Fugees Family Inc has announced a gift of $10 million from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to help expand the organization’s school model to 50 U.S. school districts over the next five years. 

The largest gift in the 16-year history of the organization, which works to educate refugee and immigrant youth new to life in the United States, will be used to scale its model in school districts across the country by helping address the urgent need for education reform and to shift the nation’s narrative on refugees. To that end, Fugees Family aims to help its students—all of whom speak little to no English upon arrival in the U.S.—register fluency advances up to 250 percent faster than the national average. 

“As thousands of new refugees seek safety among us, we must do more than parcel out sympathy and charity,” said Fugees Family founder and CEO Luma Mufleh. “To the children among them, especially, we owe safe spaces to heal, to learn, and to grow. That is why Fugees exists, and we are grateful to MacKenzie Scott for helping us accelerate expanding our program across the country.” 

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