WE BELIEVE ALL PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BELONGING, DIGNITY, AND RESPECT
OUR MISSION
To welcome refugees, helping them on their path to self-sufficiency while respecting their dignity and uniqueness.
OUR VALUES
Welcome
Resilience
Respect
Community
Collaboration
OUR VISION
To amplify refugees’ strengths, resilience, and hope to regain agency over the course of their lives.
Everyone deserves to live in safety and belonging and to have agency over their own lives. For people forced from their homeland because of persecution and violence, this is far from reach.
Refugee newcomers arrive in the United States with incredible inner strength, but their lack of community connection due to cultural unfamiliarity and language barriers leads to difficulty accessing medical care, transportation, and jobs. This results in poverty, poor health, and a cycle of despair.
53% of refugee new arrivals speak no English (Office of Refugee Resettlement)
Refugees face steep barriers accessing health services (US Dept. of Health and Human Services)
Refugees are at high risk for social isolation and loneliness (Intl. Journal of Public Health)
RAP is uniquely qualified to address these needs because we know strength springs from enduring interconnectedness.
Our volunteers work closely with each family for an average of nine months. Our model is to provide guidance, tools, and resources to help refugee newcomers build connections with people in the community and expand their range of choices, so people can tap into their inner strength to overcome these challenges.
Our programs are built on holistic partnerships with newcomer families, collaborating agencies and community resources.
INTENSIVE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
RAP gives information and resources to newcomers, bringing stability to families. Volunteers orient newcomers to their new neighborhoods, teach financial literacy, connect people to medical care, and teach job readiness and other life skills, based on families’ goals.
We also provide material and financial aid for rent and utilities, food, clothing, and school uniforms to expand opportunities. As a result, families establish connections in their communities, overcome challenges stemming from poverty such as housing or food instability, and gain the knowledge and confidence to become their own best advocates.
EDUCATION PROGRAM
RAP provides English language & literacy lessons focused on practical skills, academic tutoring for children and young adults, GED prep for adults, and driving lessons. These educational services lead to success in school and open pathways to higher education and better jobs.
SOCIAL PROGRAM
RAP gathers all volunteers and newcomer families together at events as fellow community members. We share communal meals, activities, and lively conversation in many languages. We connect newcomer families with people from varied backgrounds and to peers in the refugee community to strengthen their support network while affirming their cultural heritage. We build strong cultural understanding and respect for everyone.
Our impact is enduring. Those we serve map their own road to success; we illuminate new pathways along their journey.
The M. family’s journey When we met this family, both parents were illiterate in English and their native language. Their housing was unstable, multiple disabilities and chronic pain prevented the father’s employment, and public benefits were their only income. RAP partnered with them to establish medical care for the entire family and disability services for two family members. RAP helped secure stable income for four of the six family members. Both parents learned English and the father is now a driver with his own car. After RAP mentorship, two adult children thrive in college
The E. family’s journey After being separated from their family in Afghanistan, these two brothers connected with the Afghan community and their peers in RAP’s social program. Through RAP, they learned English in a record four months. We connected the older brother with his first job, which he leveraged for a second job at higher pay and tremendous personal satisfaction. He earned a drivers’ license and RAP helped him get a car of his own and a new apartment.
434 men, women and children have been directly helped by RAP since 2017.
203 received intensive support services on their way to self-sufficiency by working with our family teams.
239 eager students sought to master English with the help of RAP tutors.
You can help: be the change in people's lives.The lasting relationship between you as a supporter and RAP makes a positive impact on families for years to come.
Your financial support is impactful
Contributions 2025: $73,773
.png)
Expenses 2025: $61,834
Your vision is vital and your time is valuable. We are a volunteer led organization and seek partners with diverse perspectives.
RAP's Board of Trustees
Work inter-generationally
Respects cultural input
Collaborates with our Community Advisory Board
Our Committed Cadre of Volunteers
41% have served for 3 or more years
23% have been with us for 1 - 2 years
36% joined our mission in 2025
Contact Us Today: info@rapnj.org
REFERENCES
ASPE. (2012, May 24). Barriers to immigrants’ access to health and human services programs. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/barriers-immigrants-access-health-human-services-programs-0
Benedetta Berti, B. and Borgman, E. (Jun 16, 2016). What does it mean to be a refugee?. TED-Ed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25bwiSikRsI
Guidestar. (2024). Refugee Assistance Partners NJ. Candid. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/82-1634333
Löbel, L., Hannes Kröger, H., and Tibubos, A. (2022, December 6). How migration status shapes susceptibility of individuals’ loneliness to social isolation. International Journal of Public Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9763294/#B16
Office of Refugee Resettlement. (2019). Annual report to Congress. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/orr/orr-arc-fy2019.pdf
Refugee Assistance Partners NJ (2020). Our services. https://www.refugeeassistancepartnersnj.org/our-services
Refugee Assistance Partners NJ. (2020). Our strategic plan. https://www.refugeeassistancepartnersnj.org/_files/ugd/cc2125_2aae49e1c7a24ca2bd56d49cc30a1058.pdf
UNHCR. (2024). Who we protect: Refugees. https://www.unhcr.org/us/about-unhcr/who-we-protect/refugees