KANDELIA
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Mission Statement
We remove barriers to opportunities so immigrant and refugee communities can flourish without compromising values, heritage or ethnicity.
About This Cause
Kandelia envisions and strives to create a world in which immigrant and refugee youth have skills and resources to thrive now and in the future. We fulfill our mission by serving students directly, stabilizing and strengthening their local family support network, and improving the institutions and systems that impact their lives. Kandelia was established in 1976 to help refugees adjust to life in the US after the Vietnam War. As our organization and capacity grew, we expanded our services to support all refugee and immigrant communities, particularly in education and youth development. For nearly 20 years, Kandelia has worked in partnership with Seattle World School (SWS) to provide wraparound services to students and families enrolled in the school. SWS is a public school designed specifically for newly arrived immigrant and refugee students. By partnering with Seattle World School and other community organizations, we can ensure that all students have full equitable access to the range of programs and services they deserve and require - both in school and out of school - to support their learning and success. Historically, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) has not effectively provided equitable opportunities to immigrant and refugee families, which results in large disparities in achievement for students. Many refugee and immigrant students begin far behind their American-born peers, often having interrupted formal education in their native country, or transcripts that don’t transfer to a traditional U.S. public school. The graduation rate in 2023 for English Language Learners in Seattle was 68% compared to 91% for non-English Language Learners. The complexity of the U.S. education system is also difficult for many refugee and immigrant families to navigate. Our programs aim to address these systemic inequities and provide opportunities and support for students as well as their caregivers so that they have a greater chance at success, however they define it. Our programs include: Youth Programs - Our classes include English classes, a Job Readiness Training (JRT) program tailored to newcomers, and a mentorship program. English classes include both classroom instruction and conversation classes where students practice English in real-life settings out in our community. Our newcomer-focused JRT program includes classes, workshops, career and hiring fairs, field trips, internship placement, and individualized coaching. We will focus on skills for immediate employment and helping students gain awareness of career pathways beyond high school. The program utilizes scaffolded support for English language acquisition and a focus on relationships and community building that are essential to newly arrived students. Kandelia’s new mentorship program formalizes work that our staff has done informally for years and involves relationship-based mentoring where we support students to set and make progress towards personally meaningful goals. Our mentorship program will focus on students facing additional barriers to success, such as those who are here without family as unaccompanied minors. Family Programs - Kandelia’s Family Program classes and workshops are focused around building self-sufficiency skills for guardians of students such as English Classes, Digital Literacy Training, and navigating the US Education system. We provide regular classes as well as workshops throughout the year to help families support their youth and gain practical skills. Food Access Program - Our Food Access program provides healthy, culturally relevant food assistance to students and families in Kandelia programs, and at home through weekly grocery bags. We also provide additional food and basic needs support for students and families before each school break, and occasional food popup shopping events where families can stock up on essentials. The demographics of students in our programs include: 100% are recently-arrived refugees or immigrants; 97% are English Language Learners; 99% qualify for free or reduced lunch, an indicator of economic need; 51% of students are experiencing housing instability; 98% identify as youth of color, 2% identify as white from Afghanistan; At least 28 different languages are spoken; the largest are Spanish (70%) Mayan K’iche’ (6%), Vietnamese (6%), Oromo (2%), Tigrinya (2%), Dari (2%), and many more.