In the News

The article about RAA in this special edition of Gables Living tells the story of how a small, grassroots community volunteer organization grew out of Coral Gables into a South Florida non profit.

Read this insightful article published in two parts by Law 360 for which Kristen Bloom, RAA’s President and Founder was interviewed.

RAA President and Founder, Kristen Bloom, was interviewed for an article that came out in 9/22 about the complex and complicated housing crisis as it relates to refugees.

Jamie Scotti-Everett, our Executive Director, was interviewed by the Miami New Times. Read the article here.

Our founder, Kristen Bloom, was featured in FAWCO Inspiring Women. Check it out on page 7.

The State of Florida is set to become a safe haven of sorts for a large group of refugees fleeing Afghanistan. Kristen Bloom is the Founder and Executive Director of Refugee Assistance Alliance.

“We will see some refugees from Afghanistan coming to South Florida. We are trying to beef up our services because we know this huge influx is coming,” Bloom said.

Refugee Assistance Alliance helps refugee families once they are in place in South Florida.Read more here.

Check out Kristen, our founder on this past panel. The World Affairs Council of Miami with partners, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), The Refugee Assistance Alliance and Global Ties Miami, presents a dialogue during Welcoming Week, a program of Welcoming America, about the efforts to assist and welcome refugees.

The Biden-Harris Administration Must Pay Attention to Community-Based Organizations to Rebuild Our Refugee Resettlement Program

We are in the worst refugee crisis in world history. More than 80 million people worldwide, or have been forced to flee their home due to war, violence, persecution, and human rights violations. To put that number in perspective, 20 people are newly displaced every minute. Refugees make up 26 million of those who are displaced around the world. Less than 1% of refugees worldwide are offered resettlement.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristen Bloom and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristen, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

In early 2017, a friend invited me to attend a Syrian Supper Club dinner. At the dinner I was surrounded by people who wanted to extend a warm welcome to the newly arrived Syrian refugees in our community, and I immediately felt at home among the people in attendance. The refugees who cooked the meal that night said they really needed help learning English. I have a lot of experience teaching English as a Second Language, so I quickly volunteered.

With nine moves in just the last 15 years – to places as vastly different as Japan and Alabama – Kristen Bloom knows something about dislocation. So when she and her family landed in South Florida in 2017, and she came to know people within the Syrian refugee community there – and became familiar with their struggles adjusting to new lives and realities – it was natural her connection and sensitivity would move her to do something.

The coronavirus pandemic started off with a bang, leaving parents everywhere scrambling to figure out how to work while having their kids suddenly at home, how to navigate endless virtual learning programs, and how to keep their families safe as the information unfolded.

This is the second in our series featuring nonprofit leaders who offer an informed perspective on the current refugee crisis, immigration and refugee resettlement, voter education, and the effect of the pandemic on the lives of black women survivors of domestic abuse. Kristen Bloom is the founder and Executive Director of Refugee Assistance Alliance.

Meet the eight founding members of the Hello Neighbor Network, leading women from the grassroots Network bios and Q&A by Jordan Chepke In its inaugural year, the Hello Neighbor Network kicked off with eight incredible women leaders from across the nation coming together to share resources, ideas, and learn alongside one another.

As the global refugee crisis has increased, the United States has begun to strongly debate immigration policies and the arrival of immigrants and refugees in our country. The U.S. travel ban, separation of children from their families at the U.S. border and overcrowded immigration detention centers have all increased the attention and heated debate surrounding this issue.

Today we'd like to introduce you to Kristen Bloom. Thanks for sharing your story with us Kristen. So, let's start at the beginning and we can move on from there. I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. I never moved a day in my life until the day I left for college in...

Read the announcement and learn more about Hello Neighbor Network.

South Florida has long been known as a haven for refugees and migrants. Widely referred to as the “gateway to Latin America”, 1 in every 5 Florida residents is an immigrant. Significantly, the “sunshine state” welcomes 1,000 new settlers every day.

RAA president and founder Kristen Bloom knows a thing or two about adjusting to a new life. As a young mother in a military family, Bloom moved from Washington, D.C. to San Antonio to Peru to Oklahoma to Japan, back to San Antonio, then to Mississippi and Miami…

South Florida is known for welcoming those fleeing economic and political strife in their homeland. Cubans, Venezuelans and Haitians arrive to an already established community with a shared language and culture.

But what about those refugees that come to South Florida from other parts of the world less represented in our area, like Syria?

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