Marketplace Quarterly Meeting
Brian Dowd is the Co-Founder of NorCal Refuge, a crisis response initiative formed in March of this year to respond to the 10,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban and arriving in Sacramento in this twelve-month window. It is a critical issue for our city, as these families need urgent stabilization for a situation they didn’t seek and aren’t prepared for.
NorCal Refuge is made up of
- The business community
- A coalition of nonprofit agencies
- A network of churches
It is a startup effort that is scaling up in a way that is messy and beautiful in the ways any entrepreneur or admirer of God’s work would love.
A volunteer for NorCal Refuge, Brian’s company is Next Step Coach, a leadership coaching company that works with business owners and senior leaders to increase leadership capacity and organizational impact through executive coaching and training.
Brian is also the Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of The Barnabas Group, a community of business leaders that seek to leverage their business acumen to maximize ministry potential.
Brian and his family live in Folsom and he is on the steering committee for the Marketplace Regional Quarterly Lunches.
The story of NorCal Refuge is a human tragedy for the Afghan refugees, American allies who fled the Taliban, bringing nothing more than their family and a backpack each. It is also a testimony of God’s ability to bring Christians together, especially the business community, to show love and welcome to new neighbors.
