How Noor El-Salam came to be 

Noor El-Salam was founded by a group of Colorado-based volunteers who recognized that Lebanon's compounding crises — economic collapse, COVID-19 aftermath, and the 2020 Beirut port explosion — had created an acute educational emergency for Syrian refugee children already excluded from the system.

Noor El-Salam operated in northern Lebanon near Hermel from 2022-2023, then moved, opening Noor Academy in 2023 in one of Beirut's most underserved districts — an area housing a dense population of Syrian refugee families, many living in slums with no access to formal schooling.

In its first year, 90 children were enrolled with a teaching staff of five. Today the Academy operates multiple daily cohorts and has served more than 500 children since it’s founding. Parents are asked to pay a fee of $40/child with scholarships available and a multiple-child discount applied.

The organization is led by an all-volunteer board based in the United States, with program implementation managed by a dedicated on-the-ground team in Beirut including a director, 6 classroom teachers, 4 teacher's aides, and a custodian.