Building Peaceful Bridges (BPB) is excited to welcome Roya Hakakian at our next Reading Refuge Book Club, Wednesday, August 25th at 7:00 pm to discuss her latest book, A Beginners Guide to America:  For the Immigrant and the Curious. Roya, a former refugee from Iran, is also the author of Assassins of the Turquoise Palace and Journey from […]

Jan SchakowskyBuilding Peaceful Bridges (BPB) is excited to welcome Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky at our Learning Luncheon on Wednesday, September 8th at 12:00 p.m. CST in a discussion about critical issues affecting refugees. Registration is required (see below). BPB hosts educational luncheons listening to refugee stories and “knowledge experts” speak on immigration and refugee programs.

Language is the key, opening the door to success for new immigrants.Building Peaceful Bridges (BPB) is delighted to host Evanston Township High School’s (ETHS) World Languages and Bilingual Department Chair, Rachel D’Onofrio, and ESL Teacher, Katie Kelly, to speak about the Bilingual Education Program at ETHS. This Virtual Quarterly Luncheon will be held on Monday […]

Register for the Annual Benefit (You will be sent a Zoom link prior to the event) Call to Action Support five newly arrived Afghan families. Affordable Housing Fund var fundraising_thermometer_804 = {"layout":"1","fill-color":"rgba(17, 174, 166, 1)","goal-amount":"20000","progress-amount":"6000","show-goal-amount":"1","show-progress-percentage":"1","show-progress-amount":"1","animate-progress-fill":"1"};

Housing Challenges for Afghan Newcomers.Join us for a panel discussion on the housing issues that face the new influx of Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders and evacuees from Afghanistan. As hundreds of new Afghan evacuees are welcomed to the Chicagoland area, housing has emerged as the most difficult part of the resettlement process. Added to […]

Building Peaceful Bridges (BPB) is excited to welcome Bela Suhayda at our next Reading Refuge Book Club, Wednesday, March 30th at 7:00 pm to discuss his book, From Tyranny to Liberty, A Personal Story. Bela authored From Tyranny to Liberty, a harrowing story of his family's escape from their Hungarian homeland after the Communist Russia invasion […]

Reading Refuge Book Club: "We Are Displaced" by Malala Yousafzai. We are excited to welcome Zaynab Abdi, a young woman who was born in Somalia, grew up in Yemen and is now a U.S. citizen. She will join us to discuss We are Displaced, by Malala Yousafzai. Zaynab is one of the young women who […]

Addressing Trauma in Newcomer ChildrenChildren who have escaped traumatic situations such as war, government collapse, famine, and persecution are at heightened risk for emotional instability. Amy Hill, LCSW, will address the cause and effect of traumatic events on refugee and asylum-seeking youth. Many of our BPB families and other newcomers experience PTSD in their resettlement […]

Building Peaceful Bridges (BPB) is excited to welcome Dr. Wendy Pearlman at our next book club meeting on Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. CST. Dr. Pearlman will lead our discussion about her book, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria, which was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal. The Syrian crisis […]