About

The state of Ohio is home to one of the earliest and largest Eritrean-American communities in the United States. While some of the earliest members of our community migrated to the Ohio area in the late 1970s seeking higher education our community experienced a large influx of migration in the 1980s due to the escalation of the war for Eritrea’s independence.

The Eritrean Community Center (ECC) of the State of Ohio is one of the oldest Eritrean community centers in the United States. Its long history started in the late 1980s with young Eritrean immigrants seeking not just the comforts of their distant home, but to also raise awareness of their people’s struggle for self-determination.

The Eritrean community in Ohio has grown significantly over the past 20 years in numbers as well as in its need. While it is estimated that the Ohio Area is home to around 10,000 Eritrean-American residents, a substantial number of our population can be found in Columbus.

The ECC in Columbus strives to help alleviate some of the problems faced by Eritreans in the Bay Area by helping them overcome many of the cultural, linguistic, and institutional barriers they may face and helping its members integrate and contribute to society. It provides a space for members to organize and work together to find solutions to the challenges that its members face in the United States while at the same time addressing issues affecting their country of origin