Coming from a rural community of 2,000 people just north of Kansas City, Missouri, Jordan didn’t know much about diversity growing up. He didn’t even know what a refugee was. That changed when he arrived in Nashville to attend Trevecca Nazarene University in 2008.
During his Freshman year at TNU, Jordan had an internship at World Relief. It was here that Jordan first learned about refugees from around the world–and the struggles they went through before arriving here.
Fast forward a few years and Jordan began his senior internship at NICE, thanks to the suggestion of one of NICE’s partners at the South Nashville Family Resource Center. Acting as the President’s/Grant Writing Intern, Jordan got a taste of what it was like to work with refugees first hand. Doing anything from ESL registration to setting up apartments for new arrivals to helping write a federal grant proposal, Jordan learned about all aspects of NICE.
When his internship ended, Jordan become the Setup and Donations Coordinator at NICE ensuring new arrivals had fully-furnished apartments when they came to the U.S. After that, Jordan worked as a Resettlement Specialist implementing the Matching Grant and Preferred Communities programs at NICE. He then moved into the R&P Case Manager role, where he stayed for over a year until his recent promotion to the Community Development Director position.
Jordan has helped out at NICE in numerous areas and feels that working in so many different programs will help him in his current role allowing him to understand program needs more thoroughly.
Several years ago, back in a small town in Missouri, Jordan didn’t envision himself working with refugees. But today, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
