Luma Mufleh is a 2019 Civil Society Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. A lifelong social entrepreneur, Mufleh is the inspirational founder and CEO of Fugees Family, Inc. Fugees Family is an award-winning national nonprofit organization and independent school network that combines the healing qualities of organized soccer with a customized academic approach to empowering refugee children in the classroom and beyond.

With a flagship school in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, its first expansion campus in Columbus, Ohio, and more locations planned across the United States, Fugees Family is embarking on a multi-year, scaling effort to replicate its proven educational model in carefully selected cities and bring its mission of leveling the playing field to young refugees nationwide.

Mufleh was named a Top 10 CNN Hero in 2016, and Inc. Magazine named her TED Talk among the most inspiring of 2017, alongside talks by Elon Musk and Tim Ferriss. Her story has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Forbes, CBS Sunday Morning, and more. Prior to being selected as a Civil Society Fellow, Mufleh received the Richard Cornuelle Award for Social Entrepreneurship from the Manhattan Institute in 2016.

A Jordanian asylee and Muslim of Syrian descent, Mufleh received her U.S. citizenship in 2011. Her story – and the story of the Fugees – illustrates both the American dream and the very real challenges of integration and discrimination that so many face today. She received her B.A. in Anthropology from Smith College and completed the Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Learn more about Mufleh’s work at: www.fugeesfamily.org.

For more information about the Civil Society Fellows Program click here.