Hello Future Awarded Multi-year Grant from USA for UNHCR
February 21, 2023 – USA for UNHCR, a U.S. based non-profit organization whose mission is to protect refugees and empower them with hope and opportunity, recently awarded Hello Future a three-year grant to deepen and expand the educational non-profit’s work serving adolescent refugees.
Hello Future provides refugee teens in the Middle East with the tools and skills required to improve their educational and employment futures. Through an intensive program taught by local instructors in the students’ native language, refugee youth learn essential digital skills; psychosocial support; entrepreneurship; critical thinking; and learning to learn skills. Hello Future’s multi-course program is highlighted by its Small Business Incubator for refugee entrepreneurs.
“The support of USA for UNHCR is a catalytic investment in our program that also sends a clear message about the importance of supporting programs for refugee teenagers -- an age group often forgotten in the humanitarian sector,” said Charlie Grosso, Hello Future’s founder and executive director. “We are excited to be able to offer our life-changing program to thousands more students, train a new cohort of local community- and agency-based instructors, and increase the number of refugee entrepreneurs who can create real change for themselves and their communities.”
USA for UNHCR’s support will enable Hello Future to launch a Training-of-Teachers program and expand its offerings to 8-20 new sites in the Middle East serving youth living in refugee camps and urban settings.
To date, Hello Future’s impact includes a 100% student retention rate and a 90% course completion rate. Numerous Hello Future alumni have moved on to higher education opportunities at a rate that is 2.3 times the global average for refugee youth.
Founded in 2016, Hello Future is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization working with Syrian refugees in the Middle East. It provides in-person courses led by local instructors that teach adolescent refugee youth the essential digital, business, and creative skills needed to create the next generation of entrepreneurs and community leaders. Learn more at www.hellofuture.io.
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