Refugee Career Pathways
The Refugee Career Pathways program will help you identify, plan, and start your career. Our mission is to empower you to secure living-wage jobs through education and hands-on experience. We focus on living-wage career fields in Allied Health, Business and Entrepreneurship, Early Childhood Education, Human Services, and Information Technology. Our team offers guidance in college navigation and work readiness to ensure your success.
Upcoming Events
How We Help You
When you work with Los Rios and our partners, you will receive free services in the following areas.
Our peer mentor team can help you navigate college processes, including:
- College application
- FAFSA
- Residency paperwork
- Class registration
The peer mentors provide support in the student's first language. Our current language capacity is Dari/Pashto, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Spanish, and Kazakh.
We provide career-related workshops tailored to the refugee and English language learner population. These workshops include:
- Resume building
- Interview practice
See upcoming events for information. Our Student Support Specialist can meet with students individually to help with resume building and searching for jobs.
We are connected with various refugee-serving organizations in the Sacramento region. Depending on your needs, we can help connect you with legal services, housing assistance, mental health counseling, entrepreneurship support, and more.
Connect with the Refugee Career Pathways Team
The Refugee Career Pathways program is open to all refugees, SIVs, and asylees. Call or email us for more information: (916) 563-3255 or refugees@losrios.edu.
Our Team
- Olga Prizhbilov, Director
- Haley Lepper, Special Projects Coordinator
- Katarina Bailey, Special Projects Coordinator
- Maliah Flores, Special Projects Coordinator
- Abdul Rahman Sayeed, Student Support Specialist
- Alexey Gorbatyuk, Student Support Specialist
- Nikolai Maznichenko, Student Support Specialist
- Diana Maslovtsova, Career Coaching Intern
- Leonardo Torres-Garcia, Career Coaching Intern
- Leslie Ramirez, Career Coaching Intern
- Maria Sandoval, Career Coaching Intern
- Parisa Hassani, Career Coaching Intern
- Rodrigo Navarro, Career Coaching Intern
Our Hours
Drop in for college navigation help:
- Mondays from 5:00 to 7:00 pm
- Tuesdays from 2:00 to 7:00 pm
- Saturdays from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, on the following dates only: May 3, 2025; September 13, 2025; October 11, 2025; November 8, 2025; December 13, 2025
If you need help outside these hours, email us at refugees@losrios.edu.
Join the Program
- Submit the Contact Us form on this page.
- A peer mentor will contact you to schedule an intake meeting. At this meeting, we will ask you about your goals, check your eligibility for various refugee and English language learner programs, and help you get started with the college process (application, financial aid, class registration, and so on).
- Meet with one of our outreach specialists, who will create a Career Development Plan with you. This plan will include a short-term and long-term plan of your career goals and how Los Rios certificate and degree programs fit into those goals.
- If you are interested in a job, we will help you with the steps to secure employment in your desired field.
Eligibility Criteria
We can serve most English language learners and ORR Eligible populations. We check your eligibility criteria to determine if any grants or other resources are available to support you.
Contact Us
Our Partners
Opening Doors supports newcomers on their path to stability, self-sufficiency, and belonging.
SETA transforms lives through impactful programs that meet people where they are and help them get to where they want to be.