Refugee Youth Power Summit

Hi! Our incredible team of directors are raising money for our virtual summer program the Refugee Youth Power Summit! Any donation you can make will help make an impact.  Funds raised will go directly towards stipends for Refugee youth and Immigrants in Providence, RI who are directing and participating in this summer program. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.



Dahaba and Shilala, two of our Youth Directors this summer, attending the 2nd Summit in 2018.


3 summers ago, refugee youth leaders in Providence, RI (former and current students in BRYTE - Brown Refugee Youth Tutoring and Enrichment) came together to create a new program by and for refugee youth: The Refugee Youth Power Summit.


A group photo from the first Summit, summer 2017.


RYPS was founded with three main goals: to build a strong community of refugee youth leaders, to cultivate the critical ideas and tools necessary for social justice work, and finally to engage in collective action on behalf of refugee communities everywhere. More than anything, the vision for the summit was to create a space for refugee youth to learn, grow, heal, be supported, and organize as a community. 



Participants have many opportunities to learn from each other's experiences and to consider possible solutions to problems facing members of their ever expanding communities. 




For the past three summers, the Summit did exactly that.

Last summer, for two weeks, 23 youth participants, with the support of refugee youth directors who were participants the year before, engaged in social justice education, learned from local activists in Providence, shared stories, wrote songs, made autobiographical comics, and organized together.

While the program is still new, the power of its mission and its community holds it together. At the close of each summer, it becomes more and more clear that the summit is just a start of something with exciting and infinite potential. 




This summer, we are excited to announce that the Refugee Youth Power Summit is back and better than ever! This time around, it is being held entirely virtual due to COVID-19.  This summer, participants will have the opportunity to present workshops over zoom on topics of their choosing. As a response to youth feedback, we will continue to build solidarity with local activists and organizations. In the past we have welcomed guest speakers from community groups such as Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Alianza para Movilizar Nuestra Resistencia (AMOR RI), and FANG collective.



Cata from AMOR leading a workshop on dreams and resilience in America. 



Marco from DARE facilitating a workshop on collaborative story telling. 



Learning how to identify weeds at Tooth and Nail Farm.



Omar, founder of the Refugee Dream Center giving an impassionate retelling of his unlikely journey to the US to escape political persecution.


For the past three years, our small and humble program was made possible through the generous contributions of so many individuals and communities who believed in what we were doing. This year, we are in need of support to grow what we started three years ago into the most incredible program possible!


Anything you can contribute counts, and will have a great impact on our ability to create this incredibly necessary space for the refugee youth community in Providence.