Church World Service (CWS) is a leading organization working to eradicate hunger and poverty, and to promote peace and justice around the world. CWS is one of the nine refugee resettlement agencies in the United States, with local offices and affiliates in seventeen states. CWS also plays a leading role in local, state, and federal advocacy to protect refugees.

CWS leads an innovative leadership development and civic participation program that elevates refugees’ voices in policymaking and in the media, inspired by and modeled after community organizing and storytelling trainings that have seen great success in the civil rights and immigrants’ rights movements.

CWS has trained over 2,000 refugees with an emphasis on building teams and networks of leaders in eight key states with ongoing expansion. Working alongside Refugee Congress, CWS has helped train refugee leaders from 36 states across the country. This work has helped refugee leaders enhance their capacity to organize their communities, tell their stories in impactful ways, develop campaign ideas, advocate to defend the refugee program, and engage in voter education, registration, and mobilization for eligible former refugees who are now U.S. citizens. You can read more in this learning brief: “From Resettlement to Belonging.”