ABOUT US

Etienne Ahayo - President

Our Programs and Projects

WHAT WE DO

NER helps refugees achieve their personal and end goals by enhancing their resilience and coping potential. Our learning and empowerment programs are designed to transform and inspire the mind, heart and soul, helping to develop the individual knowledge, skills, positive values, attitudes and behaviors for effective integration and success.

We encourage a holistic human development by fostering multiple intelligences at an intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual level. We promote the development of rational intelligence (IQ) by honing ones critical and analytical abilities so that they become a better problem-solver and innovative thinker.

We foster spiritual intelligence (SQ) as a purpose and a value-driven individual who can rise above adversity, take difficult decisions and make a difference. We help refugee individuals develop their emotional intelligence (EQ) to significantly improve their relationships and resolve conflict effectively in a diverse environment.
 

MISSION

New Empowerment for Refugees (NER) is dedicated to helping refugees integrate into American society and become self-sufficient as soon as possible. We feel strongly that there is no reason for this vulnerable group to endure the struggles of others that came before them.

Minimizing the difficulties and loneliness common to refugees arriving in an unfamiliar country is the goal of our organization. NER seeks to make a positive difference, in promoting social integration, cohesion and change lives. When their children look back they will remember that there was someone there with a helping hand to guide them through the realities of this experience.

VISION

We strive for diversity, equity and inclusion for vulnerable refugees as we are committed to these values across all our work and generate better ideas to solve the complex challenges of a changing and increasingly diverse world.

What do we mean by diversity, equity and inclusion? These concepts mean various things to people.

DIVERSITY

is the representation of all our varied identities and differences including race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, socio-economic status and thinking and communication styles collectively or as individuals.

EQUITY

seeks to ensure fair treatment, equality of opportunities and fairness in access to information and resources for all regardless of individuals’ backgrounds. We believe that this is only possible in an environment built on respect, human rights and dignity.

INCLUSION

builds a culture of belonging by actively inviting the contribution and participation of all people. We believe every person’s voice adds value through structured support groups and strive to balance the status quo in the face of power differences.

TEAM

  • Think differently:
    imaginative but rational, analytical, agile mind, innovative, visionary, applies knowledge and practical experience across all disciplines.
  • Ground decisions in evidence:
    basis decisions on evidence, well informed, knowledgeable, multidisciplinary, metacognitive approaches, takes calculated risks, committed to life changing impacts for communities including refugees.
  • Lead consciously:
    purpose driven, acts ethically with integrity, service orientated and agent of change, mentally, emotionally and spiritually intelligent, puts sustainability at heart of the core organization’s vision.
  • Harness diversity:
    values individual differences, builds highly functional diverse teams, skilled communicators with bilingual proficiencies, collaborates and willing to accommodate different cultures.
  • Compact oneself professionally:
    inspirational, confident, focused, determined, resilient, disciplined, accessible, accountable, model values, observes organization’s operations etiquette.
  • Global outlook:
    adaptable to individual refugees, vulnerable groups including communities, families, youth, women and children’s immediate needs, multi-culturally aware of psycho-social support approaches for mental health first aid, understand local realities in social integration and social cohesion, operates in a borderless world.

GOALS

NER’s goal is to positively impact the lives of refugees and their families by providing basic services designed to help them become self-sufficient, adjust and integrate to their new host communities and society at large.

OBJECTIVES

  1.  Achieve a more sustainable and equitable future for all by empowering and encompassing mental health support of refugees, including other vulnerable groups in identifying workable solutions for their final integration to host communities in Arizona.
  2. Enhance refugee reliance by helping match refugees to communities where they are more likely to be accepted and find employment.
  3. Empower individuals by providing technology training programs, technical skills   and social skills for successful economic integration through employment leads, job placements, and financial literacy for economic inclusion, independence and stability.
  4. Expand access to vital information by utilizing a user-friendly tool which helps simplify the administrative process of placement towards successful integration to host communities.
  5. Ensure their mental, emotional and psychological needs are catered for as components for total well-being in improving outcomes for refugee families in a new environment.

VALUES

Stakeholder focus on human and socio-economic rights.

Compassionate to refugees and vulnerable groups’ plight.

Equity in accessing available services.

Transparency in all services rendered.

Integrity of our employees through diligent actions that improve lives.

Fairness to all and timeous workable interventions.

HISTORY

New Empowerment for Refugees (NER), Inc. (NER) is a 501 (c) 3 organization that started as the vision of Etienne Ahayo after he fled his home country of Congo during the ethnic violence that engulfed the region in the late 1990’s. Etienne was separated from his family for more than six years. He was briefly reunited with them and then separated again when approved for resettlement in the United States. Etienne endured many struggles and hardships after his arrival to the United States. Finally, after a total of nine and a half years apart, the immigration requirements were completed and his family was able to join him.

After overcoming many difficulties, Etienne is passionate about helping other refugees, and vulnerable groups in communities in which they reside who were enduring similar circumstances. In May 2013, he started New Empowerment for Refugees, Inc. The services offered by NER are designed to help and assist other refugees and their families who have been granted to resettle in United States. The Refugees are from Europe, Central America, Africa and elsewhere who have been relocated by UNHCR and other agencies as they seek peace and safety in the United States.