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US Fulbrighter Jean Guo and the SINGA Team Meet with Deputy Secretary Anthony Blinken

04/03/2016 - Meetings

Fulbright Scholar Jean Guo joined staff and volunteers of SINGA, a French NGO whose mission is to further the integration of refugees into French society by using innovative technology, in a meeting with Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken on March 4th. Recognizing that the majority of refugees today have access to a smartphone or computer, SINGA focuses on developing simple, web-based tools to address both immediate and long-term needs. Its first project, an app called CALM (“Comme A La Maison” or “Just Like Home”) matches refugees requiring housing with households with a spare room based on the similar interests and professional backgrounds of both the refugee and the host. Another app, WAYA, will allow refugees to search (in different languages) for assistance with needs such as where to sign up for French classes, how to get a driver’s license, how to enroll a child in school, etc. As an active SINGA volunteer, Guo described her work as a mentor (“buddy”) and her efforts to help launch a pilot program with SINGA called Refugeeks, that will provide 6-month intensive coding instruction, with supplementary French language courses and internship placement at the end of the program, for 16 refugees.  

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