Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) accompanies, serves, and advocates for refugees and forcibly displaced people around the world.
Through education, mental health and psychosocial support, emergency assistance, livelihoods, reconciliation, and advocacy, JRS works alongside displaced communities as they rebuild their lives with dignity, hope, and opportunity.
JRS responds to the urgent and long-term needs of people who have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, climate-related disasters, and other crises. Our work is rooted in accompaniment: being present with people in moments of uncertainty, listening to their needs, and supporting programs that help individuals, families, and communities move toward healing and self-reliance.
JRS/USA supports this global mission through fundraising, advocacy, education, and awareness-building in the United States.
Each year, JRS reaches refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, and host communities through programs designed to meet immediate needs while supporting long-term resilience.
Countries where JRS serves refugees and forcibly displaced people
People accompanied through JRS programs each year
Students supported through education and training programs
People reached through mental health, psychosocial support, and protection services
Education is one of the most powerful ways to restore stability and opportunity for children and young people affected by displacement. JRS supports access to quality education, teacher training, early childhood learning, secondary education, vocational training, and higher education pathways for refugees and displaced students.
Displacement often brings trauma, grief, uncertainty, and isolation. JRS provides mental health and psychosocial support that helps individuals and communities process trauma, strengthen resilience, and rebuild trust. These programs may include counseling, group support, safe spaces, community-based care, and staff training.
In times of crisis, JRS helps meet urgent needs such as food, shelter, medical care, transportation, protection, and emergency supplies. JRS teams often remain present after the immediate crisis has passed, helping communities recover and rebuild over time.
JRS supports refugees and displaced people as they build skills, access training, and pursue opportunities for work and income. Livelihoods programs help families regain independence, contribute to their communities, and plan for the future with greater stability.
JRS works with displaced communities to promote safety, dignity, and social connection. Protection and reconciliation programs may include community-building activities, legal information, support for people with specific vulnerabilities, and efforts to strengthen relationships between displaced people and host communities.
JRS/USA advocates for policies that protect refugees, asylum seekers, and forcibly displaced people. Through action alerts, public education, coalition work, and events such as Advocacy Day, JRS/USA helps supporters raise their voices for humanitarian assistance, refugee protection, and the rights of displaced people.
JRS is grounded in the belief that every person deserves to be seen, heard, and accompanied. Accompaniment means walking with refugees and displaced people — not only providing services, but building relationships rooted in dignity, trust, and shared humanity.
This approach shapes every part of JRS’s work. Programs are designed in response to the needs of local communities, and staff remain present with people through crisis, transition, and recovery.
JRS measures impact through both data and human experience. Quantitative results help track reach, services delivered, participation, and program outcomes. Qualitative feedback from displaced people, staff, and local partners helps ensure that programs remain responsive, respectful, and effective.
Support JRS’s Work with Refugees
Your support helps JRS accompany refugees and forcibly displaced people through education, emergency assistance, mental health support, livelihoods, and advocacy. Together, we can help displaced communities rebuild their lives with dignity and hope.
Jesuit Refugee Service supports refugees and forcibly displaced people through education, mental health and psychosocial support, emergency assistance, livelihoods, protection, reconciliation, and advocacy. JRS’s impact includes both immediate crisis response and long-term accompaniment that helps people rebuild their lives.
JRS helps refugees by providing programs that respond to urgent needs while supporting long-term stability. This includes education, emergency aid, counseling, community support, livelihood training, and advocacy for policies that protect displaced people.
JRS works in countries around the world where refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, and host communities need support. Programs vary by location and are shaped by the needs of the communities JRS accompanies.
Accompaniment is central to JRS’s mission. It means being present with refugees and displaced people, listening to their experiences, and walking with them as they seek safety, healing, and opportunity.
JRS measures impact through program data, monitoring and evaluation, community feedback, local partnerships, annual reporting, and stories from the people and communities served.
Education helps displaced children and young people regain stability, build skills, and prepare for the future. It also supports healing, protection, and stronger communities.
Many refugees and displaced people experience trauma, grief, and uncertainty. Mental health and psychosocial support helps individuals and communities process these experiences, strengthen resilience, and rebuild social connection.
You can support JRS by donating, taking advocacy action, sharing resources, joining events, and learning more about the experiences of refugees and displaced people.
