Welcoming America

Welcoming America is David Lubell’s second nonprofit startup. His first venture was the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), an organization that continues to build a statewide voice for Tennessee’s growing immigrant community. While at TIRRC he saw firsthand the need for a project that could reach out to everyday Tennesseans struggling to adjust to the demographic changes taking place all around them. He helped found the Welcoming Tennessee project to achieve that vision, and later left TIRRC to replicate the work nationally through Welcoming America.

David was chosen as a 2015 Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, culminating in his presentation at their annual 2016 meeting in Davos, Switzerland where he spoke on integrating refugees. David was named as one of The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s “40 Under 40” for 2016 as a trailblazer in crafting innovative new approaches to entrenched problems. David is recognized as an Ashoka Fellow and one of Univision’s top ten social entrepreneurs in the Americas.

In 2018, Rachel Peric was appointed Executive Director. Inspired by her family’s refugee story, since joining the organization in 2011, she has served as the organization’s deputy director amongst other senior roles. She holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in Public Management from the University of Maryland.