AWE welcomes dozens of asylum seekers and trafficking survivors through our doors each week. Clients attend classes, share meals, meet with their case manager, and fill bags with groceries, diapers, and clothing to take home. Many clients also access mental health services, including individual counseling, group therapy, and other therapeutic activities like acupuncture, gardening, and yoga. Our clients arrive in Maryland after protracted periods of trauma. Many fled war, persecution, forced displacement, and human rights violations. They often experience additional violence on their journey to the US. In 2020, Doctors Without Borders reported that 48% of forced migrants experienced sexual violence on their way to the US and nearly a third were kidnapped at some point during their journey. But once in Maryland, clients face many barriers to healing. Accessing interpretation for therapy can be challenging, and many providers don’t have experience working with forced migrants. Meanwhile, most clients are ineligible for Medicaid and without work authorization they can’t afford private care. But without treatment and support, trauma can have long term consequences and symptoms can get worse. PTSD and depression can make it difficult to focus on finding housing, securing employment, and navigating the immigration process. Meeting the mental health needs of our clients is a critical component of our work. We recognize that healing looks different for different people, so we provide many different types of support. We also work to remove the many barriers our clients face to receiving the support they need. Individual therapy is a big part of what we do. In 2013 we began partnering with the Intercultural Counseling Connection (the Connection). The Connection, which is collocated with AWE, is a referral network of pro bono mental health professionals that connects our clients to individual counseling. In 2022, we started partnering with HEAL Refugee Health and Asylum Collaborative (HEAL) to provide individual therapy to our minor clients onsite. We also partner with a private, Spanish speaking therapist who provides therapy to youth trafficking survivors. In 2024, 48 clients have accessed individual therapy through our partnerships. Many clients also participate in group therapy. The Connection leads biweekly group therapy sessions for adults and HEAL leads biweekly group therapy for Spanish-speaking youth. Groups provide safe and inclusive spaces where clients can address concerns and develop interpersonal connections with each other. Meals are provided before all sessions and clients leave with groceries, diapers, and toiletries. So far in 2024, 79 clients have attended group therapy at AWE, including 45 minors and young adults. Many clients also access alternative forms of therapy. AWE offers bodywork activities like acupuncture, massage therapy, and yoga, to help clients release stored tension, reconnect with their bodies, and process emotions that may be difficult to access through verbal therapy. Community gardening, nature retreats, and music and dance therapy can help clients decompress and connect with each other. More than 70 clients have participated in alternative therapy in 2024. We make sure that clients can access all these services. We provide bus passes for clients attending daytime group activities and ride shares for evening events. We prioritize working with therapists and group facilitators who share the cultures and languages of our clients, and we always provide interpretation when needed. We do all of this because we believe our services are most impactful when they’re holistic and client centered. Offering different types of mental health services and making sure they’re accessible, ensures our clients have the resources and support to rebuild their lives with safety, trust, and empowerment.

Dear friends, Displaced by violence and hardship, an unprecedented number of people are forced to leave their homes each day and seek protection in the United States. Asylee Women Enterprise (AWE) is committed to serving forced migrants, offering them essential support and advocating for their rights and dignity. This three-year strategic action plan (2024-2027) outlines our roadmap for navigating the complexities of forced migration and amplifying the voices of those we serve. It reflects our understanding of the obstacles forced migrants face, their endurance and strength, and our shared hope for a better future. Over the next three years, we aim not only to continue providing essential services to forced migrants, but also to enhance our capacity, expand our reach, and advocate for changes that protect the rights and dignity of those we serve. As we begin this three-year journey, we hope you will partner with us, give your voice to our cause, and support our efforts to create a more compassionate and welcoming world where everyone can live in safety and with dignity. Together, we can make a difference. Together, we can welcome Maryland's newest neighbors home.

It was a busy year! In 2023, AWE welcomed asylum seekers and foreign-born trafficking survivors from 40 different countries through our doors. Read about our work with asylum seekers and foreign-born trafficking survivors in our 2023 Annual Report.

Do you remember when you learned about credit scores? What about interest rates or the difference between state and federal income taxes? Many of us reach adulthood with little to no financial education, and quite a few unanswered questions. While everyone’s financial goals look a little different, we all want to manage our money effectively, so we can be financially stable and self-sufficient. This is difficult for many English-speaking Americans, but what if you don’t speak English, or grew up in a different economic system, or have no idea how to count American money? Most of the asylum seekers and foreign-born trafficking survivors we serve come from countries with vastly different financial systems. Understanding and navigating the complex financial landscape in the US can be challenging, and clients often mention wanting more financial education. So last year, in response to client feedback, we decided to create a financial education program. We knew that most generic financial education curricula wouldn’t work for our clients, who usually don't have a stable income, a Social Security Number, or work authorization. But we weren’t sure how to design a program tailored to their circumstances and needs. After a lot of brainstorming, we decided to partner with the Johns Hopkins’ Source Service Scholars Program (SOURCE). SOURCE pairs Hopkins graduate students with community-based organizations like AWE to complete a yearlong project. We sent SOURCE a detailed description of the program we wanted to create: a research-backed financial education course for asylum seekers and foreign-born trafficking survivors that understood their unique financial needs and constraints. A few months later, SOURCE paired us with Shuait. Shuait Nair is a second-year medical student at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Prior to medical school, he studied international affairs at Georgetown University and he has a special interest in the intersections of forced migration and healthcare. When he saw AWE’s financial education project proposal, he was excited by the opportunity to work directly alongside asylum seekers and forced migrants to create a curriculum driven by their feedback and input. Shuait began working with AWE last fall, bringing an incredible enthusiasm and dedication to the project from the start. First, he hosted a focus group with clients to hear their questions and concerns about financial management in the US. Next, he spent a few months researching financial education best practices and adapting them to the needs our clients had identified. Then he designed a seven-part curriculum with lessons on key topics like budgeting, banks accounts, avoiding scams, and applying for an Individual Tax Identification Number (which is often used as an alternative to a Social Security Number for noncitizens). Finally, he recruited client volunteers to help lead classes and trained them in the curriculum. Shuait’s classes are led by the clients as much as the curriculum. He begins each class by asking clients to share their experiences managing their finances in their home countries, so that everyone can learn from each other. “The [curriculum] provides a nice framework, but ultimately, the lessons are driven by client questions,” Shuait says. “The conversations are very fluid and whenever somebody has an experience they'd like to share or an answer to a question, whether it be myself, the volunteers, or clients, we just chime in and share our two cents!” Providing financial education to asylum seekers and trafficking survivors is complicated by the enormous and ubiquitous uncertainty they face. Their immigration statuses vary, and it's difficult to find information about who has what rights and responsibilities at what point in their immigration process. The biggest challenge, according to Shuait, is the disparity between the general knowledge his curriculum teaches and the specifics of what each student needs at the moment. “What I have come to realize is that financial progress in the United States is a very stepwise process,” says Shuait. “You can't move on to the next step without having completed everything before that. For example, to receive a credit card and build credit, clients must have a bank account. To have a bank account, clients must have a social security number or an individual tax identification number [ITIN]. If clients do not yet have a social security number or an ITIN, they can file for an ITIN, but that process requires clients to have detailed identification forms, such as a passport. So, if a client does not have access to their passport, they can be stuck in a situation where making strides in financial progress is challenging.” Despite these complexities, client feedback about Shuait’s classes is overwhelmingly positive. Clients report that the classes help them make sense of the complicated financial systems in the US and provide them with valuable financial tools and resources as they begin to rebuild their lives in Maryland.

Nearly half of the clients AWE serves are foreign-born survivors of human trafficking. Immigrants are especially vulnerable to human trafficking, and every year the US government identifies thousands of foreign-born victims. AWE is the largest provider of services to foreign-born survivors in Maryland. Most of the survivors we serve are children and young adults who urgently need financial support and medical and mental healthcare. While trafficking survivors are generally eligible for public benefits like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), many survivors are unaware of their eligibility, or have difficulty accessing them due to bureaucratic obstacles and the complexities of their immigration status. Helping survivors navigate the systems is critical component of our work, but also very challenging. Clients enrolled in AWE’s trafficking program are eligible to receive public benefits using what is known as an Eligibility Letter issued by the Office of Trafficking in Persons (OTIP). The letter certifies that the client is a trafficking survivor and therefore eligible for services like case management and public benefits. However, to apply for benefits and access medical care, a survivor must also have a non-working Social Security Number (SSN). But to get the Social Security Number, they need to apply for and receive a formal letter from the Department of Social Services explaining why they need the number. They can then use the letter from DSS, along with their Eligibility Letter to apply for the Social Security Number at the Social Security Administration. While these steps may look straightforward on paper, the process can take a long time. Alma* is a minor trafficking survivor who lives with her younger sisters and her mom, Iris.* Alma urgently needed a Social Security Number so she could access public benefits and receive medical and mental health care. So, Alma’s mother and I (Alma’s caseworker) began the long and complicated application process. First, we gathered documents to submit to DSS so that they could write a letter that we could take to the Social Security Administration. To get the letter from DSS, we had to prove that Alma was eligible for a Social Security Number because she’s a trafficking survivor. However, most government agencies haven’t worked with foreign-born trafficking survivors, and they’ve never seen an Eligibility Letter. Without a lot of advocacy efforts on our part, DSS might reject the case and we’d have to start all over. Alma’s mother and I went to DSS in person to explain the uniqueness of the case. After a lot of back and forth, DSS provided the letter we needed, and we headed to the Social Security Administration. We’d already jumped through many hurdles, but we were prepared to advocate all over again. However, this time, the Social Security Officer took the letter, typed a few notes, and handed us a receipt. “Your card will arrive in two weeks,” she said. Alma’s Social Security Number application took less than 15 minutes. Iris and I were so surprised and started crying from excitement. We’d finally experienced a small win. Afterwards, Alma, Iris, and I celebrated over dinner. A week later, Iris texted to tell me that the Social Security card had arrived in the mail. With her Social Security number, Alma’s benefits application was approved. Additionally, she was enrolled in the Maryland Child Care Scholarship Program, which allows her to access before and after school programming. As small as the non-working Social Security Number may seem, it holds so much relief for survivors and families like Alma’s, and allows them to begin rebuilding their lives.

One chilly morning in November, Rosaline* came to AWE’s office. She was seven months pregnant, recently arrived in the US, and sleeping on a sofa at the small home of a relative of a friend who needed her out immediately. She needed healthcare, immigration legal assistance, food, and – very urgently – housing. AWE enrolled Rosaline as a client and over the next 24 hours we scrambled to find emergency housing for her. We contacted shelters, volunteers and churches trying to find a safe and comfortable place for Rosaline. We also gave Rosaline a gift card so she could buy food. The next day she called me in the afternoon. She was buying groceries at an African grocery store, and she’d just run into a childhood friend from her home country of Cameroon named Alice*! When Alice learned that Rosaline had recently arrived in the US, she told her, “You need to go to AWE. They will help you.” Rosaline explained that she had in fact gone to AWE the day before, and then asked me, “Do you know Alice?” “Yes!” I laughed, “I know Alice!” Alice is a former client who came to AWE years ago as a pregnant woman herself. She had lived in AWE housing, participated in AWE’s Day Program and received holistic case management services. Rosaline handed Alice the phone and we spent a few minutes catching up. Then Alice said, “Rosaline can come stay with me in my home.” I spoke with Rosaline to see if she was okay with this plan, and she said she would be very happy to stay with Alice while we worked on finding other options. Later that day, I messaged Alice and thanked her for offering Rosaline emergency housing. “I am honored to do this,” she said. “AWE did this for me, let me do this for AWE.” During Rosaline’s first week as an AWE client, she attended the first prenatal care and testing appointment of her pregnancy. She also received groceries, diapers, clothing, and items for her coming baby from AWE, and she attended ESL and other classes as a part of AWE’s Day Program. Over the next few weeks Alice opened her home to Rosaline, gave her bed to sleep in, and welcomed her into her home, while AWE worked with Rosaline to secure long-term housing. We are so grateful to Alice for her willingness to open her home, and the reminder that our big world is really, sometimes, very small in the most wonderful and surprising ways. *Names changed to protect client privacy.

Last spring, the federal government formally brought the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), and all associated programs and exemptions, to an end. Many of the exemptions implemented at the start of the pandemic were put in place to make it easier for people to access public benefits like the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. These benefits became even more critical to low-income individuals and families due to inflation, rising food costs, and employer-tied health insurance. The expiration of Public Health Emergency resulted in drastic decreases in monthly food and cash benefits, restrictions on Medicaid eligibility for immigrants, and the reinstating of pre-pandemic application requirements such as redeterminations and mandatory eligibility interviews. These factors made benefits access and retainment significantly more difficult for AWE clients, while also further complicating the process for all benefits applicants across the state, regardless of immigration status. In light of these changes, AWE’s Food Access and Outreach Coordinator spent the second half of 2023 collaborating with other Maryland-based SNAP community-based organizations to advocate for a more equitable benefits application process that is person-centered and straight-forward. AWE also organized meetings with multiple Department of Health Services (DHS) representatives, including Maryland’s new DHS Secretary Rafael Lopez, to discuss the issues that we and our clients experience daily. As a result of these meetings, AWE’s Food Access and Outreach Coordinator was invited to contribute to DHS’s new website dedicated specifically to language access, which is currently under development. She was also asked to lead a presentation on immigrant benefits eligibility to twelve hundred DHS staff members at a DHS statewide training. Additionally, the government recently decided to waive the mandatory interview requirement as part of the application process, removing a significant barrier for those with limited English proficiency and access to technology. While these accomplishments may seem small, they are already demonstrating a substantial impact on benefits access for our clients. In 2024 we are expanding our Food Access Program to include a Johns Hopkins University Source Scholar and a part time food access and outreach assistant. These changes will allow us to increase our capacity and reach more people. AWE is committed to advocating for our clients and working to ensure people can access the benefits and nutritious, culturally appropriate food they are entitled to.

‘Tis the season, and at AWE we are busy preparing for our annual holiday event! For many AWE clients, this will be their first holiday season in the United States. Many are far from family and friends, and they don’t have the resources and support to celebrate. Each year, AWE hosts a holiday party and gift distribution event, in the hopes of creating a sense of community and celebration for our clients. With the help of volunteers, we turn AWE’s community room into a holiday ‘shopping center’, with gifts lined up along the walls. The event is a potluck, and volunteers, clients, staff, and partners are invited to share a meal, make holiday crafts, play games, and celebrate the holidays together. Ocan, an AWE client, had only been in the US for a few weeks when he attended our 2022 holiday event. “We were very new [to the country] at that time, and we did not know what to expect at the holidays” he recalls. “The event was a very nice surprise for us.” This year we hope to provide gifts for every asylum seeker and trafficking survivor enrolled in our services. However, we are serving more clients than ever before, as the need for our services continually grows. This means that we hope to provide gifts to more clients than in previous years. We rely on generous donations from supporters, partners, and community organizations to provide these gifts. This holiday season, help bring holiday joy to AWE clients by donating gifts or volunteering at our holiday gift event and potluck. Please contact Rachel Braver at rachel@asyleewomen.org for more information about how to donate gifts, or Jane Keller at jane@asyleewomen.org to volunteer with us. You can also shop from our Amazon Holiday Wishlist . Wishing you a very happy holidays from all of us at AWE!