MEDIA RESOURCES
PRERNA serves refugee families in the Santa Clara and Alameda Counties of northern California and we engage with our partners who are international organizations with similar missions to help with refugee resettlement in the United States.
Our founder, Meena Sankaran, and PRERNA’s board members are available to provide information and interviews about our programs to assist refugee families with rebuilding their lives in the Bay Area. We invite you to contact us to talk about the issues and policies that impact the people we serve.
PRERNA OVERVIEW VIDEO
PRERNA’s mission is to help refugees across all ethnicities and faiths become independent, productive citizens. In this short four-minute video, learn about the continuum of services we provide to refugees, including cultural assimilation programs for up to five years as needed by the families. Listen to our founder, Meena Sankaran, talk about her beginnings in India and why she dedicated her life to help others. Be inspired and consider joining PRERNA to empower more local refugee families to thrive in the Bay Area. Watch this video.
This flyer provides an overview of PRERNA and our mission to empower refugee families to become self-sufficient, contributing members of society. See the types of services we offer from “soup to nuts” including housing assistance, supplies, healthcare referrals, education support, tutoring, employment counseling, financial and legal aid. Learn how to get involved and join the conversation to support refugees in our community. Download the flyer.
The report highlights PRERNA’s work in 2016. It describes the refugee families we helped, the services we provided and how we allocate our resources. Take a look to see some of the partners who we work with in the areas of education, employment, healthcare and more. Learn why it is important for our community to help refugees and how PRERNA steps in with a multi-year continuum basis of services and support to make their journey towards self-sufficiency in their new homes. Download a copy of this report.
Are you curious about the history of PRERNA and what are the essential services we provide to refugees? Or maybe, you just want to better understand who is a refugee and what the vetting process is for them to be accepted into the United States. In this set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), we ask and answer 17 of the most common questions. Learn how PRERNA is funded and how our organization is set up to achieve our mission to help refugees become self-sustaining, engaged members of our community. If you are interested in making a difference, find out the various ways you can get involved. Download a copy of our FAQs.
As the founder and executive director of PRERNA, Meena Sankaran is passionate about social causes. A technologist and social entrepreneur by career, she has a deep desire to contribute to the wellbeing of the community and feels the need to help the underprivileged to succeed. That is why empowering refugees is a highly personal mission for her. Born and raised in India, Meena immigrated to the United States as a student. Through this firsthand experience, she has a comprehensive understanding of the difficulties involved in moving to a new country. From her many years working with refugees, Meena realized the critical need to help people who are forced to travel and move to foreign countries. Download a copy of our Founder‘s Story.
Meena is the Founder and Executive Director of PRERNA and a social entrepreneur who has built several startup businesses in Silicon Valley. She started as an independent volunteer helping refugees in 2006 in Arizona. For over 10 years, she built PRERNA into a successful program by working qualitatively as the only refugee service provider in the U.S. with the intent to making refugees independent and productive through continual support over a duration of time. PRERNA achieved 501(c)3 status in 2015 while kickstarting efforts in Silicon Valley. The non-profit currently serves around 150+ new refugees in California and supports refugees settled by PRERNA previously in Arizona, Ohio and New York. Download a copy of Meena’s biography.
FAMOUS REFUGEES IN THE U.S.
The United States has a long history and tradition of offering refuge to those fleeing persecution and war. Refugees have enriched our country as well as countless others through their contributions to the arts, sciences and humanities. Here is a short list of famous refugees who have resettled in the U.S. and have made the world a better place. With our support, refugees can go on to thrive and contribute in their new countries in many different ways. How many of these artists, scientists, authors, corporate and government leaders who were once refugees do you recognize? Download a copy of Famous Refugees in the U.S.