FORGE Overview & Fact Sheet

BASIC OVERVIEW & FACT SHEET

FORGE is an international non-profit organization

that educates, empowers, and enriches the lives of refugees

to create sustainable social change

We create partnerships between African refugees and the Western world

in order to enable the sharing and transfer of resources, ideas, and understanding,

and to lay the foundation for peace and development.

HISTORY AND SUMMARY

FORGE was founded in 2003 by 20-year-old Stanford University student Kjerstin Erickson.  After her third trip to Africa, Kjerstin had seen enough small success stories to know that great change could be brought about with modest investment.  Like most visitors to Africa, Kjerstin had seen a great deal of injustice, inequity, and the tragedy of missed opportunities.  Yet she had also met dozens of individuals who were transforming their lives and their communities, though they had very little to work with.  She knew that with a bit more assistance, they could elevate their efforts, talents, and skills to the next level of societal change.

Being committed to global justice, Kjerstin knew firsthand that many people in the West wanted to provide those additional resources.  What stopped most of them from doing was was a clear, effective channel in which to guide their abilities and assets, and that lack left a vast base of energy and talent untapped.

FORGE was founded to be that channel.  Mobilizing a group of talented and dedicated students, Kjerstin created FORGE to educate, empower, and enrich the lives of refugees by partnering them with Westerners who could help the refugees create the kinds of social change they dreamed of.  By creating a space for diverse people to connect, collaborate, and innovate in response to a common cause, and by providing them with the tools and training to do so effectively, FORGE delivers immediate and sustainable impact in the communities that need it most, and develops the leaders of the future in pursuit of a larger vision.