In the 1990s, thousands of refugees fled war-torn Sudan hoping to find a safe place to live, work and raise families with dignity, but for many of these refugees, especially the women, war had rendered formal education impossible. As a result, those refugees who came to Middle Tennessee found that resettlement was extremely difficult, and they struggled to find a place where they could learn English and begin their integration. In 2005, a group of these Sudanese men and women, lead by the current President & CEO Gatluak Ter Thach, founded the Sudanese Community & Women’s Services Center with the goal of providing Sudanese refugees the skills they would need to facilitate independence and self-sufficiency. As word spread quickly throughout the refugee and immigrant communities in Nashville, the SCWSC began receiving requests for help from non-Sudanese. Eventually, our mission was amended to meet the needs of the larger refugee and immigrant community, and in the spring of 2010 our name was changed to Nashville International Center for Empowerment, more fully representing the services we provide and the multi-cultural community we serve. Since our founding, NICE has helped more than 7,000 people from 43 nations living in the Nashville area, with most of our clients being of African, Asian and Middle-Eastern descent. We aim to increase our clients’ abilities to effectively read, write, and speak English through our adult and youth education programs, as well as facilitate self-sufficiency and integration through employment and resettlement services. These programs are offered to legal permanent residents with refugee, ayslee, or immigrant statuses. Fundamental to the mission of NICE is the elimination of the root causes of poverty within greater Nashville’s refugee and immigrant community, the creation of opportunities for upward socioeconomic mobility, and the social integration of those it serves. Clients are encouraged and even challenged to think beyond their current circumstances and discuss long-term goals. NICE makes every effort to establish the foundation necessary to achieve these goals by placing clients in educational and employment environments that are conducive to ultimate success.
