Meet the ACPS Partner: Fresh Start Refugee Assistance Center/Northern Virginia Resettling Afghan Families Together (Fresh Start/ NOVA RAFT)

Fresh Start Refugee Assistance Center/Northern Virginia Resettling Afghan Families Together  (Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT) serves as a model for hope and achievement in a new world. Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT supports newly arrived refugee youth with basic literacy and English skills, while also helping its more advanced students pass their Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments to meet graduation requirements, explore college and career options and even transition to college. Many of the Afghan refugee youth who help run these programs graduated from Alexandria City High School (ACHS) and went on to outstanding universities with full scholarships. 

 

“Through youth literacy initiatives for middle and high school students and adult English courses, Fresh Start /NOVA RAFT supports the educational achievement and cultural integration of Afghan refugees in Alexandria. With that base, they can access more educational opportunities, attain a higher standard of living, and live a more stable family life and higher quality of life and ultimately succeed to achieve the American Dream,” shared Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT Executive Director Daniel Altman.

 

NOVA RAFT was formed as a coalition of religious institutions, concerned neighbors, veterans and local leaders focused on helping to welcome newly-arrived Afghan families to our area. In the first year after the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan in August 2021, NOVA RAFT helped close to 200 families move into the City of Alexandria by furnishing their homes and providing other basic support. Alexandria now has one of the largest concentrations of Afghan refugees in the country with around 2,500 living here today. 

 

“They were a godsend and served as an integral bridge between the school and families. Whether it is furniture for their home, rental support, understanding the medical system, or providing literacy support,” said Francis C. Hammond Middle School (Hammond) Acting Principal and International Academy Academic Principal Tim Brannon.

 

In May 2022, NOVA RAFT and partner Fresh Start began their collaboration to provide adult English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at the William Ramsay Recreation Center. The classes have educated more than 350 students at various levels from phonics to intermediate. Many of the participants in these classes are parents of ACPS students. 

 

By early 2023, Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT provided youth programming and quickly developed a highly collaborative relationship with ACPS, highlighting the challenges faced by Afghan middle and high school students, especially those with interrupted formal education. Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT programs have continued to adapt and grow addressing the evolving needs of Afghan students, their families and their schools.

 

Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT provided over 3,000 hours of academic support to students during the fall of 2025. Approximately 40 students participated in after school tutoring at ACHS, including 13 students who received intensive literacy instruction. Seventeen students received basic literacy instruction at Hammond. Approximately 80 middle and high school students also participated in intensive literacy and academic support programming offered at William Ramsay Recreation Center. During this same timeframe, Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT also offered specialized support to over 40 high school students as they prepared for the Virginia SOLs.

 

Brannon said he was pleased to see Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT include after school reading support at Hammond this academic year, as it expanded its ongoing program. “They connect students with community members and college students who are dedicated to supporting them in their literacy journey. As our students gain literacy skills, their language development accelerates and they have more confidence and success in their classes,” Brannon added.

Volunteers are vital to the mission of Fresh Start/NOVA RAFT, which provides a step up for school success, graduation, employment and admission to higher education. Anyone who is interested in volunteering can sign up at linktr.ee/nova_raft and can contact Development and Partnerships Coordinator Terry Modglin at terry@freshstartrefugee.org for more information.