Explore the 2025 CRIS Annual Report
Click the image above to explore the 2025 CRIS Annual Report
You may remember Hasan's story–a Syrian father and his family who were forced to leave their country in 2011 because of war. They spent years in Lebanon struggling for safety and security, only for unimaginable personal tragedy to strike in 2018 that changed everyone's lives again.
Perhaps you also remember Belen's story–across the globe from Hasan and his family, her life was also changed forever in 2018 when peaceful public protests were met with military violence in her home country of Nicaragua. Her and her husband's own involvement in peaceful public protests made them a military target, forcing them to flee to a neighboring country. They, too, suffered years in limbo.
Both Hasan and Belen are now our neighbors here in Columbus, resettled and supported by CRIS in recent years. It is stories like theirs–unimaginable hardship, determined resilience, a now-hopeful future–that we pause to celebrate with the release of our 2025 Annual Report. Their stories, though wholly unique, are representative of the thousands of lives that CRIS touched in 2025: our Legal Services program opened nearly 4,000 matters, while hundreds more neighbors received youth mentorship, crime victim support, parenting resources, and more through CRIS. Our annual report is a glimpse of a much fuller picture — one we invite you to explore in the report itself.
2025 was also a year of significant change for CRIS. We celebrated 30 years of welcoming neighbors to Central Ohio. We also said goodbye to some of the programs that helped make that legacy possible as federal funding shifts brought three to a close: match grant, newcomer support services, and refugee resettlement. Even still, the CRIS community continued to show up and stand for welcome, helping to change lives and stories for people like Hasan and Belen. That's the story this year's report tells: not just what CRIS as an organization did in 2025, but who we are as a community and what is possible when we come together for good.
Who CRIS is and who we're becoming has been the central focus of our Board of Directors and senior leadership as we look to the future. They have developed a new three-year strategic plan built to honor CRIS' 30-year legacy while charting a path forward through 2029. Stay tuned as we share details of this plan in the coming months. Before then, we hope you’ll take a moment to read the full annual report and join us in celebrating the good that 2025 held.