Alight

{{Short description|International nonprofit organization}} {{about|the nonprofit organization|the consulting company|Alight Solutions}}

{{Multiple issues| {{more citations needed|date=February 2015}} {{Update|date=February 2025}} {{Primary sources|date=February 2025}} {{AI-generated|date=February 2026}} }} {{Infobox organization | name = Alight  | headquarters = Minneapolis, Minnesota, US | type = Non-governmental | status = Non-profit | region_served = Worldwide | fields = Humanitarian aid | purpose = We build a meaningful life for and with the displaced. | established = {{start date and age|1978}} | revenue = $67.2 million<ref name="2020 report">{{cite web |url=https://wearealight.org/annual_reports/Annual_Report_2020.pdf |title=Annual Report 2020 |author=Alight |date=2021 |website=Alight|access-date=28 February 2022}}</ref> | revenue_year = 2020 | expenses = $68.1 million<ref name="2020 report" /> | expenses_year = 2020 | former_name = American Refugee Committee | website = {{URL|https://wearealight.org/}} }}

'''Alight''', formerly the '''American Refugee Committee''' ('''ARC'''), is an international nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that provides humanitarian assistance to refugees and host communities affected by conflict, displacement, and humanitarian crises. The organization was founded in 1978 and adopted the name Alight in 2019.

Alight operates programs in multiple countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. Its activities typically include primary health services, WASH, protection programming, and livelihoods-related support for refugees, internally displaced persons, and surrounding communities. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Alight: Who We Are |url=https://www.wearealight.org/who-we-are |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=www.wearealight.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Alight: Where we work |url=https://www.wearealight.org/where-we-work |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=www.wearealight.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fasih |first=Fatima |date=2023-06-23 |title=‘Doing the Doable’: How Alight Helps 4M Displaced People a Year & How Businesses Can Become Allies |url=https://sustainablebrands.com/read/alight-helps-displaced-people-businesses-can-become-allies |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=Sustainable Brands |language=en}}</ref>

Alight incorporates a co-creation approach in its humanitarian programs, involving displaced people and host communities in the design and adaptation of services. This approach draws on human-centered design principles and emphasizes direct participation by community members in shaping program activities and service delivery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Co–creation: a key pathway towards inclusive development |url=https://www.usglc.org/blog/co-creation-a-key-pathway-towards-inclusive-development/ |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=USGLC |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dignity through dialogue: redefining language in humanitarian aid |url=https://odihpn.org/en/publication/dignity-through-dialogue-redefining-language-in-humanitarian-aid/ |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=Humanitarian Practice Network |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==History== Chicago businessman Neal Ball founded the American Refugee Committee in 1978.<ref>https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alight-welcomes-social-innovator-jocelyn-wyatt-as-new-ceo-301383221.html</ref>

[[File:Cambodian medics at Nong Samet Refugee Camp.jpg|350px|thumb|right|Cambodian medics trained by Alight at Nong Samet Refugee Camp, May 1984]] One of ARC's first programs opened at Khao-I-Dang refugee camp in Thailand in late 1979.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=learn_pub_brailebook |title=Louis Braile, ''We Shared the Peeled Orange: the letters of "Papa Louis" from the Thai-Cambodian Border Refugee Camps, 1981-1993.'' Saint Paul, Syren Book Co., 2005. |access-date=2009-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705100112/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=learn_pub_brailebook |archive-date=2010-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ARC also provided medical and public health services at Nong Samet Refugee Camp,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.websitesrcg.com/border/documents/ARC-Report-Nong-Samet-1983.pdf |title=ARC 1983 Annual Report, pp. 4-8. |access-date=2010-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717135257/http://www.websitesrcg.com/border/documents/ARC-Report-Nong-Samet-1983.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Phanat Nikhom,<ref>Committee for the Coordination of Displaced Persons in Thailand. ''The CCSDPT handbook: Refugee Services in Thailand.'' Bangkok: Craftsman Press, 1983, p. 49.</ref> Ban Vinai Refugee Camp<ref>CCSDPT, p. 51.</ref> and Site Two Refugee Camp until 1993, when the camps closed and ARC turned its attention to programs inside Cambodia. ARC later provided health, sanitation and laboratory services at Khao Phlu Refugee Camp from 1997 until 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NGOs in the Thai / Cambodian Border Refugee Camps|url=http://www.websitesrcg.com/border/NGO.html|access-date=2021-09-11|website=www.websitesrcg.com}}</ref><ref>[http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2618800.html Virginia Morrison, "Contraceptive Need Among Cambodian Refugees in Khao Phlu Camp," International Family Planning Perspectives Volume 26, Number 4, December 2000, 188-192.]</ref>

Alight became the organization's new name on June 21, 2019.

==Projects==

===Program areas{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}===

*Agriculture & Food Security<ref>{{Cite web |last=Timar-Wilcox |first=Estelle |date=2025-10-31 |title=Halloween fundraiser seeks to help immigrants buy food, as SNAP benefit lapse looms |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/10/31/halloween-fundraiser-seeks-to-help-immigrants-buy-food-as-snap-benefit-lapse-looms |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=MPR News |language=en}}</ref> *Refugee and IDP Camp Management<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alight: Famine declared in Sudan |url=https://www.wearealight.org/news/famine-declared-in-sudan?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=www.wearealight.org |language=en}}</ref> *Capacity building and Training *Community Development *Community Health Education *Community Reconciliation and Reintegration *Disaster Preparedness *Disease Prevention and Control *Emergency Health Care *Emergency Obstetrics *Gender-based violence Prevention and Response *HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment *Immunizations *Income Generation *Infectious Disease Prevention *Legal Assistance *Microenterprise Development *Microfinance *Maternal-Child Health Care *Primary Health Care *Protection of Vulnerable Groups *Psychosocial Support *Rapid Emergency Response *Refugee Return and Reintegration *Reproductive Health Care *Savings and Loans Associations *Shelter Construction and Rehabilitation *Small Business and Vocational Training *Sports and Recreation Programs *''Through Our Eyes'' Participatory Video Communication<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=successstories_ThroughOurEyes%20 |title=ARC Through Our Eyes program |access-date=2010-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717005303/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=successstories_ThroughOurEyes%20 |archive-date=2011-07-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=VideoThroughOurEyes |title=Through Our Eyes program video |access-date=2010-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705100927/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=VideoThroughOurEyes |archive-date=2010-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> *Water supply and Sanitation Services<ref>[http://www.arcrelief.org/annual_reports/Annual_Report_2008.pdf ARC 2008 Annual Report, pp. 19.]</ref>

Alight has humanitarian programs and provides medical care, shelter, protection services, clean water, community development support, microloans, and help for women who have suffered violence, as well as other opportunities to help refugees.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our Work|url=https://wearealight.org/our-work/|url-status=dead|access-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704063157/http://wearealight.org/our-work/|archive-date=2019-07-04}}</ref>

In 2010, Alight had programs in Africa in Liberia,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_liberia |title=ARC Liberia |access-date=2010-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705090627/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_liberia |archive-date=2010-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Sierra Leone,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_sierraleone |title=ARC Sierra Leone |access-date=2010-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705092447/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_sierraleone |archive-date=2010-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Haiti.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crann |first=Tom |date=2010-02-19 |title=Relief efforts in Haiti still a struggle |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/02/19/haiti-arcupdate |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=MPR News |language=en}}</ref> At some time, they also had programs in Sudan,<ref>https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/02/28/life-saving-medical-care-in-jeopardy-as-usaid-cancels-contracts-with-minneapolis-agency</ref> Darfur,<ref>https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/child-malnutrition-surges-as-resources-dwindle-in-south-darfur-camp</ref> Uganda,<ref>https://allafrica.com/stories/202505140258.html</ref> Rwanda<ref>https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/29077/news/featured/alight-rwanda-marks-world-humanitarian-day-with-call-to-do-more-with-less</ref>

In Asia, Alight programs are concentrated in Pakistan<ref>[http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_pakistan ARC Pakistan]</ref> and in Thailand.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_Thailand |title=ARC Thailand |access-date=2010-07-02 |archive-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814044255/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_Thailand |url-status=dead }}</ref> In Pakistan, Alight has recently been working with to help civilians who have fled fighting between the government and the Taliban in northwest Pakistan. Alight also responded to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, providing relief services in Sri Lanka and Indonesia and a Fishing Boat Project in Thailand.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_PR_3_10_06_a |title="ARC's Fishing Boat Project: One Year Later." |access-date=2018-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025935/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_PR_3_10_06_a |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Haiti===

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck just outside Port-au-Prince. The capital city and surrounding towns were completely destroyed and a million people were left homeless.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=haiti_SR_main1 |title=ARC Special Report Haiti: After the Earthquake, 2010. |access-date=2010-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712163708/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=haiti_SR_main1 |archive-date=2011-07-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 50,000 were reported to have died. On January 14, the first Alight emergency response team members arrived in Port-au-Prince. They started planning the response, hiring local staff, and coordinating with the United Nations and other partners. In the following days and weeks additional staff with expertise in emergency response, logistics, health, water/sanitation, shelter, and protection arrived in Haiti. Alight distributed food to 2,200 people in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince, 1,000 hygiene and kitchen kits in the Nazon district. On January 26, Alight began managing settlement of 5,000 people in Terrain Acra district of Port-au-Prince, working with multiple relief agencies. In the next few months the camp size grew to 25,000 people.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/user/chriskatarc#p/a/u/2/b5klAZNYCOc Video of ARC Terrain Acra settlement]</ref> Of the 19 most crowded settlements (of 300 total), Terrain Acra was the only one with an organization overseeing and coordinating relief activities.

Four cargo planes carrying 90,000 pounds of donated emergency medical and shelter supplies arrived in Port-au-Prince from Minneapolis. In Terraine Acra, Alight opened a health clinic, distributed shelter materials, built latrines and sanitation systems. On February 9, the first three child-friendly spaces opened in the Terraine Acra settlement. 300 children were expected and 1,000 showed up. On April 10, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro visited Alight's camp in Terrain Acra [https://web.archive.org/web/20110712171015/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=haiti_appeals_stories_migiri]. Alight is working with the local community and coordinating with international and local NGOs to help people survive and rebuild. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110710054945/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=haiti_shelter_subpage01] <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=haiti_SR_main1 |title=ARC Special Report Haiti: After the Earthquake, 2010. |access-date=2010-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712163708/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=haiti_SR_main1 |archive-date=2011-07-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Côte d'Ivoire=== The American Refugee Committee team has been responding to the refugee crisis on the border between Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia since December 2010, constructing shelters to house refugees in Nimba County, Liberia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_PR_2011_3_2 |title="Thousands of Refugees Flee to Liberia in Wake of Ivory Coast Violence," ARC website. |access-date=2011-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725013421/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_PR_2011_3_2 |archive-date=2011-07-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Kyrgyzstan=== On Sunday June 20, 2010, Alight's Rapid Response Team arrived in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, to assess the situation and the needs of the affected communities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=appeals_6_21_10 |title=Crisis in Kyrgyzstan |access-date=2010-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705091929/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=appeals_6_21_10 |archive-date=2010-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Liberia=== In the fall of 2003, Alight launched a program to assist those who had been displaced by the Second Liberian Civil War. Alight began providing services to people living in camps at Brown's Town and Unification Town and continues serving those locations today.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_liberia |title="ARC in Liberia," ARC website. |access-date=2010-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705090627/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_liberia |archive-date=2010-07-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Pakistan===

====Afghan refugees==== Today, there are millions of Afghan refugees living in refugee camps in Pakistan's Baluchistan Province. Some fled the oppression of the Taliban, others the Soviet invasion in the 1980s.

Alight provides primary health care to 98,000 Afghan refugees in the camps and in the surrounding communities. Alight also provides special attention to pregnant mothers and training for refugees in caring for their own communities. Alight organizes youth clubs and activities, working to prevent and respond to domestic violence in the camps, and building awareness of the threat of HIV/AIDS.

====Earthquake relief==== In October 2005, a massive earthquake shattered communities throughout mountainous northern Pakistan. The impact has been long-lasting, with entire families and villages wiped out and vital infrastructure destroyed. Within hours of the quake, Alight began getting survivors in Bagh District the emergency relief they needed – clean water, nutritious food, shelters for those left homeless and in need of emergency medical attention. Today, Alight's efforts are focused on working with communities to rebuild health care clinics and water systems in the region so that survivors can care for themselves.

====2009 Pakistan displacement crisis==== In the spring of 2009, three million people fled for their lives from fighting between Taliban forces and the Pakistani government in the mountainous region of northwestern Pakistan. Many fled to camps without clean water or enough to eat. But the vast majority have been taken in by local communities, packed in tight quarters – sometimes 50–60 people in very small homes. Water and sanitation systems were on the brink of collapse, and there was a serious threat of outbreaks of disease.<ref>[http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/10/arc-pakistan/ "On the ground in Pakistan after devastating floods," Minnesota Public Radio/NPR.]</ref>

Alight began trucking clean water into refugee camps and digging wells and latrines to ensure safe and sanitary living conditions.

Alight also worked to help Pakistani families who began returning. So far, 100,000 families have gone back to the Swat Valley. But the fighting destroyed infrastructure and other systems, leaving people without basics like clean water and sanitation.<ref>[http://www.arcrelief.org/annual_reports/Annual_Report_2008.pdf ARC 2008 Annual Report, pp. 21.]</ref>

====2010 floods====

In late July 2010 monsoon rainfall caused flash floods swelling the river Swat and killing over 1,100 people. Alight's Emergency Response teams began work as the flooding subsided in early August, providing clean water and mobile health clinics for survivors. Alight's mobile health teams, especially water and sanitation teams, assembled and began coordinating with partners and authorities. Swat, Nowshera, Mardan, and Peshawar were the most severely affected areas. Roads were washed out, bridges gone, internet and telephone were functioning intermittently. Many affected communities remained inaccessible except by helicopter; others had been entirely obliterated.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=appeals_7_31_10 |title="Pakistan Flooding: 800 people killed, 1 million affected by devastating floods," ARC Website. |access-date=2011-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725013430/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=appeals_7_31_10 |archive-date=2011-07-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Rwanda=== Alight began work in Rwanda in December 1994, following the genocide. Alight manages all three major refugee camps in Rwanda, providing health care, water, construction, and sanitation services as well as programs combating gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS. Alight also manages successful income generation programs in the camps and hires and trains refugees wherever possible. In 2005, the government of Rwanda asked Alight to build a refugee camp at Nyabiheke to accommodate 5,000 new refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alight quickly constructed roads, bridges, shelters, latrines, storage warehouses, and health centers, and began receiving refugees within a month of the request. The culminating achievement of the construction efforts was the drilling of a borehole to tap an aquifer, which provides 100,000 liters of naturally purified, filtered water per day. In the fall of 2007, Alight expanded Nyabiheke Camp to receive 2,000 more people fleeing increased violence.<ref>[http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_rwanda "ARC in Rwanda," ARC website.]</ref>

===Sudan===

====Darfur==== The American Refugee Committee is taking a variety of actions to directly help millions of Darfuris who are without access to clean water, who are unable to make a living for their families, who live in camps with no access to farmland or who are forced to flee fighting too frequently to raise any crops.

Alight's corps of midwives assist pregnant mothers to safely deliver their babies, and health clinics provide treatment and medications to thousands of people each month. Alight is working with Darfuri communities to dig wells that will provide safe drinking water to thousands, and Alight is partnering with families to plant crops that will feed and support them. Alight provides tools and seeds and the families bring the farming skills to grow the food that will sustain them. In schools Alight provides children with nutritious meals. Parents have one less mouth to feed, and their children will be educated and better prepared to help rebuild the region when the fighting has ended.<ref>[http://www.arcrelief.org/annual_reports/Annual_Report_2008.pdf ARC 2008 Annual Report, pp. 20.]</ref>

====Southern Sudan==== Alight began operations in Kajo Keji County in Southern Sudan in 1994, providing health services to people displaced by the war. Alight now operates an integrated program of health care, water and sanitation, and microenterprise development for war-affected residents and returning refugees. Since 2006, Alight has been implementing a major, long-term initiative to expand comprehensive reproductive health care services in Southern Sudan. Alight has recently initiated the Through Our Eyes project in southern Sudan, using hands-on video and community participation to get people talking about gender-based violence and how to prevent it. Alight currently works in Juba, Kajo Keji, Malakal, Nimule, and Yei.<ref>[http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_sudan "ARC in Southern Sudan," ARC website.]</ref>

===Thailand=== [[File:Nong Samet Outpatient Dept 1.jpg|thumb|right|340px|Alight's Outpatient Dept. 1, Nong Samet Refugee Camp, May 1984]]Alight's oldest program, Alight has operated continuously in Thailand since 1979. Currently Alight works in refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border, providing health care services, health education, and water, sanitation and environmental health services to Karen refugees in camps on the border with Myanmar. Alight focuses on building the capacity and skills of constituents, training them to become health care providers and community leaders so they may apply these skills upon their return to Myanmar or their relocation to a third country.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_Thailand |title="ARC in Thailand," ARC website. |access-date=2010-07-02 |archive-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814044255/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_Thailand |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Alight also operates in coastal villages between Phuket and Ranong in the south of Thailand.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_PR_2006_02_24_f |title="ARC's Fishing Boat Project Bush-Clinton Tsunami Relief Fund Selects ARC to Receive One Million-Dollar Grant for Thailand Fishing Boat Project," ARC website. |access-date=2011-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725013441/http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=News_PR_2006_02_24_f |archive-date=2011-07-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Uganda=== Alight has been working in Uganda off-and-on since 1994, when Alight began operations in neighboring Southern Sudan. Today, Alight manages 14 internally displaced persons camps in the northern Gulu District of Uganda.<ref>[http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_uganda "ARC in Uganda," ARC website.]</ref>

==Awards and distinctions== thumb|right|Compliance manuals in the Alight office in Minneapolis|alt=Thick white binders in a cubicle, three people are visible, exposed brick walls Alight was given an A rating by CharityWatch,<ref>[http://charitywatch.org/toprated.html#intrelief American Institute of Philanthropy Website]</ref> a charity watchdog created by the American Institute of Philanthropy to rate non-profit organizations based on the ratio of funds spent on humanitarian aid compared to administrative overhead.

==Records== Records of Alight (and the [http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01042.xml American Refugee Committee]) are available for research use. They include domestic and international program records, organizational files, correspondence, subject files, publications, printed material, and newspaper clippings.<ref>[http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01042.xml American Refugee Committee records ]</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|35em}}

==External links== *{{Official website|https://wearealight.org/}}

Category:Refugee aid organizations in the United States Category:International charities Category:Organizations based in Minneapolis Category:Charities based in Minnesota Category:American organizations established in 1978