LYNNWOOD—When Ahmad Hilal Abid was just 17-years old he fled his worn-torn country of Afghanistan to Edmonds, Washington, seeking a better life. Once there, he faced several challenges from language barriers, to adapting to a new culture, to learning how to navigate the U.S. systems to set himself up for a path towards success.

Abid enrolled himself in a program to learn English through Edmonds College where he met many people in a similar boat; those who had been displaced from their home countries, now struggling to know where, and how, to access resources in America.

It was then when he got the idea to form a community gathering space in his parent’s garage in 2020, inviting fellow immigrants and refugees to congregate, share resources, and assist each other in navigating the world of

See Full Page