About Us.

Jamie co-founded AsylumConnect (now InReach) during his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, he met fellow student Sy. Sy shared his personal experience struggling to find safe resources during his U.S. asylum process. Despite access to technology, upon arrival in the United States Sy struggled as a gay immigrant to find reliable data on where it was safe to go for help to meet his basic needs. As a trans man who grew up in a conservative environment, the feeling of not being able to live authentically and lacking easily accessible information on how to find affirming support deeply resonated with Jamie. So, during their senior year, Sy and Jamie co-founded AsylumConnect, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization started as the world’s first technology platform for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, to fill the critical resource information gap facing the diverse LGBTQ+ community. The organization is founded on the belief that every LGBTQ+ person deserves the safety and freedom to live authentically.  

In May 2022, AsylumConnect officially became InReach. Since launching its App in 2016, the organization has seen the platform be used by a wide variety of LGBTQ+ people, in addition to those seeking asylum. The organization rebranded to InReach to better communicate and reflect the value of its free technology to a broader LGBTQ+ user base.

Today, InReach has services for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants, LGBTQ+ BIPOC communities, the transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) community, LGBTQ+ youth and their caregivers, and more LGBTQ+ communities.