Archive for the ‘employment/jobs for refugees’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 14, 2012
Some refugee population groups entering the US come from a long tradition of farming and may wish to continue farming as a way to earn a living. Refugees from Myanmar and Hmong refugees, mainly from Cambodia, are two groups that come to mind. The National Immigrant Farming Initiative is helping immigrants and refugees with a penchant for farming to apply those skills in the US by teaching them about our growing season, crops, prices, regulations, where and how to sell, how to connect with markets and government farm support programs. This is apparently not only a way for refugees to help them keep up their agrarian practices, but is also a way of avoiding the poverty trap for those with little English and a lack of American workplace skills. An article in Twin Cities Daily Planet has more:
He was born in mountainous Cambodia and dreamed of owning a farm. She was born to the far-reaching plains of the Midwest and flourished in an urban setting of coffee shops and poetry readings.
Now, immigrant Proeun and Amy Doeun are married, have four children, a herd of goats and 85 chickens as well as their own 40-acre farm in Rush City. That’s thanks in large part to the Minnesota Food Association, a farm entrepreneurship program she calls “our alma mater.’’
That program is but one of many to be highlighted at an upcoming national conference with a title as long and as self-explanatory as many a non-fiction book.
“Grassroots and Groundwork: Working Together to Reduce Poverty and Build Prosperity”…
…The need for such agricultural training appeared as Minnesota experienced a “huge and steady influx of immigrants from other countries, many of them from agrarian societies and they would like to know how can I farm in Minnesota,’’ Hill explains. The program teaches about the growing season here, crops, prices, regulations, where and how to sell, how to connect with markets and government farm support programs, he says.
The state group is a member of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., supporting immigrants who don’t have the capital or knowhow or don’t understand the American agricultural system or have limited English, explains the group’s Executive Director Rigoberto Delgado. He will also speak at the conference.
Delgado says immigrants are replacing the disappearing American family farmer, pointing out that the number of Latino farmers in the United States grew 14 percent between 2002 and 2007.
“They come with the American dream and a penchant for farming. We are like the doorway for immigrants and refugees to find their way,’’ says Delgado… Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, community farms, Hmong, Minnesota | Tagged: Burma, community farms, family farmer, Hmong, Minnesota Food Association, Myanmar, National Immigrant Farming Initiative, refugees, resettlement, Small farms | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 3, 2012
In late 2009 and early 2010 a volunteer assisting refugees at the Bowling Green International Center (previously known as Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association) found refugees from Myanmar (in this case Karenni) living in deplorable conditions, who reported receiving low-quality resettlement services from the resettlement agency. The volunteer documented extensively what she saw and heard, including taking photos and videos. Oddly, a State Department resettlement grant inspection report from earlier in 2009 failed to uncover any of these problems.
Now, here is a look at the ORR’s most recent inspection report of the International Center’s (IC’s) use of Matching Grant Program funds, from 2006. By the way, this is one of twelve inspection reports (8 were incomplete) that we recently received from a Freedom of Information Act request to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) covering a period from 2005 to 2011. (If HHS complied with the FOIA law, that would mean that the ORR did two inspections per year. This, in a program that in CY2006, for example, paid out $35,772,000 to the resettlement contractors, and served 24,753 refugees, Cuban/Haitian Entrants, asylees and victims of trafficking)
Here are highlights from the inspection:
- The IC’s national affiliate, the USCRI, supposedly monitored the IC in March of 2006 (these are the self-inspections that the State Dept. touts as being useful — I remain skeptical). “ORR requested a copy of this report for the record, but USCRI failed to comply.”
- Of the 67 refugees enrolled in the MG program in 2005, the ORR reviewed only eight refugee case files. Files contained document forms in other languages that did not have a corresponding English copy. Comprehensive employment services were in some cases not documented as required by MG Guidelines. In some cases there was no documentation of closeout, e.g. status of refugee at termination of services and referrals to later programs if needed. The ORR reviewer found that the full issues that had arisen in refugee cases — the resulting services and/or follow-up for some cases — were not noted, and were instead learned only by speaking with the refugees (visiting with only three of the 67 refugees) and resettlement agency staff.
- The IC referred the vast majority of refugees to only one factory that it had a long, established relationship with, disregarding the diversity of refugees’ employment histories and education. (One size does not fit all.)
- Instances where the IC did not pay the children’s part of the monthly cash payments – $40 per child. This is the cash that the ORR gives to resettlement agencies for refugee parents who are receiving employment services so that they are able to pay basic bills.
- Although resettlement agencies such as the IC are allowed to use $2 in MG funds for each $1 in donations they gather, the ORR review found “numerous instances in which copious amounts of inappropriate and unallowable donations were being recorded and counted as MG match. Examples include $1,639 for clothing donations to [match the MG funds] a family of three…and $3,319 for clothing donations for a family of six…unclear service donations of $192 (I suspect that should be four digits — a piece here is redacted)…and counting donations that are clearly required as part of the [State Department refugee grant] (Mattresses [for one refugee] and pillows, sheets, mattresses, etc. for [another refugee] as MG match. The reviewer…found that donated goods were not…consistently valued in a manner that assigns reasonable values to such donations.”
- The IC intermingled funds from separate grants, even from separate US federal agencies, which the ORR assessed as “grossly incompliant” (sic). For example, the reviewer found “numerous instances where [IC] was incorrectly charging federal funds for employee time. ORR Matching Grant, ORR Cash Assistance, ORR Medical Assistance, ORR…Social Services, and [State Department initial resettlement services grant money] charges were often mixed up.” This included double charging case management services to the MG program and to another grant though the refugee was only enrolled in the MG program, charging refugee health costs to MG, and charging MG past the allowable service period.
- Despite these deficiencies the ORR wrote that the International Center provides “effective services to refugees that are enrolled in the MG program” (???), and that the number of refugees enrolled in the MG program was projected to increase from 67 in 2005 to 175 in 2006. The ORR’s specific assessment of the IC’s use of MG program grant money also appears to give the agency credit for non-MG services. For example, the ORR gives the IC credit for services such as referring refugees in a timely manner to food stamps, medical assistance, health screenings and social security cards – all of which the State Department refugee resettlement grant covered. Read report here
Posted in Bowling Green, children, employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, International Center in Bowling Green (Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association), Karenni, Matching Grant program, ORR, USCRI | Tagged: Bowling Green, government contractor, International Center, karenni, Matching grant, One size fits all, ORR, refugees, resettlement, Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association | Leave a Comment »
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 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 March 25, 2012
Refugees who were professionals in their home countries often have difficulty reentering their professions once resettled to the US. With the US refugee resettlement program’s emphasis on early economic self-sufficiency and little help with helping refugees to recertify their professional credentials once here, many refugees have had to leave their careers behind. Now, the state of Idaho is taking steps to help make sure that these people’s experience and abilities are not wasted, and is instead used to help American society. An article in the Idaho Statesman has the story:
…[Idaho] has a system in place through which teachers educated in foreign universities can get Idaho credentials. Tara Wolfson, regional employment coordinator for the Idaho Office for Refugees, knows of one person who has done so. The process can be daunting.
There can be language barriers. Even for refugee teachers who are fluent in English, getting official transcripts from their home universities can take a long time — if it’s even possible.
Wolfson recently helped a man from Sudan send for his transcripts from the Egyptian university where he’d studied. From start to finish, the process took more than a year and a half.
Sometimes, former teachers have to return to school because the state of Idaho requires specific classes. That can be time-consuming and expensive.
TRANSPLANTING PROFESSIONS
The Idaho Office for Refugees has a new program to help educators keep a foothold in their profession as they work toward recertification, by becoming preschool teachers and child-care workers.
The program guides refugees through the process of getting their Boise child-care worker licenses, as well as pediatric first aid and CPR instruction through Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. It helps connect them with Idaho Stars, a statewide child-care referral system.
In the past year, the refugee office has helped 13 refugees get their licenses and first aid training. Most have found jobs in child-care centers and preschools, said Wolfson.
Jog Bhattarai, a Bhutanese refugee who taught for many years in a Nepalese refugee camp before coming to Idaho, started a new job at a Boise child-care center last week. She credits a network of people who helped her, including the Idaho Office for Refugees, and the Idaho Department of Labor, whose staffers helped her polish her resume… Read more here
Posted in employment/jobs for refugees, Idaho, Nepali Bhutanese, professionals | Tagged: Idaho, professionals, recertify, refugees, resettlement, teachers, teaching | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 22, 2012
An Iraqi mother has finally found refugee in the bay area, and must now deal with problems faced by poor Americans. She has a job lined up, but can’t enroll her children in school without a permanent residence. She can’t get an apartment, however, without having a job. A story at NBC Bay Area explains her predicament:
On the ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an Iraqi mother is desperately eager for her American dream to begin in Santa Clara.
Taghreed Alazzawi worked in Baghdad’s Green Zone as an interpreter for the Texas-based contractor KBR. That work is something she says put a target on her head.
In 2008, she arrived in Santa Clara as a refugee. In the years since, she became a legal resident with a green card, and returned to Iraq for her two sons who were abandoned by their father.
Now, she and her 11- and 12-year-old boys are staying in a $50-a-night motel room — they sleep on the bed, she sleeps on the floor — because she hasn’t found a permanent home.
“If you want to rent an apartment, they want to see check stubs. Being unemployed right now, no, this is going to be almost impossible finding an apartment,” said Alazzawi.
Alazzawi has a job lined up, but can’t work until the children are enrolled in school and they have a permanent residence… Read more here
Posted in Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, employment/jobs for refugees, Iraqi, Santa Rosa, schools | Tagged: Bay Area, catholic charities, Iraqi, refugees, resettlement, Santa Clara | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 5, 2012
New Hampshire’s House Municipal and County Government Committee voted, 15-1, not to support Manchester mayor Ted Gatsas’ effort to allow a one-year moratorium on local refugee resettlement. The proposed law would have been unconstitutional by both conflicting with the federal framework and by singling out a particular group of legal residents to restrict their right to freedom of movement, according to a University of New Hampshire Law School professor. Strangely the New Hampshire Union Leader rag describes this as Gatsas not getting “help” with refugees (apparently the newspaper only supports the US Constitution to the extent that it supports their particular brand of conservative ideology). In the meantime local businesses are in need of workers and Mayor Gatsas can’t seem to find any time to help them connect with Manchester refugee residents in need of jobs.
No help with refugees: If Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas and other city officials expected lawmakers to help with the city’s refugee resettlement problems, they were very disappointed.
The House Municipal and County Government Committee voted, 15-1, to kill House Bill 1405, with only Goffstown Rep. John Burt in opposition.
Gatsas, Alderman and Rep. Pat Arnold and Manchester Reps. Win Hutchinson and Mike Ball all spoke in favor of the bill which would have allowed a one-year moratorium on refugee resettlement.
Gatsas has pushed federal officials for a moratorium, which he says is needed until the refugees who are here settle into the system, get jobs and become productive citizens. “We need to take a breath, step back and figure out how to do this right,” Gatsas told the committee last month…
…One glitch in the push for the legislation was University of New Hampshire Law School professor Albert Scheer, who told the committee the moratorium provision raised constitutional questions, both because it singled out a particular class of legal residents and because states cannot pass laws that conflict with the “federal framework.” The refugee resettlement program is under the direction of the State Department.
Said Rep. Kris Roberts, D-Keene, Municipal and County Government Committee member: “This is one of those well-intentioned bills introduced to solve a problem where the sponsors see a problem, but aren’t really sure what they are trying to address is even a major factor.
“This matter needs to be pro-actively addressed at the city-state level with the state then addressing local concerns with the United States State Department and the Office of Homeland Security, not by New Hampshire enacting a law that could reflect negatively on the honest concerns of some local communities”… Read more here
Posted in employment/jobs for refugees, moratorium / restriction, New Hampshire | Tagged: House Bill 1405, moratorium, New Hampshire, refugees, resettlement, Ted Gatsas, unconstitutional | 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 February 16, 2012
Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas is trumpeting the City’s low unemployment figures. He claims to believes in families but asks how unemployed refugees are going to support family members once they get here. I guess he hasn’t considered trying to help pair up any of those refugees with local employers looking for workers, and doesn’t realize that these people will still have to try to support their separated family members whether they stay trapped overseas in resettlement camps or resettle to other US cities (refugees from family reunion cases were reduced this year). An article in The Union-Leader has the mayor’s most recent comments about his refugee community:
GOFFSTOWN — Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas spoke alongside Gov. John Lynch in a joint State of the State and State of the City event at Saint Anselm College Wednesday.
“I can tell you that the city is in great shape,” Gatsas said. “There’s a buzz, there’s a happening, people are enthusiastic about seeing the city and moving throughout the community, and that’s a good thing.”…
…Gatsas pointed to the city’s low unemployment rate, saying it’s an honor to go to ribbon-cuttings for new businesses on a weekly basis.
“That means people are looking to start a business here in this community, and they’re looking to hire,” he said…
…In July, the mayor made headlines when he called for a two-year moratorium on refugee resettlement to Manchester, a position he reaffirmed Wednesday.
“I’ve had refugees come up to me and say, ‘Mayor you’re right. We don’t have a job. We need to get a job first.’”
Gatsas said he believes in families, but when unemployed refugees are receiving family members here, “how are they going to support them once they get here?”… Read more here
Posted in employment/jobs for refugees, International Institute of NE, New Hampshire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 15, 2012
Refugee workers at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport have worked in poor conditions while an airport contractor — GCA Services Group — allegedly used discrimination, threats and mistreatment to dissuade them in their efforts to join a union to bargain for basic benefits, such as health insurance and sick leave. Workers say that the City has ignored their poor work conditions. An article in The Arizona Republic has more:
Isabell Marquez said she tried for months to find another job after she was fired a year ago from her work as a janitor for a contractor at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport…
Marquez, in her 50s, was one of four workers who claimed the company, GCA Services Group, fired them when supervisors learned they were trying to unionize.
Now, Marquez and her co-workers are celebrating her reinstatement — and a check for $8,462 in back pay…
Several of the GCA’s 200 workers at the airport allege they have faced discrimination, threats and mistreatment for their efforts to join a union that would fight for a contract with basic benefits such as health insurance and sick leave. Their claims recently were backed by the National Labor Relations Board.
The board issued a consent order in December that required GCA to re-hire and pay a total of $24,040 in lost wages to Marquez and her co-workers, Hamid Amiri, Yadu Rijal and Geoffrey Kachiolwa.
In addition, the board required GCA to promote another worker, Narayan Timsina, to a job he was initially denied and to give him $1,861 in back pay.
The board outlined the steps GCA must take to calm hostile relations with its workers, which include an end to policies that deter workers from unionizing and an end to threats for workers involved with a union…
… So far, GCA has not recognized workers who carry union cards, said workers’ advocates at Central Arizona for a Sustainable Economy, or CASE…
…CASE staff said GCA has exploited a vulnerable group in society: refugees who have few job options when they arrive in Phoenix. Many of them hail from politically unstable countries such as Afghanistan, Myanmar, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia, CASE staff said.
CASE said many of Sky Harbor’s service contractors tend to pay refugee workers low wages with few or no benefits while the city seems to ignore their poor work conditions.
Last week, CASE staff and 18 GCA workers brought a scroll filled with complaints about their working conditions to the Phoenix Aviation Department.
Department officials sidestepped the complaints… Read more here
Posted in employment abuses, employment/jobs for refugees, Phoenix | Tagged: GCA Services Group, health insurance, Phoenix, Poor Work Conditions, refugees, resettlement, sick leave, Sky Harbor International Airport, union | Leave a Comment »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
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