Read our Annual Report from 2022 and learn more about JNRC’s mission, services and long-term projects.
The Joel Nafuma Refugee Center (JNRC) works with diverse groups – from refugees to volunteers, donors, and students.
Operating in the crypt of St. Paul’s Within the Walls Episcopal Church in the heart of Rome, Italy, the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center (JNRC) is a day center for refugees and asylum seekers to relax, learn, and receive advice in order to achieve their goals.
As most of our guests are homeless refugees and asylum seekers sleeping in parks and main stations around the city, the JNRC offers a holistic approach with services from basic supplies, a relaxing atmosphere, legal and social advice, employment clinics, to language and skills courses, for nearly 250 people each day. We seek to address both the urgent needs of those just arriving to Rome, as well as the needs of those seeking to settle in Rome.
In addition to our work with Rome’s refugees and asylum seekers, we work with others in the global community interested in learning about our services and mission through service learning, volunteer, and intern programs, and host events to celebrate the rich cultural diversity of our beneficiaries.
The generosity of our diverse partners, supporters, and volunteers make our work possible. The backgrounds from which they come are as varied and diverse as the guests they serve.
How We Work
Faithful and respectful
Since the beginning, hospitality has been expressed towards forced migrants regardless of faith, tradition, or race. While located in St. Paul’s Within the Walls Episcopal Church, and grounded in living out Christian values, the faith traditions of the JNRC guests are respected and no attempt is made to proselytize.
Similarly, the center has always, and will continue, to welcome the help of all who wish to serve their fellow human beings without bias.
“I am a Shia Muslim and many of these men are Sunni. Shias and Sunnis are at war around the world. In my country, there has been a constant war of one kind or another for 34 years, but those who gather here are tired of fighting and respect this center as a place for peace.”
—Joel Nafuma Refugee Center guest from Afghanistan
It is our hope that the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center will continue to remain a sanctuary for political refugees in the heart of Rome for years to come.