Our Crowdfunding Groups
OUR PROJECT
IRAP-Berkeley is seeking $6,000 to send four law students to the Middle East in January 2018.
While abroad, students will provide important legal services to refugees. They will also develop their own legal skills and build relationships with medical, educational, and other nonprofit organizations that serve local refugee populations.
When students return to Berkeley, they will share their experiences with the Berkeley community through a written report and on-campus panel discussion.
Funding will be used for the purchase of plane tickets, as well as compensating students for the costs of hostels, food, and transportation to and from the airport. Any costs associated with tourism or other recreational activities will be covered by students.
IRAP-BERKELEY STUDENTS ON THE BEIRUT 2016 TRIP.
ABOUT IRAP
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) was founded in 2008 to resettle Iraqi interpreters, under threat of death for their work with the United States military. IRAP was the first organization in the United States to provide comprehensive legal representation to individual refugees seeking resettlement.
Since its founding, IRAP has responded to the growing regional refugee crisis by expanding its services to refugee populations from 55 countries, including Afghanistan and Syria. IRAP’s clients are drawn from the region’s most vulnerable populations. They include survivors of torture and sexual violence, children with medical emergencies, and members of ethnic and religious minorities.
IRAP operates largely through its 29 law school chapters. Each chapter is responsible for building case teams between students and attorneys, which handle every aspect of a client's legal case for resettlement. IRAP chapters also engage in legal research, policy advocacy, and awareness-raising activities to support IRAP National’s larger mission.
ABOUT IRAP-BERKELEY
The Berkeley chapter of IRAP is among the largest and most active of IRAP’s student chapters. IRAP-Berkeley is comprised of 40 students and 21 attorneys representing 19 cases. Providing dedicated, high-quality legal services to refugees is the heart of our work. We also engage in policy advocacy, academic engagement with refugee issues, fundraising for client’s legal needs, and trainings on client-focused legal work.
The most personally and professionally rewarding of these trainings are IRAP's yearly sessions in Amman, Jordan and Beirut, Lebanon. During these week-long workshops with IRAP's Middle East offices, students receive intensive training on culturally-sensitive professionalism when providing legal services to clients who have undergone trauma.
IRAP-BERKELEY STUDENTS AT THE POST-BEIRUT 2016 TRIP PANEL
Additionally, students visit local and international NGOs that provide direct legal, health, and educational services to refugees. These site visits give students a comprehensive perspective on the problems facing refugee communities. They also allow students to interact personally with the communities we serve.
Finally, students conduct intakes with potential IRAP clients, gaining invaluable hands-on experience. Students who participate in these trips gain unique skills and knowledge, propelling many into life-long careers as refugee and immigrant advocates (see our bio section!).
IRAP-BERKELEY STUDENTS ON THE BEIRUT 2016 TRIP.
IRAP-Berkeley's long-term goal is to put in place a recurring series of trips, with student participants alternating between work in Amman and Beirut. This will allow Berkeley Law to have a consistent humanitarian involvement in—and academic output surrounding—the refugee crisis in the Middle East.
Moreover, it will continue Berkeley's tradition of producing highly-competent, ethical professionals dedicated to public service. Our students engage with clients as former service members stationed overseas, the family and friends of refugees and immigrants, and members of a student body dedicated to public service through the law.
IRAP-BERKELEY STUDENT AT THE ORGANIZED POST-TRAVEL BAN ACTION AT SFO.
The U.S. resettlement program is the largest in the world and premised on the notion of strength in diversity. In working through and advocating for this resettlement program, we aim to embody the best of American values. As a result, IRAP is on the front lines of the fight against anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, and anti-Muslim policies.
We organized this crowd funding campaign to facilitate Berkeley Law's continued participation in IRAP's Middle East trips, which represent an integral component of the larger campus's unwavering commitment to social justice and public service.
THANK YOU!
A personalized thank you card from our board.
Be listed as a donor in the "Special Thanks" portion of our 2018 Beirut report.
Professional copies of the reports we published after our Beirut 2016 and Amman 2017 trips.
Come meet our board in the Bay or schedule a Skype call with us! We'd love to talk about our experiences with IRAP, what we've learned from past trips, and what motivates your interest in IRAP's work.
Attend a February in-person or Skype meet and greet with IRAP students returning from the Beirut 2018 trip. Ask questions about their experiences, hear about the situation from an on-the-ground perspective, and learn more about IRAP's legal and policy work!
