About Us

Becoming Alight

We are and always have been about amazing global citizens taking action to change our world. Forty years ago, Chicago businessman Neal Ball recruited a volunteer relief team who deployed to the Thai-Cambodian border. Even in the face of terrible tragedy, that first team was characterized by their incredible energy and belief that anything was possible.

In 2019, we took the next big step on a journey to unleash and put into action that same abundant belief. American Refugee Committee became Alight. We’re the same organization with the same people doing the same critical work – providing health care and clean water, shelter, protection, and economic opportunity to more than 3.5 million people in 19 countries each year. But in solidarity with the people we serve who are too often defined by a single dark moment in their lives, we’ve dropped the label ‘refugee.’

Alight sees and helps every person make meaningful change in the world – from displaced and marginalized communities in Africa, Asia and the Americas to…anyone, anywhere.

Our Purpose

Alight exists to inspire and unleash the abundance in every person.

We’re becoming an organization that sees possibility instead of scarcity, that provides services truly worthy of human beings instead of just ‘good enough.’ From the people we serve to the people who serve alongside us, our purpose is to unlock limitless potential, together. That’s when abundance happens.

What We Do

We build a meaningful life for and with the displaced. When we find people displaced from their homes, countries, or lives, our instinct may be to focus only on their basic needs. And that is essential. But it’s also not a life. A life is filled with joy, dignity, connection, and purpose. And that’s what we aim to build.

We are an open family of organizations that works closely with refugees, trafficked persons, and economic migrants, to co-design solutions that help them build full and fulfilling lives – lives that are Alight.