CRIW partners with underserved refugee and immigrant women in New Haven who lead our community-driven initiatives that honor self-determination and promote well-being.
LED BY WOMEN
POWERED BY COMMUNITY
ROOTED IN COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING
Who We Are: CRIW - The Collective for Refugee and Immigrant Women’s Wellbeing is a nonprofit in New Haven founded in 2020. We partner with underserved refugee and immigrant women with limited power due to gender, ethnicity, poverty, education, language, culture and health disparities who drive and guide our programs.
Our Approach: Starts with listening to women
We build: Relationships and initiatives from strengths, honoring experience and culture and promoting self-agency.
We create: Safe spaces that nurture a deep sense of belonging and respect as well as provide pathways for self-expression, celebration, literacy, advocacy, leadership and overall well-being.
Our Programs: Fuel systematic and meaningful change by creating new ways of doing things to solve long-standing challenges by breaking barriers starting at the grassroots level.
We believe: Lasting impact is built through connection. We foster community collaborations rooted in shared goals and mutual support.
We trust in: The transformative power of community as a force for healing, growth and justice.
Our Focus
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Building collective power with preliterate Afghan women through leadership training and civic engagement.
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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 support existing programs, collectively envision and create new, meaningful initiatives and celebrate community.
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New & Noteworthy
December/2024 - “I think about this kind of work as being about creating space for unheard voices to speak, and to share their side of the stories. I feel that there’s kind of a concept of silence that is happening in our society right now, and so this is about more than just art; it’s about making room for these women’s experiences in the world.” — Hangama Amiri, Yale MFA ‘20.
November/2024 - The New Haven Independent’s Brian Slattery visits CRIW’s exhibit: “Afghan Women Explore Themes of Identity & Home” on display at the Wilson Branch of the New Haven Public Library through December 3, 2024. “"They came so far, and brought so much with them, in their heads, hearts, and hands. Steeped in old ways, they’re creating new ties."
April/2024 - Cofounder Hossna Samadi was interviewed by NBC Connecticut for an episode of “Connecticut in Color”, about CRIW’s Expressive Arts Initiatives with Afghan women. The initiatives were made possible through the generous support of the City of New Haven Arts, Culture & Tourism, the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, Hangama Amiri, Penny & Rod Cook and the International Association of New Haven.
