The Burmese American Community Institute (BACI) is a non-profit organization that provides social services, educational and vocational support to the Burmese in greater Indianapolis. The BACI also support community members regionally, nationally, and globally through collaborative initiatives, strategic partnerships, and advocacy.
More than 23,000 refugees from Burma have become a growing part of the Indiana community in recent years. Over 17,000 Burmese are calling Indianapolis their new home.
The Burmese refugees are the victims of systematic rights deprivation by the successive military dictatorship in their home country of Burma. They left their country owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion(the UN Convention: 1951). The Burmese refugees in Indianapolis are comprised of mainly the Chin and the Karen ethnic groups, the former being about 71% and the rest are Karen and others.