{"id":43630,"date":"2025-09-21T21:41:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T01:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/?p=43630"},"modified":"2026-08-21T21:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T01:43:09","slug":"pardees-urban-refuge-program-wins-apsia-award-for-community-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/2025\/09\/21\/pardees-urban-refuge-program-wins-apsia-award-for-community-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Pardee\u2019s Urban Refuge Program Wins APSIA Award for Community Building"},"content":{"rendered":"

Urban Refuge, a student-initiated project at BU\u2019s Pardee School, received APSIA\u2019s 2025 Inclusion Award for Community Building<\/a>, recognizing its innovative, tech-driven approach to supporting displaced communities. This category of the APSIA Annual Awards recognizes initiatives that connect different groups and elevate a sense of community. Launched in 2021, these awards<\/a> celebrate members of the APSIA society who are pushing the envelope in \u201cthe field of professionally-focused international affairs education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Pardee School\u2019s Urban Refuge program, which began as a student-driven classroom project,<\/a> has grown into a nationally recognized initiative that connects displaced communities with essential resources. It was launched in 2016 by students enrolled in a \u201cForced Migration Policy Incubator\u201d course taught by<\/span>\u00a0Noora Lori<\/a>, Associate Professor of International Relations and Director of the Middle East \u2013 North Africa (MENA) Initiative.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead of drafting policy memos, students were challenged to envision digital tools that could directly support refugees. Working remotely with six peers from Syria and Jordan in Amman, Pardee students designed an app aimed at \u201cputting aid on the map.\u201d The app, which featured a geocoded, user-friendly platform, empowered refugees to easily locate essential services such as education, healthcare, legal aid, housing, employment, and financial assistance. Their project, named Urban Refuge<\/em> (or Daleel<\/em> in Arabic), culminated in a pitch deck, an app blueprint, and a database of over 200 organizations. By 2016, the team had raised nearly $18,000 from 181 donors through a BU Crowdfunding campaign<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Pro-bono support from Microsoft software engineers, and early funding from BU\u2019s Hariri Institute for Computing<\/strong> and the Initiative on Cities helped transform this idea into a registered nonprofit. Over time, Urban Refuge expanded its impact through strong leadership from students and alumni, engaging multiple disciplines across BU.<\/div>\n
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Last year, the Urban Refuge team participated in <\/span>BostonHacks<\/span><\/i><\/a>, one of the largest\u00a0 hackathon events in the city. The Pardee Executive Board of Urban Refuge including students Emma Galletta (MGP \u201924), Seynedhee Avenie (MAIA \u201925), Daria Kosack (BA IR \u201925), Soumyaa Mathur (BA IR \u201925), and Isabella Chaparro Will (BA IR \u201926) oversaw the challenge, guiding participating students to develop a platform featuring GIS-based data for real-time mapping, user privacy, and community-driven updates for long-term sustainability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 2025, the program received the Inclusion Award for Community Building from the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), recognizing its innovative, technology-driven approach that translates academic expertise on migration and humanitarian issues into practical solutions. Under current CEO Daria Kosack (BA IR \u201925),Urban Refuge continues to grow, fostering collaboration and advancing support for marginalized communities locally and globally.<\/div>\n
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Learn more about this exciting program in this story<\/a> on Boston University<\/span> Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies website.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Urban Refuge, a student-initiated project at BU\u2019s Pardee School, received APSIA\u2019s 2025 Inclusion Award for Community Building, recognizing its innovative, tech-driven approach to supporting displaced communities. This category of the APSIA Annual Awards recognizes initiatives that connect different groups and elevate a sense of community. Launched in 2021, these awards celebrate members of the APSIA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11716,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43630"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43632,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43630\/revisions\/43632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}