Our Origin

Refuge has been providing educational accessibility to refugee students in the Cincinnati area since 2017. In 2015 our founder, Mentalla Ismail, was volunteering at her local mosque and noticed the lack of resources specific to refugee students. Two years later, the idea for Refuge was born. Our team has mentored over 90 refugee and English language learner students for more than 1,250 hours since our founding. We are proud to call ourselves a diverse team with mentors hailing from different cultures and educational disciplines

Our Mission

Refuge is a higher education initiative aimed at addressing barriers refugee students face after resettlement through mentorship focused on education accessibility, ESL, and social and cultural navigation. Refuge envisions creating a community where refugee students have greater access to education through mentorship

What We’ve Achieved

• Over 1,250 Hours Mentoring

• Three Campus Chapters

• Grant Funded Health Literacy Initiative