George Tarr

Delegate – New York

Country of origin: Liberia
Arrival in the U.S.: 1999

George Tarr is the Refugee Congress Delegate from New York. He and his family were forced to flee Liberia in 1998 during the brutal civil war. They were at risk of being targeted because of his grandfather’s work as a government official.

In 1999, he was resettled to Staten Island, New York, where he currently lives and attends college.

Tarr is passionate about helping others who are facing overwhelming challenges. He has been involved in and serves as the youngest board member for African Refuge, a neighborhood nonprofit dedicated to serving at-risk youth. In this role, he has been instrumental in designing programs that bring the community together, including a housing program, a health education program and a drop-in center for teens. Tarr has also served as a peer counselor at the International Rescue Committee, where he mentored newly-arrived refugee students.

He is proud of contributing to his community by organizing and designing a mural painting project that still adorns the wall of the African Refuge office. He explains that this mural symbolizes that “no matter where we are from, we are all the same because under the sun, the human race is just one big family, and no man is an island. We must work together if we want our community to reflect who we are in a positive light.”