Archive for the ‘cultural/community orientation, post arrival’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 4, 2012
The City of Boise has established a plan, known as the Refugee Resource Strategic Community Plan, to help refugees moving into the city in six areas of need – education, employment, health, housing, social integration and transportation. The city works with local businesses and agencies to help refugees with job training, learning English, finding housing, and made city transportation easier to use and help find better ways to connect people to city resources. Currently, more than 100 local businesses and agencies have joined in to help. An article and video report at Boise’s KTVB has more:
BOISE– Community leaders are the people who can make a town feel like a home. That is why in Boise, community partnerships are key to welcoming the refugee population.
Three years ago, the city started working on the Refugee Resource Strategic Community Plan. Local businesses and the mayor’s office teamed up to help refugees moving into Boise.
Theresa McLeod with the Mayor’s office says Boise’s plan is getting national attention. Last week, she presented the plan at the Episcopal Migration Ministry conference and says other communities are looking into creating similar programs.
“I think that spirit of collaboration we take for granted in Boise,” said Theresa McLeod, with Mayor David Bieter’s office.
The Refugee Resource Community Plan has formed partnerships in six different areas, education, employment, health, housing, social integration and transportation.
Boise and the Idaho Refugee Center decided those are the most important areas to focus on to help refugees become part of our community… Read more here
Posted in Boise, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, economic self-sufficiency, employment/jobs for refugees, housing, language | Tagged: Boise, community partnerships, Refugee Resource Strategic Community Plan, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 20, 2012
Last May we read news reports in the Milwaukee media that Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan had placed Burmese refugees in an apartment building overflowing with code violations, roaches, leaking sewage, and owned and operated by a known felon involved in child-porn. A local reporter tried to get some answers from the State Department about their contractor, but answers were not forthcoming.
Now, based on a State Department monitoring report of USCRI’s International Institute of Wisconsin (IIW), it seems that agency was violating almost every State Department contract requirement. Monitors visited the usual small sample (too small?) of three refugee cases and found serious failure of the agency in providing minimal contract-requirements in all three cases. Problems ranged from lack of orientation or help of any type for a refugee family to refugees in substandard housing.
…[A] Burmese family of four lived in an apartment complex…The apartment visited had a smoke detector that did not work; the bathroom had missing ceiling tiles with pipes exposed, mold around the chalk in the bathtub, and evidence of water leakage; there were exposed wires in the hallway; paint was dirty with holes and nails on the wall…
They told monitors they did not receive any orientation from the agency. The caseworker told monitors that orientation was provided but that he had relied on the 17-year-old daughter for translation…This was not documented in the case file…
…[A] single Burmese Karen woman lived in a room in an apartment shared with a Burmese married couple…Her bedroom door did not have a doorknob or lock. She used a bookcase/dresser to block the door at night. The bathroom had a leaky ceiling. There were two broken windows in the living room and in the kitchen. She reported mice infestation in the apartment, and monitors observed mouse droppings in the kitchen pantry… Read more here
By the way, minors should never be used as interpreters.
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, community/cultural orientation, Cuban, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, dangerous neighborhoods, home visits, housing, housing, substandard, International Institute of Wisconsin, language, late health screenings, Milwaukee, pocket-money, rats and roaches, State Department, teenagers | Tagged: Milwaukee, refugees, resettlement, substandard housing, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 24, 2011
Last May Nancy Lee wrote a post suggesting the need for a handbook or manual for refugees to have as a guide through resettlement. Finally one refugee resettlement contractor is preparing one – albeit only for Nepali-Bhutanese refugees resettled in New Hampshire. The handbook will focus on the difficulties faced by refugees as they adapt to their new life in America. This effort comes three years after the US began resettling 60,000 Nepali-Bhutanese refugees here. An article on PRWeb explains:
Lutheran Social Services (LSS) Services for New Americans will develop and publish a bi-lingual guidebook for Bhutanese refugees resettled in New Hampshire.
Funded by a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Nepali/English Handbook for Living in the USA will focus on the difficulties faced by refugees as they adapt to their new life in America. LSS will subcontract with S & T Communications to produce the handbook.
S&T Communications, located in Manchester, NH voluntarily publishes Aksharica Nepali Newsletter (www.aksharica.com) for Nepali speaking refugees and immigrants living in the US. On behalf of S&T Communications, Rajesh Koirala, the editor of Aksharica will write the handbook. Rajesh has over 15 years of experience in writing and journalism.
The U.S. Government began resettling Bhutanese refugees in March 2008. Since that time, more than 1,200 Nepali speaking refugees have made New Hampshire their new home in America.
Most refugees have spent a considerable part of their lives in refugee camps. New Hampshire offers them a safe haven, but an entirely new set of rules, customs and systems. Coping with this culture shock can prove difficult. The handbook will provide an easy reference allowing Bhutanese refugees to receive information about their new communities at their own pace… Read more here
Posted in Nepali Bhutanese, New Hampshire, community/cultural orientation, Lutheran Social Services of New Hampshire, Lutheran, cultural adjustment, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, language | Tagged: bhutanese, guidebook, Handbook for Living in the USA, LSS, Lutheran social services, Nepali, Nepali-Bhutanese, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 5, 2011
A second African new American child has drowned in Rock Island, Illinois in a little over two years. On May 28, 2009 a 6-year-old Liberian child drowned during a school field trip, and now an 11-year-old Burundian boy has drowned while swimming with friends in the Mississippi River. A Quad-Cities Times article gives the details:
The drowning of 11-year-old Michel Niyubahwe on Monday will likely be used to help local immigrants understand the dangers of the Mississippi River, said Jill Doak, the organizer of a recent immigration study.
Niyubahwe, who immigrated from Burundi with his family four years ago, drowned while swimming with friends Monday afternoon near George Skafidas Parkway in Rock Island.
Josh Ngao of Fishers of Men Ministries in Davenport, who helped translate between police and family members who speak Swahili, said many in the local African immigrant community don’t realize the dangers of the Mississippi River.
Doak, who organized several recent study circles in Rock Island to discuss issues that immigrants and refugees face, said the river and the danger it poses
hadn’t come up for discussion but likely will now.
“Definitely, there is something that could be done that could identify the environmental changes here,” such as the river, she said.
Many native Quad-Citians grow up with knowledge of how dangerous the Mississippi River can be, but many immigrants come from regions of the world where the rivers are safe for swimming and wading, Doak said.
“We shouldn’t assume families know things,” she said.
Doak said the study circles developed five action strategies, including helping establish a better communication system between immigrants and police. Now that the local African immigrant community has had two children drown in the past two years, water safety also likely needs to be addressed, Doak said.
On May 28, 2009, 6-year-old Grace Vah, a native of Liberia in West Africa, drowned during a school field trip to the Whitewater Junction swimming facility in Rock Island... Read more here
This is also less than a month after a 9-year-old Burundian refugee boy drowned in a pond in Buffalo, New York.
Posted in Buffalo, Burundian, children, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, drowning, Liberian, Quad-Cities, safety | Tagged: Buffalo, Burundian, Davenport, drowning, Liberian, Mississippi River, Moline, new American, Quad-Cities, refugee, resettlement, Rock Island | Leave a Comment »
Posted by nancylee1 on May 19, 2011
Stop and think for a moment about how many things in life you are given a manual or handbook on.
A new car…a new appliance…a rental agreement…a mortgage…a school…a contract of any kind…a new job…medical insurance, results and permissions…voter information…when you think about it, for almost anything that is important, you are given written information that allows you to make informed decisions and allows you to have something to refer back to.
In most cases of immigration however, this is not true. Although agencies are paid by the government to care for immigrants and refugees, explanatory written information is very often not provided. Rather, people unfamiliar with even the most basic functioning of this country are given oral seminars while they are in a state of fear and extreme fatigue, not to mention often ill. They are expected to take in cursory information that is foreign to them and hold onto it in their minds. Things that are given to them in writing are often not explained and their signature is required, but they are not even given a copy of what they have signed.
Sound like a losing proposition?
It is.
By doing this, agencies are setting people up for failure and increasing their fear. In addition, for someone who does not speak English or does not have a computer, it is comparable to being thrown to the wolves. In a country where unemployment is around 30% for refugees and living expenses are sky high, being thrown to wolves might seem like a relief compared with trying to cope in a strange new country filled with problems.
It is time to demand that agencies correct this and immigrants and refugees are given an area and language specific handbook or manual, stating the information they need to survive. What the agency has spent on them, the specifics of the program they came into the country on, their insurance benefits, hospital information, school information, local agency information, federal government programs information, lease information, utility information, all the knowledge the caseworkers are expected to know, should be presented in written form to people upon arrival.
Too many have been thrown to the wolves and are destitute because of it. This is unnecessary and inhumane and certainly not in keeping with the sentiment expressed in the website of the agencies.
“A willing heart, a helping hand, and a sense of serving the community with joy..” “…provide help and create hope for more than 9 million people of all faiths each year.” “… leveraging time, energy and resources to join the vulnerable in their time of need.”
Providing a useful tool in writing such as a handbook would go a long way to make these aspirations more attainable.
Please write to your government officials and demand immigrants and refugees be given what they need. Take ten minutes of your time to do this most important task.
Posted in cultural/community orientation, post arrival, economic self-sufficiency, immigration assistance, immigration services, insufficient assistance with daily tasks, language interpretation/translation, lack of, NGO's (Non-governmental organizations), R&P, Uncategorized | Tagged: agencies, handbook, human rights, immigrant, immigration, information in writing, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement, volag | 21 Comments »
Posted by nancylee1 on April 25, 2011
If you are an unemployed American today, no matter your experience, education, or work record, finding a job is no easy task. Finding a job in which you will make a living wage is harder still, and a job that allows you to save and educate your children is almost impossible.
Now, imagine you are an Iraqi refugee. You have come here because your livelihood disappeared after the 2003 invasion. You lost family members and friends in the bloodshed. Your country is decimated and there is no place that is truly safe. No clean water, a few hours of electricity a day, no health care, no police to protect you, almost nothing you can trust. You waited years to come here, never knowing when or if it would actually happen, and now you are here, dazed, confused, frightened, bereft, and often sick. But you have hope that now you and your family will be safe.
The reality of what Iraqi refugees come here to is a shock. In a country where unemployment averages 9 percent, the unemployment level for Iraqis is 3 times that, according to an article in Reuters. The little starter jobs are often the hardest to get. Everyday the money allocated to eroded safety nets becomes more eroded to fund the wars that caused these problems in the first place. It is time for us as a nation to realize this and do more as individuals to help.
These refugees need lots of ongoing support. They need simple things explained to them because everything here is different. They need to be treated as humans and not as refugees or numbers and statistics. They need all of us to be friendly, and they deserve it.
In this age of corporate ruled government, we need to realize that the plight of refugees in this country is not one we as individuals can overlook and trust the government and agencies to take care of. We as individuals can give refugees at least a base of friendship to start out from, and if we do this, their chances of survival are much greater. Things are bad in this country. No one denies this, but for refugees they are many times worse and faced with joblessness, homelessness and an unfriendly environment – many are forced to leave. To go back to nothing.
We can change this. We can volunteer.
Posted in Refugees in US, employment/jobs for refugees, homelessness, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, economic self-sufficiency | Tagged: Iraq, Iraqi refugee, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, unemployment, volunteerism | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 16, 2011
It looks as if the Catholic Diocese of Arlington switched from one type of disorganization to another from 2008 to 2010. A new State Department inspection report from 2008 indicates that the agency was placing refugee clients in Fredericksburg in housing with roach infestations, leaking windows and ceilings, and even demanded that a refugee sign an apartment lease without explaining it to her. She refused to sign it. A Burundian refugee father said that he appealed to the agency for six months to help him find a job but only worked about three days cleaning up shops.
Yet, two years later in 2010 local churches and volunteers were observing some very different forms of refugee neglect. Now, the agency was placing refugees in apartments without food or furniture and not giving refugees help with transportation. What is the rhyme and reason to these fluctuations?
If we assume that the State Department inspections — usually as rare as once in ten years — are at all effective, then what does it mean if noting one set of problems, and hopefully addressing them, simply leads to a sprouting of different problems?
One thing I know is that the State Department has no penalties for resettlement agencies’ failure to abide by even the minimum requirements of the government contracts. Could it be that the resettlement agency personnel sulk and pout over any criticism, and then temporarily fix the problems and then slack off on other minimum requirements? The reigning philosophy at many resettlement agencies seems to be that all problems are caused by 1) insufficient government funding (don’t raise the issue of the private funding they are supposed to raise to augment the public funding), 2) they don’t like having to do documentation of the services they claim to give refugees (who does like doing intensive paperwork?), 3) refugees are just so needy, and 4) hey, we just set up a new satellite office, so things won’t run well for a few years (what? refugees won’t even get food and a few used furnishings? why not?).
Whatever is happening, this case shows the limited effectiveness of current oversight in which 1) there are no penalties for failure to abide by contract obligations, 2) inspections are pre-announced, and 3) inspections are so rare that new problems can emerge in as a little as a few months or a year or two and the government inspectors won’t know until they come back ten years later.
It looks like we’re sorely overdue for a revamping of these inspections.
Posted in State Department, Burundian, faith-based, volunteers, employment services, Catholic, fredericksburg, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, churches, food, beds, transportation, community/cultural orientation, housing, substandard, fractious relationships with volunteers, furnishings, lack of, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Iranian, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, rats and roaches | Tagged: Burundian refugees, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, fredericksburg, inspection, Iranian refugees, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, State Department, U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops, USCCB | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 3, 2011
There is a new State Department monitoring report that we acquired via a FOIA that documents neglect of refugees. The State Department cited the Houston-based refugee resettlement agency, Alliance for Multicultural Community Services, an ECDC affiliate, for “partial-compliance” with their State Department refugee resettlement contract. Findings include:
- The Alliance had placed all three refugee families visited at home by monitors in housing with problems, including serious mold, roach infestation, and a serious plumbing problem that forced an Iraqi refugee family to move.
- A Burundian refugee woman did not know how to use either the stove or a thermostat in her apartment.
- The Burundian family’s second bedroom had no furniture, so the couple’s infant and 2-year-old toddler had to sleep in the parent’s room.
- The Burundian refugee family and a Burmese refugee family reported that the Alliance failed to give them required living-room furnishings, so the families had to garbage-pick sofas and chairs from dumpsters.
- The Alliance did not give refugees pocket-money, as required.
- The Burundian refugee family — with the infant and toddler — reported that the Alliance did not give them food or supplies for their infant upon their arrival as required, and that the Alliance did not use child safety seats when transporting the family to appointments.
- The Burmese refugee family reported that the Alliance did not have interpretation at the airport upon their arrival or during orientation. The Alliance finally hired someone who spoke their Karen dialect over four months after their arrival.
- Orientation to health care services in the area appeared to be incomplete, as both the Burundian and Burmese families expressed anxiety over their children’s medical needs and uncertainty about how to handle emergencies.
- The Burundian and Burmese families expressed anxiety over their prospects for self-sufficiency.
- The Alliance did not provide any structured training plan to new employees, as required.
- Refugee client case note logs contained minimal information, and often failed to record home visits. Monitors were often unable to verify that the Alliance provided refugee clients with the minimum-required services of the State Department refugee contracts (see contract documents – the Cooperative Agreement and Operational Guidance).
- Monitors noted Insect infestation in one or more refugee apartments.
- Monitors noted that the Alliance did not give some refugee(s) a ready-to eat meal upon arrival after long intercontinental flights, as required.
Then there are these comments about the Alliance from 2010. Note that three years after this State Department monitoring the Alliance is still putting refugees in substandard housing, etc.
So, in other words, the State Department noticed all these problems and three years later many of the problems have not ceased. What does that tell us about the effectiveness of the State Department monitoring trips? The State Department does not use any penalties for resettlement agencies’ they find in “non-compliance” or “partial-compliance” with the so-called minimum requirements of the State Department refugee contracts. Resettlement agencies don’t have to give back any of the government contract money they received for agreeing to provide minimum services and then not providing them.
Posted in Alliance for Multicultural Community Services, beds, Burma/Myanmar, Burundian, children, Cooperative Agreement, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, ECDC, food, furnishings, lack of, health, home visits, housing, housing, substandard, Houston, Iraqi, Karen, language, language interpretation/translation, lack of, meeting refugees at the airport, Operational Guidance, pocket-money, rats and roaches, State Department, Texas, transportation | Tagged: Alliance for Multicultural Community Services, Burmese refugees, Burundian refugees, ECDC, Ethiopian Community Development Council, houston, human rights, Iraqi refugees, Karen refugees, Kassahun Bisrat, refugee neglect, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 28, 2011
According to a U.S. State Department Office of Admissions’ monitoring report recently released Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockford is yet another refugee resettlement agency that didn’t bother to meet even the minimum requirements of its refugee contract.
The 2007 inspection report noted the following:
Also see the Operational Guidance contract document which lists minimum requirements that resettlement agencies promise to give refugee clients.
Posted in State Department, USCCB, Operational Guidance, Cooperative Agreement, Illinois, Burma/Myanmar, Burundian, faith-based, Catholic, community/cultural orientation, housing, substandard, Karen, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Chin, housing, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockford, Rockford | Tagged: State Department, refugees, USCCB, resettlement, Operational Guidance, refugee resettlement program, refugee resettlement, Cooperative Agreement, refugee resettlement agencies, Burmese refugees, Burundian refugees, Karen refugees, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rockford, Catholic Charities Rockford, jeanne lindberg, Rockford, substandard housing, Chin refugees | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 13, 2010
An article in the Buffalo News Staff Reporter covers the issue of domestic abuse and juvenile delinquency cases involving immigrant and refugee families. It makes me wonder what quality of cultural orientation refugee resettlement agencies in Buffalo, such as the International Institute of Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, and Journey’s End Refugee Services, Inc., are offering.
A refugee from Somalia was accused of trying to sell her 16-year-old daughter into marriage against her will.
Social Services took another Somali couple’s six children because the father belt-whipped his 8-year-old son and tied him up for misbehaving in school…
…These and other cases like them are raising the concerns of judges, lawyers and human services providers in Buffalo.
Erie County Family Court judges say they have seen a startling rise in the number of domestic abuse and juvenile delinquency cases involving immigrant, refugee and Muslim families who want help but fear police intervention…
…”In America, we emphasize independence and individual freedoms,” said Family Court Judge Lisa Bloch Rodwin in her opening remarks. “This is in direct conflict with certain cultures that emphasize obedience to parents and authority. How do we bridge the gap between behaviors which are accepted between spouses in other cultures, but which are not acceptable or legal here?”
In the 2 1/2 years she’s been judge, Rodwin said, she’s seen at least a doubling of cases involving newcomers to the country and culturally isolated Muslims, noting that child neglect, abuse, family violence and juvenile delinquency are rampant.
These issues certainly are not confined to immigrants and refugees. Domestic violence and child neglect reach across all ethnicities and income levels.
However, social service and legal advocates say immigrants and refugees face additional burdens of cultural differences, post-traumatic stress, generational power struggles, language barriers, immigrant community pressure and family isolation. Read more here
Posted in Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, International Institute of Buffalo, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, Somali | Tagged: Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, community orientation, cultural orientation, domestic abuse, domestic violence, International Institute of Buffalo, Journey's End Refugee Services, juvenile delinquency, refugees | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
