Fairfax : New Site for Refugee Center

The African Community Refugee Center has moved to 543 N. Fairfax Ave.

The center, formerly at 5880 W. Pico Blvd., burned to the ground on the first day of the recent riots.

After the disaster, the center was offered office space in the National Council of Jewish Women/Los Angeles Women’s Center.

Dorothy Huebel, executive director of the Jewish agency, said the offer was a way to do something positive for the community. “The African Community Refuge Center is a small agency that provides a valuable and unique service,” Huebel said. “They lost everything. When I first talked to Nikki Tesfai (executive director of the refugee center), she told me that all she had left was the key to the door. I am thrilled that we are able to offer ACRC a base from which to start over.”

The refugee center provides a broad range of services, including counseling and instruction in English and American culture to African refugees, many of whom cannot return to their countries of origin because of political oppression and civil strife.

For more information about the center: (213) 658-6922.