40 Under 40 Awards Magazine 2016

volunteers
Rilwan Osman
Executive Director, Maine Immigrant & Refugee Services
Maine Immigrant & Refugee Services
was built upon a shared vision to educate,
support and empower immigrant and
refugee youth in the LA area. The first step
that Rilwan, co-founder and executive director
of MIRS, and his colleagues took
was to establish monthly meetings for
local youth to discuss problems they were
facing and work together to generate positive
solutions.
The monthly meetings
became so popular that
MIRS expanded its services
to include soccer
programs, academic
support, cultural programs
and tradition
counseling. Today, MIRS
not only serves immigrant
and refugee youth
in LA, but also offers a
myriad of services to
their parents. The Citizenship
Program, which
helps immigrant and
refugee parents study for
the literacy portion of
their naturalization
exams, boasts an impressive
success rate and has
become so popular that
people are traveling
from other parts of the
State to be a part of it.
Other services for parents
include
courses on job
searching, parenting
and advanced
reading,
writing and oral
skills.
As Executive Director,
Rilwan oversees all day-to-day
activities of the agency. He helps
facilitate English as a Second
Language courses, juvenile
justice programs, after school
programming, mental health
services, and more. He started MIRS as a
group of volunteers and has seen it
quickly grow into an agency that employs
over thirty people.
Born in Somalia and raised in a
refugee camp, Rilwan had never lived in a
big city when he and his family relocated
to Atlanta, Georgia. Not finding Atlanta to
be a great fit, Rilwan and his family moved
to LA after hearing from other family and
friends that it was a small and safe place
to live and raise children. His favorite
thing about the LA community is the availability
of a support system for those who
need it. Some of his favorite places to eat
include Dunkin’ Donuts and local Somali
restaurants. When he isn’t working, Rilwan
enjoys being with his family and volunteering
his time and money to help
others when he can. Looking to the future,
he plans to work toward more integration,
offering increased multicultural activities
to connect Maine citizens, old and new.
Rilwan’s children
Rilwan with his daughter, Qamar
Abdikadir, Jama, Rilwan & Fatuma
72 UPLIFT LA 40 UNDER 40