Facilitating Opportunities for Refugee Growth and Empowerment (FORGE) is a student organization that seeks to educate, empower, and enrich the lives of refugees in order to catalyze sustainable social change. FORGE works toward this mission by engaging in direct service with refugees resettled to Pittsburgh and by spreading awareness of refugee issues. FORGE provides two different ways in which vo
lunteers can engage in direct service with the local refugee population: the in-home tutoring program and the SCCORE program. Through the in-home program, FORGE connects pairs of volunteers with a recently resettled refugee family for weekly in-home mentorship, by partnering with a local resettlement agency, Jewish Family & Children’s Services. Through the SCCORE (Supporting College and Career Opportunities for Refugee Enrichment) program, volunteers are paired with high school refugee youth, and provide mentorship and tutoring to the high school students during weekly sessions held on CMU campus. In addition to direct service to the local refugee community, FORGE works to increase campus and citywide awareness of the refugee population in Pittsburgh through holding several events and fundraisers per year.
