Ascentria Care Alliance: Defining Success for the Refugee Client

Project Sponsor

Ascentria Care Alliance, formerly known as Lutheran Social Services of New England, is a non-profit organization providing social services to those in need. They are based out of Worcester, Massachusetts, with extensions throughout New England. Ascentria was founded in 1872 and is one of the oldest social service agencies in New England. They are also one of the largest with over 1,400 employees serving over 20,000 people per year. (Saia, Worcester Business Journal, 2014)
Please check out Ascentria’s website!

Student Researchers

About Our Project

People have always been displaced by war, persecution, religion, famine and drought, but the response to these displaced people or refugees, has been sporadic. People were often left to the mercy of their homeland and whatever government was in place. Over time organizations, such as Ascentria Care Alliance, have developed programs to assist these new Americans but there are still improvements to be made. It is still extremely difficult for refugees to become integrated into a new community and this puts limitations on an individual’s success.

Our project explored the metrics for successful integration into society. With these important factors identified, organizations like Ascentria will be able to better tailor their services to maximize the impact for their clients.