CRIW partners with underserved refugee and immigrant women to turn lived experience into community-led change.
Through programs that advance literacy and education, leadership and advocacy, health and wellness, and community engagement and connection, women strengthen their voices, expand opportunities, and create meaningful change in their lives and communities.
Centering Women’s Voices. Creating Change.
WHO WE ARE:
CRIW is a nonprofit organization founded in New Haven in 2020. We partner with underserved refugee and immigrant women, many of whom have had little or no formal education due to war, displacement, gender inequality, and interrupted schooling, creating additional barriers to essential services, resources and opportunities.
OUR APPROACH:
Every initiative begins by listening. We believe the women who best understand these challenges are also essential to creating the solutions. Together, we identify priorities, build on strengths, and co-create meaningful, community-driven solutions.
IMPACT AREAS:
Our initiatives focus on education, leadership and advocacy, health equity, well-being, disability, and pathways to economic opportunity. Together, we work with our community partners to reduce barriers, expand knowledge and opportunities, and drive impactful change.
WE BELIEVE:
Meaningful impact begins with listening, grows with collaboration, and is strongest when communities lead.
Our Focus
Our Initiatives: At a Glance
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Building collective power with preliterate Afghan women through leadership training and civic engagement.
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CRIW leads a neighborhood-based ESOL and family literacy program co-designed with refugee and immigrant mothers. In partnership with New Haven Adult Education and New Haven Free Public Library, CRIW offers multi-English and digital literacy classes, onsite childcare and preschool readiness activities.
Emphasizing practical skills in a welcoming, supportive environment, the program helps women build confidence, strengthen their agency, and navigate community resources and daily life with greater independence.
CRIW oversees program coordination and quality, student recruitment and retention, program evaluation, and volunteer and intern training and supervision.
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Using multiple artistic platforms, we reduced barriers to expression and provided preliterate Afghan women who are often unheard, to tell their stories.
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CRIW is committed to collaborating with individuals and organizations to celebrate community; support existing programs; envision and create new, meaningful initiatives and collectively advocate for justice and equity.
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With women’s voices at the center, CRIW is partnering with Yale School of Medicine’s Program for Recovery and Community Health (PRCH) to launch a culturally-responsive, CoDesign project focused on better understanding and addressing the needs, hopes and systemic barriers faced by refugee and immigrant women in the Greater New Haven area who are:
Experiencing challenges to mental their well-being
Living with a physical and/or mental disability
Caring for a family member with a disability
Using an equity-led process with trained Pashto- and Dari-speaking women facilitators, CRIW’s two-phase initiative will build self-determination, shift power, and reimagine systems with refugee women at the center. This project will leverage CRIW’s successful experiences in community-led programming and cross-sector partnerships to create a model of what's possible when those most impacted shape the systems meant to serve them. This project will inform future work with diverse underserved communities to reduce disparities and create solutions to promote well-being.
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Gratitude to our Partners
