The goal of our Youth Services program is to connect students, parents, schools, and the Louisville community.

This year, in honor of World Refugee Day, KRM is organizing Youth Refugee Adventure in which community youth will spend the day as a refugee at Waterfront Park. Click here to find out more about this exciting adventure.

The refugee experience can be especially challenging for youth. Many arrive in the United States with gaps in their education or no previous formal schooling. Language barriers, cultural differences, and miscommunication can ofter frustrate students and teachers. Parents may feel disconnected from their child's education because of a lack of English skills or knowledge of the school system. Refugee youth may alse feel socially isolated from American students and other immigrant youth. KRM's Youth Services program is dedicated to helping refugee students improve their English skills, rise to grade level proficiency in all other subjects, and adapt socially to their new environment. Youth services also works for cooperative relationships between parents and teachers.

Adjelley Lassey works at the computer.

KRM helps schools:

• Coordinate the Building Futures program which matched immigrant and refugee youth with volunteer tutors to work on literacy skills.
• Provide experiential teaching materials and aids to sensitize American students and teachers to cultural differences and refugee struggles.
• Provide liasons between teachers and refugee parents.
• Advocate for students and their families.

KRM helps youth:

• Register with the Jefferson County Public School System
• Find tutorial services in English literacy and other subjects.
• Connect to community resources including sports, family counseling, volunteer opportunities, leadership roles, the arts, and a variety of other organizations.

Refugee youth of school age that arrive in the summer attend the Summer Youth Adventure Program.  Held at KRM, the students take part in ESL classes, cultural orientations, sports, art, etc. This program offers youth their first exposure to an American school system, provides them with a basic foundation of English, and introduces them to their new peers in America.

For more information on Youth Services, contact Sarah Payne at 479-9180.