CRIW believes meaningful change begins with listening. By partnering with underserved refugee and immigrant women - esepcially those whose voices are too often unheard - we build community-led initiatives from the ground up, centering their voices, leadership and lived experiences to advance agency, well-being, opportunity and lasting change.
Who We Are: CRIW is a nonprofit organization founded in New Haven in 2020. We partner with underserved refugee and immigrant women whose voices are too often unheard - many who have had little or no formal education due to war, displacement, gender inequality, and interrupted schooling, creating additional barriers to literacy, healthcare, employment, and community participation.
Our Approach: We believe the women who best understand these challenges are also essential to creating the solutions. Every initiative begins by listening. Together, we identify priorities, build on strengths and co-create practical, community-driven solutions.
What We Do: Our initiatives focus on education, health, disability, emotional well-being, leadership, and pathways to economic opportunity. Together, we work with our community partners to reduce barriers, expand knowledge and opportunities and create lasting change.
We Believe: Meaningful impact begins with trust, grows with collaboration and is strongest when communities lead.
We Trust In: The transformative power of community to foster healing and growth, opportunity and justice.
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 coordinates an onsite, neighborhood-based ESOL and family literacy program created with and for refugee and immigrant mothers and their young children. In partnership with New Haven Adult Education, IRIS, and CRIW volunteers and interns, we offer multi-level English classes plus childcare and preschool readiness support. Designed collaboratively with the community, the program emphasizes practical skills that help families actively and confidently engage in community life. CRIW oversees program quality and coordination, manages student recruitment and retention, and trains and supervises interns and volunteers.
Co-designed with local women, the program offers a welcoming and vibrant space where women are learning, gaining confidence and self-agency, and navigating community resources with increasing ease.
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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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