#RefugeesWelcome: Twilio Is Proud To Answer Obama’s Call To Action, Support Refugees Everywhere

#RefugeesWelcome: Twilio Is Proud To Answer Obama’s Call To Action, Support Refugees Everywhere

Answering The Call To Action

In June, President Obama issued a Call to Action to the private sector to aid refugees around the world. Twilio answered his call to action to increase support of refugees. In September, President Obama graciously took a selfie with the Executive Director of Twilio.org, Erin Reilly.
 
51 companies pledged their help with the refugee crisis as part of the Private Sector Call to Action Roundtable. Twilio is proud to be one of those companies helping to invest, donate and raise over 650 million dollars to fuel refugee assistance.
 
Twilio.org is commited to the #RefugeesWelcome program to help refugees take advantage of opportunities to be self reliant. We’re excited that Tent Alliance will be taking ownership of the Roundtable operations and management in November.
 
The companies committing to aid refugees together will provide support for more than 6.3 million refugees across more than 20 countries.  This includes educational opportunities for over 80,000 refugees, employment opportunities for over 220,000 refugees, and financial inclusion programs for 4 million refugees. These companies will also work with more than 70 refugee-focused NGOs.
 

What This Support Looks Like In Action & How Twilio Customers Empower Refugees

The International Rescue Committee works tirelessly to provide refugees the infrastructure and resources they need to have a bright future. When IRC staff is on the ground helping refugees, they use feature phones as a means to communicate key safety updates. SMS is their lifeline to communicate with IRC headquarters, as well as to provide service alerts to refugees in Iraq.
 
As refugees move into new communities, Twilio customer Whispir powers an organization that uses Twilio SMS to provide appointment reminders for refugees to get safe asylum in host countries.
 
Then as refugees are trying to establish their livelihoods, Urban Refugees provides refugees an SMS-based social network to share information with each other. This grassroots social network is an essential part of refugees’ social fabric for those who live in urban environments trying to focus on their future.
 
Other organizations we will support include GigAware, an all-female team who built an app that helps refugees find tasks they can do to make money and gain financial independence. We will also support Ankara Refugee, based in Turkey, who use SMS to inform over 50,000 refugees about food and donation updates.
 
To be frank, we’re pretty jazzed that Erin Reilly, Executive Director of Twilio.org, met (and took a selfie with) the leader of the free world. But our true focus is on this mission to welcome and support refugees. We are humbled to serve those in need and to continue Twilio.org’s mission of fueling communications that unlock hope, power and freedom.