center houses our administrative offices and is home-base for our staff. An activity center, computer lab, and youth facilities are on premises to support our targeted-assistance programs.
Our Programs are all designed to serve our mission of supporting the efforts of refugee and immigrant families to achieve self-sufficiency. The programs fall into three areas; supporting refugee and immigrant women; serving youth and their school needs; and reaching out to refugee and immigrant women and children in their homes to build strong families.

History:
Refugee Family Services, which was formerly known as Newcomers' Network, is an outgrowth of the Save the Children/Child Care Support Center (STC/CCSC), Atlanta. It was started in 1986 as a program that provided childcare training to refugee women in the metro Atlanta area. Later, it grew into the Refugee Program of STC/CCSC, at which time it added to a wide variety of programs. It was incorporated in 1996 under the name Newcomers' Network to operate the refugee program as a stand-alone entity and became a fully independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on October 1, 1997. The organization was renamed Refugee Family Services in April 2002 to better reflect its mission.

Contact person: Laretia Williams, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Address:

5561-H Memorial Dr. Stone Mountain, GA 30083 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.refugeefamilyservices.org

Directions:

From Atlanta, follow N. Decatur East until it turns into Rockbridge Rd. You will take a left onto Memorial Dr. The office is located in Village Square Shopping Center across from Chick-Fil-A.   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Kensington is close to Stone Mt. Office

Additional Information

How did you hear about Volunteer Solutions?
	United Way (website, staff, etc.)
UWMA Impact Area Alignment:
	Early Childhood Education, Low Income Individuals/Families, People At Risk, Youth (ages 7-17)

Last updated on July 9, 2009