ARYSE

Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education assists resettled refugee youth in becoming confident, engaged, & productive members of American society.

ARYSE supports immigrant and refugee youth to become prepared, engaged, and confident members of the Greater Pittsburgh community. The signature program of ARYSE is Pittsburgh Refugee Youth Summer Enrichment (PRYSE) Academy, a three-week summer program led by high school and college students for refugee and immigrant youth that combines academic classes, creative expression workshops, and civic engagement.

06/18/2026

As we approach World Refugee Day, a day that honors the resilience, contributions, and cultures of refugee communities around the world, we’re proud to highlight a recent advocacy trip to Washington, D.C. with Refugee Council USA and cwsglobal. Swipe through to see photos and videos from the experience taken by Youth Steering Committee member, Fahima!😊

Before traveling to D.C., ARYSE alumni, Rahwa and Fahima, as well as Meg and Jenna from our team, participated in advocacy training focused on federal policy, effective storytelling, and meeting with elected officials. While in Washington, they joined advocates from across the country to support policies that protect immigrant and refugee communities. They met directly with Congresswoman Summer Lee (PA-12) and staff from Congressman Chris Deluzio and Senator John Fetterman’s office, sharing the experiences of refugee youth, the role of ARYSE in Allegheny County, and encouraging support for a congressional letter that strengthens protections for refugee communities.

We’re grateful for opportunities like this to elevate the voices of our students, strengthen our advocacy efforts, and help build a more welcoming future for refugee and immigrant communities.💛

06/16/2026

Last week, the last of our 19 students graduated from high school!🎓 To highlight this achievement, 8 of these students reflected on high school and shared advice with the class of 2027 in our June blog, “Congratulations ARYSE Graduates!”. You can read the blog in your inbox, and swipe through this post to see photos of some of our graduates!

To our graduates, we are so proud of you and all the hard work you did to achieve this milestone! A special thank you to Fahima, Reol, Appoline, Najman, Ruth, William, Bahati, and Nateso for sharing your experiences in the ARYSE blog. We are so deeply honored to play a part in your journeys.

Wish the class of 2026 congratulations in the comments below!🥰

06/09/2026

During the last week of May, our team and several of our students were honored to be the first recipients of the Student-Centered Practice Award at the Pittsburgh Learning Collaborative Community Celebration!😌 To read more about what our team and students did in May, check your inbox for our May newsletter.

Before being presented with this award, our youth media cohort, the ARYSE Storytellers, were uplifted as they shared their experiences, skills learned, and creations with all attendees. We are so proud of our Storytellers for showcasing the joy that is student-led collaboration, and to Erica for exuding what it means to be student-centered with this cohort.

At ARYSE, we are proud to be student-centered and know our students’ voices are essential to ensure our work is aligned with their wants, needs, and goals. We are so honored to work alongside our students. Thank you to and the Pittsburgh Learning Collaborative for recognizing our team - we appreciate your work and support!💛

Shoutout to A+ Schools for so graciously sharing these photos taken at the celeration!📸

06/08/2026

Starting the week off with a trend? Who are we? ARYSE and shine but make it supportive, disappointed, and sarcastic! Let us know in the comments which is your favorite😆

06/03/2026

Our final Youth Steering Committee (YSC) meeting of the year took place on Saturday, May 23rd and our students spent the afternoon in the Northside at the Children’s Museum with and City of Asylum!🎙️

Our YSC members started the day by building on their public speaking skills through podcasting. Grace and Alexa from SLB Radio shared about their work and the importance of audio tools for public speaking, and our youth leaders had the opportunity to interview each other on their blog entries. If you have not checked out our YSC members blog on leadership, read it on our website!

The second half of the meeting took place at City of Asylum where students enjoyed lunch and our members who are graduating high school were honored for their community service and leadership in ARYSE as members of our YSC.

We are so proud of all our YSC members for their leadership, growth, and commitment to ARYSE. We can’t wait to see what they all accomplish, both inside and outside of our Youth Steering Committee and ARYSE.🥰 And a HUGE shoutout to Meg and Chance for guiding our youth leaders throughout the last year, and to ARYSE alum and former YSC member, Nargis for volunteering with the program. We appreciate all of you!💛

06/02/2026

Last Thursday was the final session of our After School Club for the 2025-2026 school year, and Mike planned and facilitated an afternoon filled with food, laughs, and reflection!🤩

Students met at the ARYSE office and enjoyed a meal from Chick n’ Bubbly and a sweet treat of cupcakes. Following their meal, they walked over to Point State Park.

We want to give a BIG thank you to our faculty partner at Duquesne University, Dr. Jennie Schulze, for supporting our students and the program since the beginning—all the way back in 2018. We also want to thank all of our volunteers who worked alongside our students as they completed assignments and explored post-secondary options. We appreciate your time, energy, and commitment to our work and students.

Last but not least, we want to give a special shoutout to Mike! This was Mike’s 7th school year managing our After School Club and we appreciate all that Mike does to support our students and their families. 💛

If you were in the After School Club, tell us in the comments your favorite memory from this year!

05/29/2026

This month marked the end of our school year programs and we are so excited to highlight the final session of each program starting with our Girls Art and Maker Group!🥰

For the past 3 years, our Girls Group students have created collaborative projects and this year they created two: a quilt and mosaic. During this final session they finished these projects which will be displayed in the ARYSE office! In addition to the projects, we were honored to invite one of our Board of Directors, Karen Lue, to take portraits of each student. Thank you for attending and capturing each students’ personality, Karen!

A special thank you to all the students and volunteers who showed up each month in community with one another. Your creativity, energy, and time are always so appreciated. We also want to give a big shoutout to Erica for always ensuring the program is planned and facilitated with our student’s ideas and hopes at the forefront. We appreciate you, Erica!

Here’s to another silly and sweet year of our Girls Art and Maker Group!🩷 Let us know in the comments your favorite memory from Girls Group this year

05/28/2026

Last week was the third and final event in our Post-Secondary Support Program’s financial empowerment series. Inspired by the positive feedback from our first ever financial empowerment event last year, we hosted this 3-event series to talk about all things financial: personal agency, managing of funds, credit, scholarships and loans, culture, and much more!🤗

Following these events, 75% of students felt more comfortable talking about money, and 100% said the information shared was something they’d talk to their families about. We are so appreciative to our students for trusting us in supporting them with their post-high school journey, and for always sharing how we can improve our events and programs to best support them.

Thank you to our funding partners who have made the Post-Secondary Program possible: Posner Foundation, Duquesne Light, and the Elsie Hillman Foundation. And thank you to partners who attended these events and shared your knowledge, resources, and time with our students: Equitable Advisors, Pittsburgh Promise, PHEAA, POISE Foundation, Pittsburgh Tomorrow, and Dollar Bank.

05/22/2026

Our 2025 annual report is finished and on our website!🥳 Swipe through this post to see a summary of what the 2024-2025 year looked like for each ARYSE program.

Thank you to .co for designing our report for the 7th year in a row - this is our favorite report yet and we appreciate your time and energy in every project you do with us!💛 Click the link in our bio to read the whole report.

Address

710 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA
15219

Website

https://linktr.ee/ArysePgh

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