A World Where
informed immigrants integrate seamlessly and bolster the communities that embrace them.
About Us
Our Mission
Our Mission
Our Mission
We focus on making the maximum positive effort for our community. Our members and volunteers provide the momentum that helps us affect change. The mission of Embracing Diversity is to help immigrants find self-sufficiency and significance through education and counsel.
Our Story
Our Mission
Our Mission
Seeing a need for energetic, nonprofit work in this area, we formed our organization to provide sensible solutions. Now launching in our second state, it's all thanks to the helping hands of our amazing communities!
Our Team
Our Mission
Our Team
Our amazing team of regulars and part-time volunteers are committed to helping others. We take our convictions and turn them into action. Think you would be a good fit? See our form below for more information!
Our Values
Core values of Embracing Diversity
DIVERSITY
Embracing Diversity encourages integration. We believe that arrivals and their posterity have a need to maintain their cultural identity while adjusting productively into the receiving community.
EDUCATION
Embracing Diversity seeks to educate potential immigrants on the realities of their pre-migration endeavors and their post-migration existence, so that wise decisions can be made concerning their migration. The hope is that those who are prepared to immigrant can do so legally and can contribute greatly to their new country of residence.
SUPPORT
Embracing Diversity offers support for new arrivals as they adjust to life in the receiving community. Support is offered with the intent that each arrival will have the necessary tools for success in their receiving communities. Our aim is that their need for support will gradually decline but that we will remain present as needed.
CULTURAL EMPOWERMENT
Embracing Diversity inspires an environment in which immigration done wisely empowers the receiving community.
Inspired by a Diverse World
After living for 10 months in Peru
...and working about 5 years in the Social Work field, our founder had seen a common thread among her friends and clients. Their stories were full of hard work, passion, and zeal. Some were full of heartbreak and unavoidable experiences. Others were tainted with uninformed decisions and unrealistic expectations of life in the US. Others were stories of success after navigating a complex system, while being detached from all that is familiar.
One such story is as follows.
Kaye G. was a Mental Health Counselor in her country of origin and was hopeful to continue this profession in the United States. When she arrived, she realized that she would need a new degree and a license in order to practice. In the midst of moving to a new country, recently getting married, and trying to navigate her new life, completing the process toward a license was not a practical or financial possibility. When she approached other fields, she found the same hurdle. She found that licensing, or some sort of credentialing, was needed for almost any career.
She was also unfamiliar with processes in the US, like the process of obtaining a loan from a US bank. She quickly discovered that this process would limit the funds she could invest in a home that was located in a safe community. She also could not send her child to the school of her choice because she was limited to the school in her district. In her country of origin, she was able to freely choose which school she wanted her child to attend. These are all aspects of life that she was unaware of before moving, and these are all conundrums that can be easily avoided.
When asked if the move was worth it, her answer was two-fold. She was hesitant to be straightforward but shook her head, “No.” However, she stated that she feels safer here. And her daughter, who has lived in both countries, prefers life in the U.S. and feels that there are greater opportunities for her future here. These positives make the move worthwhile.
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Byron was a father, who had legally established a nice life for himself and his family. They had a nice home and vehicles. They were satisfied with the school their child attended. But the processes of obtaining the “American Dream” were much more strenuous than they would have been in their country of origin. This, along with other issues, was causing stress on the family and on the marriage. The father stated that if he had known how stressful life would be, he “would not have come.”
Embracing Diversity believes that immigration done wisely can enhance the life of the immigrant and empower the receiving community. People who are steadfast and hardworking have made America the pillar that she is today, and they can help continue this trend. Embracing Diversity, Inc. seeks to help the immigrants achieve their dreams and to inherently invest in a community wise enough to receive them.
Our Team
Executive Director
Treasurer & Marketing Director Board Member
Treasurer & Marketing Director Board Member
Ravin Cline founded Embracing Diversity so that the organization could be a bridge and beacon to individuals striving to immigrate to the United States. She believes that if Embracing Diversity influences the pre-immigration, immigration, and post-immigration experiences of those individuals, it could offer a beneficial experience to immigrants and to the communities in which they live and contribute.
Treasurer & Marketing Director Board Member
Treasurer & Marketing Director Board Member
Treasurer & Marketing Director Board Member
Alan Grove is the Director for undergraduate leadership development for a national fraternity. In this role, he gets to implement his passion for equipping people from all kinds of backgrounds to recognize who they are, and how they can utilize their influence for positive change in the world. Previous to this position, he worked in the start-up world. This started in video production before a transition to a community development organization and church, focused on starting social enterprises and on cross-sector continuum of care collaboration.
Secretary and Programming Director
Treasurer & Marketing Director Board Member
Secretary and Programming Director
Cheri Leigh-Erasmus moved to the Washington, D.C. area from South Africa in 2013 she has been actively involved in numerous nonprofit organizations focused on education and leadership development. Having moved internationally herself, she identifies with the challenges immigrants face and understands their needs. She is a consummate professional with a plethora of expertise and a passion to see others succeed.
Advisory Board Member
Advisory Board Member
Secretary and Programming Director
Anthony D. Bobo, Jr. has worked in public policy and leadership development for over 25 years. When asked about his “Why” he shares, “I live to work with others and to help them accomplish their best. Whether the Director of a federal agency or the middle school student, everyone deserves to see the best in, around, and through them. My desire is to help make that happen.” He uses these skills and abilities as Senior Associate and Founder of The Joseph Factor Group, a partnership committed to helping bring to realization the Ultimate purpose of businesses, communities, and churches.
Advisory Board Member
Advisory Board Member
Advisory Board Member
Mark E. Bobo has worked in the banking industry for 8 years. He has served tirelessly as a leader within the education system for the past 4 years. He has extensive experience in grant acquisition, funding, management, and leadership. He is also a family man. He and his family reside in Ohio.
Accountant
Advisory Board Member
Advisory Board Member
Melissa Moses (Lake Worth, FL)
was a single mother and accountant for over 20 years. When she is not busy crunching the numbers, she is spending quality time with family and friends. Melissa looks forwards to helping create a diverse world.
Help Our Cause
Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals and improve conditions. Your generous donation will fund our mission.
MORE TESTIMONIALS
April
April is one of the students we tutored. She was a 4th grader. Like Amy, English is not her first language. She was an English Language Learner with learning disabilities. She had been held back in the third grade. She participated in our reading and comprehension program for English Language Learners as well as the TALKS mentoring program. I was her ELL tutor. The first few weeks, she struggled greatly in reading and comprehension. She could not read or pronounce many of the words, which caused her to read very slowly and to become very frustrated. Because she had to stop so frequently, her energy was mostly spent on getting through the paragraphs, and her understanding of the text was challenged. However, within about 3 sessions, she started to improve. And with time, she could read and understand simultaneously. Sounding out the words became less difficult. And she didn’t require as much time or assistance to complete the assignments. April wants to be a teacher. During her free time, she told me that she enjoys watching the news and staying current with events. A very wise girl for her age. Her teacher tells me that she has “grown beautifully.” She has endurance like Amy and Elaine. She is confident and knows her potential.
From a Repeat Tutor
I began working on reading with some of the children at PPES this semester. It’s been a real pleasure to watch them gain confidence in their reading skills, and to watch them open up as the semester progressed. One young man has a real talent for art. And another young lady loves science and thinks it would be wonderful to be an astronaut. One student even thinks she would make a good President one day! Their comments about the stories we read are very revealing. And I love the fact that they are gaining such confidence in themselves. It’s wonderful to see administration and instructors working so hard to help them succeed. Hopefully these programs can be expanded to help more students.
Snippet from another tutor last year
how grateful I am to have had the privilege to get to know these wonderful students and fantastic teachers and office staff!
I was assigned a student in the third grade and two in the fifth grade. The third grade student has done excellent from the beginning. I have rarely had to correct her pronunciation although at times she could pronounce the word but did not know the meaning. Her reasoning skills are good and she figures out the meaning in the context of the story. She has been a delight!
The other two students are twins! They came in with a lot less confidence although both knew more than they showed they did. I spoke Spanish with them both at the beginning just to get the nerves under control. Then they were comfortable and glad they could ask a question in their language if they did not understand. I rarely needed to speak Spanish at all after that.
Their lack of confidence seemed to slow them down with moving ahead to the next lesson. One day we did two lessons instead of one and the young boy was thrilled he did two lessons. So I asked if he wanted to try to do another lesson. He saw it as a challenge. This seemed to build his confidence to the point of not stopping after every word to ask if it was correct or not. They both needed a lot of positive and continual feedback. But once they realized they could do it without stopping, they have done really well. I’m so glad to see them so proud of their progress!"
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