Eftin
Background and Purpose
Eftin was established in 2002, primarily to serve African immigrant families in Dakota County. Eftin means "enlightenment" in the Somali language. Eftin was created to address the lack of cultural supports and bilingual mental health and educational services geared to immigrant children and their families in suburban communities.
Eftin's mission is to strengthen and empower immigrant families. Eftin's current programs include:
- Youth Services - Provide after-school enrichment and culturally based counseling for refugee/immigrant students in suburban Dakota County;
- Family Advocacy - Connect refugee/immigrant African families to supportive community resources and when needed create direct services in response to unmet needs;
- Community Advocacy and Education - Design culturally appropriate educational materials for law enforcement and educational institutions and act as a cultural resource to the larger community.
Eftin is working in collaboration with Leadership, Empowerment and Development Group (LEAD), an African immigrant agency that serves as a catalyst for new collaborative efforts between and among African-led nonprofits and mainstream agencies and institutions. LEAD provides community organizing, assistance with needs assessments and assistance with evaluation of Eftin's programs.
Current Request
The Immigrant Student Achieving Program works with Somali and Liberian students from grades K-7 in the Burnsville school district. The program provides these students access to skilled tutors, academic support, test preparation skills, and skills development in problem solving, social interaction and communications.
Program goals are to improve student academic achievement, reduce school suspensions and intervene to reduce the dropout rate for Somalian youth. The program has operated primarily using volunteers.
During the past year a total of 145 students and their families have benefited from Eftin's Immigrant Student Achieving program. Eftin is requesting a grant to add paid staff. The majority of the funds requested will be used to pay the salary of the full-time Youth Coordinator and 0.20 of the salary of the Executive Director to recruit volunteers for the program and work with parents.