Archive for the ‘economic self-sufficiency’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 30, 2012
The said purpose of the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR’s) Matching Grant Program (MG) is to place refugee clients in jobs which will enable their household units to meet self-sufficiency within 120 to 180 days (in this case “self-sufficiency” is defined as not accessing public cash assistance, although the household units may use other forms of welfare, e.g. SNAP/food stamps, Section 8 housing assistance, etc.). The MG supposedly works to speed up the process of self-sufficiency by offering programs, support, and incentives to refugees, making the transition to self-sufficiency faster and easier. Its called “Matching Grant” because participating agencies (private contractors) agree to match the ORR grant with cash and in-kind contributions (goods and services) from the “community”. The ORR awards $2 for every $1 raised by the refugee resettlement agency from non-federal sources – including state and local support, United Way contributions, and in-kind support from other local and volunteer organizations – up to a maximum of $2,200 in federal funds per refugee. So, self-sufficiency is the goal, but what are the results?
The Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights refugee resettlement agency in Chicago is one of the contractors that the ORR monitored to assess how well resettlement agencies are helping refugees using the Matching Grant money. In the past Heartland Alliance’ use of US Department of State refugee grant money, as well as a human trafficking grant from the US Department of Justice, left much to be desired. Now, it seems that a ORR MG Program Analyst noted deficiencies in Heartland Alliance’s use of the MG program grant as well, according to a newly released 2005 inspection of the agency:
…Case Notes – …The reviewer found little detail of services being provided, particularly in cases where clients did not become self-sufficient…
…Asylee Payments – Some asylee cases were found to be missing required monthly payments…
…Housing Provision – ORR observed a number of cases [where] full rental payments were not provided for the required time period, although needed. This forced clients to supplement the rent payments with their MG cash…
…Job Development – The reviewer found little evidence of true job developments on the part of [Heartland Alliance]. The program employment outcomes appear to be the result of fairly intense case management coupled with relatively independent clients who find their own jobs. In cases where clients have a family or a strong community base to assist in the employment search, this system seems adequate in assisting clients to become self-sufficient. However, few to no modifications to that procedure were evident in dealing with free cases [refugees with no local family or ethnic community support] that do not have a strong community base to assist, or other instances where such assistance is necessary. Such sub-par employment services were particularly evident in low English level refugee clients. The [Heartland Alliance] employment rate for CY2004 was 50%. USCRI national average for CY2004 was 85%; the national MG average was 72%… Read more here
This last figure seems to point to a problem at Heartland Alliance and not MG Program weaknesses. Yet, it also shows how dependent government inspectors are on contractors’ own written records in assessing compliance with government grants. Aside from the problems noted, what comes to mind is to what degree the contractor’s written records match refugee clients’ reports about services received, however, the inspection report shows no comments from the clients (as opposed to the State Department’s reviews of refugee resettlement grantees).
Nevertheless, though the national average for refugee employment in the MG program was 82% that year, Heartland Alliance’s refugee clients in MG only achieved a 50% employment rate. Much of that 50% appears to have been refugees finding employment on their own or with the help of family or community.
Posted in asylees, Chicago, economic self-sufficiency, employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, Heartland Alliance, Matching Grant program, ORR | Tagged: Chicago, grant, inspection, Matching grant, monitoring, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 7, 2012
Refugees in many parts of the country find that together with the language barrier obtaining driving licenses as one of the main barriers to economic self-sufficiency. Transportation to work is difficult to arrange in areas lacking mass transit. Myanmar refugees in Kentucky have found it difficult to get driving license permits, citing a poorly translated (into Burmese) version of the written test. Alternatively, Kentucky law allows residents to take the permit test orally. Yet, in an explanation that doesn’t make sense to me, the director of a local organization that assists refugees claims that translators (interpreters?) must be court certified, and supposedly there is no local certification process available in Burmese or Karenni. (Why not?) An article in the Bowling Green Daily News explains:
When Bu Reh came to Bowling Green from the jungle of Myanmar, he wanted a quality life for his family – a home, education, jobs and a car.
He didn’t know how difficult that would be…
…After failing his driver’s permit test multiple times because he couldn’t understand the badly translated questions, Bu Reh invested about $1,000 to take his test in Arizona, which has better Burmese translation.
He got his driver’s license in Arizona, giving authorities the address of relatives who live there. After returning to Bowling Green and using it for awhile, the license was suspended and taken away.
His story is one example of how language barriers hinder communication and cause problems for international residents. Because of a lack of good translation, many refugees are unaware that it’s against the law to provide a fake address to get a license in another state. It’s also difficult to understand driving rules and pass the written and driving tests. Many refugees walk and ride bicycles, and they often rely on others to shuttle them, they say…
…Several Burmese refugees – and refugees from other countries – claim the written permit tests are badly translated, making them faulty and nearly impossible to pass. Furthermore, a variety of languages are spoken in Myanmar and written tests are not offered in Karenni, one of the most popular languages spoken among Bowling Green residents, according to speakers at the forum.
The translation issue also prevents many refugees from accurately understanding the law, which is why so many think it’s all right to give fake addresses for driver’s licenses in other states, said Jennifer Bell, director of CEDARS, a local organization that assists refugees and other international residents…
…One man said through a translator that he’s very thankful to live in Bowling Green, but he has failed the permit test six times, which is frustrating. Another man said the only problem he has encountered since living in Bowling Green is the inability to get a driver’s license. He currently rides a bicycle…
…Still, there are problems within the government that church and CEDARS members are working to correct. Kentucky law allows residents to take the permit test orally, and they’re trying to find an appropriate translator for that task, Hohman said.
But those translators are required to be court certified, and Bell isn’t aware of a local certification process available in Burmese or Karenni, she said in an email.
…Hohman [is] working with police and legislators to get the written test re-translated into a better form of Burmese, he said.
He also spoke with Arizona police officers, who said they would consider releasing the driver’s license suspension for some refugees who are working to get a valid Kentucky license, he said…. Read more here
Posted in Bowling Green, Burma/Myanmar, driving instruction, economic self-sufficiency, Karenni, language | Tagged: Bowling Green, Burmese, driving license, karenni, permit, red tape, refugees, resettlement, translation | Leave a Comment »
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 February 18, 2012
Refugees who either have no credit history yet or whom resettlement agencies ruined their credit by reporting them to credit bureaus for unpaid travel loans can find it difficult to find jobs. That’s because employers practice credit history discrimination, and Chicago’s City Council is now taking a look at this practice. A lawyer with the Illinois attorney general’s office told the council’s Human Relations Committee that a troubled credit history has no relationship to poor job performance or theft on the job. Employers can also refuse to hire people for being unemployed – no questions asked. An article in the Chicago Tribune discusses a City Council proposal to prevent this sort of discrimination:
Rejecting Chicago job applicants because of credit history would be banned in most cases under a proposal a City Council committee endorsed Thursday…
…Under the city measure, applicants who believe they have been wronged can take the less costly and simpler route of filing a complaint with the city Human Relations Commission.
The proposal, put forward by freshman Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th, also would ban employment ads that say the unemployed cannot apply.
“People have been discriminated against simply on the basis of credit history or for simply being unemployed, and as a result, qualified applicants are being denied jobs,” Pawar said. “Every job seeker, regardless of their credit history, deserves a fair shake.
“And this kind of discrimination has profound impacts on seniors, single-income households, immigrants, refugees and parents re-entering the workforce and finally veterans,” he said…
…A union representative, an employment coordinator for a human rights group and a lawyer with the Illinois attorney general’s office all told the council’s Human Relations Committee that a troubled credit history has no relationship to poor job performance or theft on the job.
The officials also cited studies that indicate about a third of credit reports contain errors… Read more here
***UPDATE*** – Feb. 24, 2012 – Shelly Banjo writing for the Wall Street Journal reports that more than a dozen states are considering making it illegal for companies to discriminate against the unemployed:
“More than a dozen states are considering legislation to make it illegal for companies to discriminate against the unemployed. State lawmakers say they see the bias turning up in a nation with an 8.3% unemployment rate: Companies that explicitly advertise that they won’t hire someone who isn’t currently employed. The proposals from Connecticut to California range in scope from banning advertisements that require current employment to allowing unsuccessful job candidates to sue businesses under the same discrimination laws that apply to bias on the basis of religion, race, gender or national origin…” Read more here
Posted in Chicago, economic self-sufficiency, employment abuses, employment/jobs for refugees, Travel Loan Program | Tagged: bad credit, Chicago, City Council, credit history, discrimination, economic self sufficiency, Human Relations Committee, refugees, resettlement, unemployment | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 30, 2012
A reader sent me another article from earlier this month about that recent report by San Francisco State University, and the nonprofit Burma Family Refugee Network, about refugees from Burma living in extreme poverty in Oakland. It has details about a Karenni refugee woman in Oakland who had to give birth at home (because she couldn’t find a ride to the hospital). The director of the International Rescue Committee in Northern California says he would like to see services at resettlement agencies for a longer period than six months. (Bear in mind we are just now making our way out of this severe recession since 2009, and the IRC in Northern California still hasn’t extended services – in spite of the doubling of the US State Department per capita refugee grant 2 years ago — see analysis here.) The article is in the East Bay Express has added details about the problems:
Hae Htoo lives in a one-bedroom unit in East Oakland with five other family members [her husband, brother, and three children]. The twenty-year-old arrived in the US six months ago and hopes to learn English and find a job. But a recent report by San Francisco State University and nonprofit Burma Family Refugee Network shows that refugees from Burma who now live in Oakland, such as Hae Htoo, are facing dire circumstances…
…even…employed [refugees from Burma in Oakland] are living in poverty — 75 percent, according to the report — since jobs may be short-term, part-time, and low-wage. The study also found that some people eligible for welfare were not on it. Another paradox is that 90 percent said they had doctors, but healthcare was still one of their top problems, due to the language barrier. ”Even though they have doctors and insurance, they still don’t get healthcare,” said Jeung. “They didn’t understand how to get an appointment, or if they are given a prescription, how to take their drugs”…
…Hae Htoo gave birth to a newborn daughter just two months ago. That morning, she felt contractions but wasn’t sure if she was going into labor. By the time she was ready to give birth, she could not find a ride to the hospital. She gave birth in the bathroom; her husband caught the baby….Following [a] 911 operator’s instructions as translated by [a] neighbor, Hae’s husband tied one of his shoelaces around the umbilical cord and waited for an ambulance…
Mental health is also an issue; more than 70 percent [of the refugees surveyed in the study] reported stressors that impaired them. (The survey included culturally appropriate answers such as feeling “heaviness” or “head is hot,” mental states that prevent someone from focusing or being able to work). Jeung said mental health issues stem from both war trauma and the acculturative stress of having to adapt to a new land…
…[Ken Briggs, interim executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Northern California] hopes the [IRC] will be able to offer long-term case management in the future…”I would like to see services within the resettlement agencies that provides support for a longer period [than six months], particularly with job search and case management”…
…Hae Htoo…is worried. Her husband will be laid off from his bakery job in three months. “I am worried we won’t be able to pay rent and bills”…
Zar Ni Maung, co-founder of the Burma Family Refugee Network, said that even folks who have been here since 2007 still struggle. Some are exhausting their CalWorks lifetime benefits [The lifetime cap for welfare and CalWorks was recently cut from five to four years]. He fears some refugees will remain a permanent, poverty-stricken underclass.
“They’ve been here long-term now,” he said. “Who’s going to pay for their rent? Who is helping them find a job? A lot of people have been placed [in jobs], but they do not continue going to work or have been laid off. Nobody seems to be looking into why this is happening. They don’t have skills. The issues are here. How are we going to fix it?” Read more here
Posted in IRC, R&P, Burma/Myanmar, Karenni, funding, housing, overcrowding, employment/jobs for refugees, Oakland, housing, safety, economic self-sufficiency, Catholic Charities of the East Bay (Oakland) | Tagged: refugees, karenni, IRC, resettlement, Oakland, International Rescue Committee, interpretation, poverty, east bay, Catholic Charities of the East Bay | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 27, 2012
Many refugee resettlement agencies nationwide have resorted to assisting in sending refugees off to distant locations, including to other states, to find employment with meatpacking companies, dairies, etc. The employment rate for Idaho’s employable refugees dropped to only 55 percent in 2009. Jan Reeves, who heads the Idaho Office for Refugees, says his office looked farther afield to find jobs for refugees. (Of course finding far-flung jobs, such as at a dairy in Boardman, Ore., do not come without risks. A refugee died in an auto-accident trying to drive to Boardman in 2010.) As a result, apparently, the employment rate has moved back up to more than 70 percent. An article in Idaho’s State Impact has more:
In the last few years, more than four thousand refugees have found their way to Idaho. They’ve come from Africa, and from East and South Asia. Most came to Boise. For years, the city’s strong economy, good quality affordable housing and supportive community created an especially favorable environment for refugee resettlement. Now, the recession has shifted that picture.
Most days, Nowela Virginie and her two young daughters are here, in her small apartment just off a busy thoroughfare on the outskirts of Boise.
Virginie is 23, and she arrived in Boise three years ago. She was born in Rwanda, but spent sixteen years of her life in a refugee camp in Tanzania…
…“You know, new country is supposed to be hard,” she says. “New language, everything is new…if you don’t speak any English, is so hard – really hard.”…
…Marcia Munden is a social worker with Catholic Charities of Idaho. She says Virginie is one of many refugees living in Boise who have found themselves stuck. “Three years ago we were just seeing a few extreme cases of refugees that had consistent difficulty with integration,” she says. “And then it really happened very suddenly where there were 50, 60, 100 families really struggling.”…
…The recession has complicated the hard task of refugee resettlement nationwide. But the shift is especially stark in Boise…
…Now, Boise is one of the places where the IRC has reduced the number of refugees it aims to resettle each year, cutting back by about a third. In addition, they and other local agencies that help refugees find work have adopted new strategies. Jan Reeves heads the Idaho Office for Refugees. “We’ve looked at other ways of opening doors that we’ve never had to look at before,” he says.
For example, Reeves says, they’ve looked farther afield, finding jobs for a number of refugees at a dairy in Boardman, Ore. The efforts appear to be paying off. Before the recession, in 2005, 95 percent of the office’s employable caseload found work. That dropped to 55 percent in 2009. It has since gone back up to more than 70 percent… Read more here
By the way, Jan Reeves is another person that came into government via the revolving door. Previously, he was the Director of the Mountain States Refugee Resettlement Program, and then Director of that agency’s Refugee Center.
Posted in economic self-sufficiency, employment/jobs for refugees, Idaho, IRC, meatpacking industry, revolving door, Rwandan, safety | Tagged: Boardman, employment, Idaho, International Rescue Committee, IRC, Jan Reeves, refugees, resettlement, Threemile Canyon Farms | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 19, 2012
A pair of enterprising immigrant medical professionals in Minnesota are showing that with a bit of help refugee medical professionals can get back into their professions. An article in the Minnesota Post details the story:
…They have treated patients in some of the world’s toughest places: Pakistan’s earthquake-stricken mountains, Burma’s embattled neighborhoods and crowded camps where Bhutanese families sought refuge.
What hundreds of these doctors and nurses haven’t been able to do is treat anyone in Minnesota where barriers to foreign-trained medical workers are formidable.
Now, they are surmounting those barriers — and, in the process, filling serious gaps in Minnesota’s health care delivery — thanks to Dr. Wilhelmina Holder and Stephen Nguyagwa.
From scratch, Holder and Nguyagwa built a ground-breaking system for supporting foreign-trained doctors and nurses in their struggle to win the credentials they need to practice in Minnesota…
Their leadership rose from deeply disappointing personal experience…
…Holder, 64, was a medical doctor whose career was shattered by civil war in her homeland, Liberia, where her father had been the president. Like millions of other refugees, she found herself absorbed for years in the distractions of settling in a new land and caring for the needs of a displaced family. By the time she was free to resume her practice, doors had closed to her in Minnesota, even though she had updated her skills.
“To my amazement, I realized I never would get into residency,” Holder said.
Instead, she channeled her energy into helping others overcome the same obstacles. She knew doctors who were working as taxi drivers and parking-lot attendants even while their communities cried for their professional services…
…Of some 250 medical professionals who have participated in the association’s program, only about 20 doctors have stepped up to residency programs so far, Nguyagwa said. About 20 nurses have gone all of the way to nursing jobs, he said. A few dentists, pharmacists and professionals in other medical specialties also have gone through the program and landed jobs…
…All three Somali doctors who went through the program last year won residency slots. So prospects are bright for this year’s class… Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Cuban, economic self-sufficiency, health, Minnesota, Nepali Bhutanese, professionals, Somali | Tagged: African & American Friendship Association for Cooperation & Development, medical professionals, refugees, resettlement, Stephen Nguyagwa., Wilhelmina Holder | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 12, 2012
Under a new program the City of Seattle will offer job training and educational support to low-income immigrant and refugee youth between the ages of 15-20 who typically have poor high school graduation rates. To pay for the program the City will redirect $315,000 from existing city programs for immigrants and refugees, with another $150,000 in funding added. An article in The Seattle Times has more:
Job training and educational support will be offered to low-income immigrant and refugee youth and their families under a new program announced Tuesday by the City of Seattle…
…The city is looking for established or emerging organizations that can improve the outcomes for immigrant and refugee youth between the ages of 15-20 who typically have poor high school graduation rates, few job skills and little parent support or advocacy…
Advocates say immigrant and refugee teens have a difficult time competing for and landing jobs because of their limited language skills, lack of job training and the gaps in their education because of their family histories… Read more here
Posted in economic self-sufficiency, education, employment/jobs for refugees, funding, schools, Seattle, teens | Tagged: at-risk, graduation rates, job skills, job training, jobs program, refugees, resettlement, seattle, teenagers, youth | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 9, 2012
Gov. Cuomo of New York has proposed a new state office to help refugees and immigrants with jobs, entrepreneurship, citizenship, and participation in civic and economic life. An article in Syracuse’s Post Standard explains:
In the fine print of his State of the State message last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he would create an Office for New Americans to help immigrants on the path to citizenship and jobs.
Cuomo did not say much about the promise, but it is already welcome news to refugees and other immigrants who are trying to gain traction in Syracuse…
…Cuomo said last week that a new Office for New Americans would help the many legal, permanent residents eager to contribute to the economy and become part of the family of New York. The office would help highly-skilled people get licenses and low-skilled people get education and job training. The office would promote programs that encourage new Americans to participate in New York civic and economic life and would help people navigate the path to citizenship. It also would encourage entrepreneurship.
“We are not afraid of immigrants in New York – because we are immigrants, and children of immigrants, and we know how much they contribute to the state,” the governor said.
Cuomo spokesman Matt Wing said the office would not say more about the proposal. The governor is drawing up a proposed budget for the next fiscal year and is expected to unveil it Jan. 17. Read more here
Posted in economic self-sufficiency, employment/jobs for refugees, New York, professionals | Tagged: citizenship, entrepreneurship, immigrants, jobs, New York, participation in civic life, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 27, 2011
The continuing weak economic times seem to have hit refugees particularly hard in Seattle. Homelessness among refugees began to skyrocket in mid 2010. An article in The Fiscal Times refers to the situation:
…In King County, which takes in both Seattle and neighboring suburbs like Kent, half of the population growth over the last two decades has come from immigrants and refugees, said Chandler Felt, King County’s demographer. The vast majority of those new foreign-born residents have settled into South King County suburbs, including Kent, instead of in Seattle to take advantage of more affordable housing, Felt said.
The surge in refugees and immigrants from East Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia settling in Kent has made the community more culturally diverse, but it’s also helped push the poverty rate to 25 percent, compared to 9 percent ten years ago, said Katherine Johnson, the city’s housing and human services manager.
“All of a sudden, the resettlement agency’s finished with you six or eight months after you arrive, you’re not able to find a job, and you’re just starting to learn the language and assimilate,” Johnson said. “The next thing that happens is you have eviction notices, your utilities are turned off, and you have no finances to speak of.” The city has seen thousands of cases like that , she said… Read more here
Posted in economic self-sufficiency, Seattle | Tagged: eviction, Kent, poverty, refugees, resettlement, seattle, South King County, suburbs, utilities turned off | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
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