Abiba Biao Photos.
Fereshteh Ganjavi beamed as she approached the podium, greeting a crowd of over 30 people. In one hand was her phone, ready with a speech she’d prepared beforehand. After a moment of deliberation, she closed out the prewritten remarks, and decided to speak from the heart instead.
It was fitting for the occasion, itself defined by a sense of emotion that prepared remarks would never be able to encapsulate.
Last Saturday, refugee activists, supporters, and volunteers celebrated the opening of Elena’s Light’s new community center located on 436 Orange St. The location grows the organization’s mission of working with refugee families, and especially women and children, to provide support and education as they adjust to life in a new and often very different home.
Fifty people ultimately gathered for the intimate celebration. The building contains three levels, and includes a lower level with a kitchen and bathroom, a main level where the grand opening was held, and a loft at the top level, which will be reconfigured into an office space.
Ganjavi and Board member Leslie Koons.
Named in honor of Ganjavi’s first daughter, Elena’s Light is a nonprofit serving refugee and immigrant women and children. The organization provides services such as English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, health education, drivers license training, and advocacy efforts, among other programs.
Speakers also included U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, New Haven Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli, attorney Ben Haldeman, who works with refugees directly at the New Haven Legal Assistance Association, and other volunteers and supporters of Elena’s Light.
The space, while not filled with anything yet, is a blank canvas that teems with possibilities. In a text message Tuesday night, Ganjavi detailed the ways team members plan to bring each room to life, including having classrooms for ESL, health education, and driving permit lessons; a youth and children learning area equipped with a computer lab, a reading nook, and makerspace for sewing and other arts projects. There is also a multipurpose conference room for community gatherings.
The design effort has been overseen by Celia Toche, architect and founder of the architecture firm TOCHE & Associates and an instructor at the Yale School of Architecture. Toche has been assisting Elena’s Light with site searching and property development for over three years. Ganjavi also credited Carol Horsford, founder of the Farnam Realty Group, and Carlos Eyzaguirre, deputy director in the New Haven Economic Development Administration, for their assistance locating the space.
ESL volunteer and Bonnie Leon and University of New Haven sophomore Rana Hussaini.
Ganjavi, who came to the U.S. as an Afghan refugee in 2011, founded Elena’s Light in 2017. Since then, the organization has continued to have an impact, elevating refugee voices as it expands its work as an educational incubator. In 2025, 72 people enrolled in ESL classes, tutored by 66 volunteers who delivered 7,000 hours of one-on-one instruction, according to the organization’s 2025 annual report..
That programming also extends to advocacy. In response to the 2021 humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after the capital Kabul was overtaken by the Taliban, Elena’s Light strengthened legal advocacy efforts and programing for refugee assistance, partnering with organizations such as We Are All America to push for refugee protection acts in Congress.
“Thousands of Afghan girls are not going to school in Afghanistan. And we are here, we have a chance,” Ganjavi said, highlighting the importance of making education accessible. “Our community here has a strong foundation to make it better for them.”
Throughout her years of work, Ganjavi has seen many personal breakthroughs with clients she serves. She described seeing women succeed in job hunting or obtaining their license to drive as “one of the greatest things that I love.”
The space not only allows for more programming, but also opens up funding opportunities, said Leslie Koons, board chair of Elena’s Light, There are funders who host specific opportunities for non-profits with physical spaces.
“Our theme this year has been ‘Together we build belonging,’ and now we have a place to do exactly that,” Koons said to the crowd. “ A place where a mom practicing her English can sip a cup of tea alongside a new friend that she’s met, who also understands her journey, while her children play together nearby. And that longing is more than just a good feeling.”
Bonnie Leon was one of the first people that signed up for ESL tutoring in 2019 before in-person classes shifted online due to COVID. Despite the transition, and fracturing her leg, Leon was committed to the cause. She cited the program’s emphasis on cross-cultural exchange as part of what keeps her coming back.
“People always say that when you volunteer, that you get more out of it than what you do. That is unbelievably true,” she said. She recounted her experience tutoring, astonished by the hospitality and generosity of refugee families who were still economically stretched and finding their way in a new world. “I can’t tell you; it was the most beautiful experience I’ve had and I’m almost 83 years old. That’s saying a lot.”
Koons also stressed the importance of multiculturalism, and encouraged refugees and immigrants to bring their perspectives to the table as often as possible. As she spoke, she leaned on the familiar maxim that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
“I'm an American, and I have to say, we need you desperately. We need you. We need you. Your point of view and the way you love. This is a very welcoming community. The culture you come from is very warm and it’s beautiful … I wish I could speak Dari, Farsi. I barely speak good English!” Chuckles emerged from the audience.
Another volunteer who spoke was Rana Hussaini, now a sophomore at the University of New Haven, Hussaini grew up in Kabul, and came to the U.S. several years ago. She is now on the pre-med track and hopes to be a dentist. Because she is from Afghanistan, Hussaini also felt a personal calling to volunteer for the organization.
She noted how Elena’s Light provides a third space to refugee women by giving them resources to reach personal milestones, like driving, a task that seems simple at first, but something that people take for granted.
“We’re serving our community because we understand them,” she said.