Jen Hund is a new transplant to Oklahoma (from Florida by way of Indianapolis). After a transformative experience of traveling by bicycle with her husband for 5 months across areas of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and southern Mexico in 2015, Jen shifted her decade-long career from academic musicologist and published author of instructional materials to solely nonprofit work.
In Indianapolis, Jen started a Bilingual Conversations group at her church where first-language Spanish and English speakers shared language, food, dance, and stories about their lives. She also volunteered as an LCORE instructor with Exodus Refugee, guiding new neighbors from Myanmar and Sudan in Language, Cultural Orientation, and Readiness for Employment, as well as mutual learning about what her students missed about their home countries and their dreams for their futures in Indianapolis.
In Indianapolis and Key West, Jen supported housing nonprofits through volunteer coordination, program management, and case work. At Indy’s Coburn Place Safe Haven, Jen developed, grew, and expanded volunteer opportunities and financial relationships with over 60 community partners and coordinated over 350 volunteers and groups to support transitional housing for survivors of intimate partner violence and their children. When Covid shut down The Keys in 2020, Jen built, trained, and supported a virtual
volunteer team that helped the small staff at Florida Keys Outreach Coalition distribute over $800,000 in financial assistance for goods and services not covered by the CARES Act to hundreds of individuals and families across Monroe County, FL.
As CAIR’s Refugee Services Coordinator, Jen organizes the vast outpouring of support for newcomers arriving from Afghanistan in coordination with Oklahoma City’s refugee resettlement agency, Catholic Charities, and other community partners.
Jen also loves biking, camping, hiking, and climbing.