Archive for the ‘community/cultural orientation’ Category
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 November 6, 2011
As secondary migrant refugees continue arriving in Waterloo – in search of jobs or to join their families – the federal refugee agencies remain incognito. In this vacuum the county public health agency has become the default lead agency involved with case coordinating all aspects of issues that refugees face. Hundreds of refugees need green cards – to apply for permanent residency status after 1 year in the US – an issue the health agency has no experience with. Other refugees have fallen victim to assaults and robberies with the lack of guidance and orientation to the community and culture. An article in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier has more:
…The number of Burmese here has grown as members of the Burmese community refer friends and family, said Kaitlin Emrich, disease surveillance program manager. Before, the majority were recruited by Tyson Fresh Meats. The plant employs about 300 Burmese, including an interpreter to transport and interpret at appointments.
Now, some are seeking jobs elsewhere, while others are stay-at-home mothers, or have health problems and come to stay with family.
“They’re kind of coming in under the radar,” said Bruce Meisinger, director of public health for the county. “Before we were aware there were X number coming on a certain date.”
According to Emrich, Tyson continues to hire Burmese refugees, and the population is expected to continue growing quickly until winter. Several large families — with eight to 10 members each — will reportedly arrive soon, while many continue to wait for family to join them from Burma or other states.
“We are anticipating the first multigenerational family to arrive by the end of (October),” Emrich said…
…”Basically, we are still the lead agency involved with case coordinating all aspects of the issues the community is confronted with in terms of the Burmese resettling here,” Meisinger said. “There is no indication that the numbers are going to slow down in the foreseeable future.”
Emrich said close to two full-time-equivalent employees are now devoted to Burmese issues. The department is looking for a partner to handle non-health-related issues, and she has been in communication with a Des Moines agency about establishing a resettlement agency to serve the Cedar Valley.
She previously sought assistance from Catholic Charities, which declined because staffers have full loads and doesn’t have the means to hire additional workers.
“They’re used to working about 32 cases a year,” Emrich said. “We’re seeing about 32 cases every two or three weeks.”
Tyson has worked with the U.S. State Department to bring refugees to Waterloo from refugee camps in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Texas. Their resettlement here is considered secondary migration. Financial help is attached to primary refugees, Emrich said...
…According to Emrich, the Burmese live in rental housing with one primary landlord “who understands their unique needs as newcomers to our country.” However, some have fallen victim to assaults and robberies, especially in neighborhoods with high crime rates, she said… Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Catholic Charities Diocese of Des Moines, community/cultural orientation, dangerous neighborhoods, economic self-sufficiency, immigration services, meatpacking industry, safety, secondary migration, refugee, Waterloo | Tagged: Burmese, catholic charities, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, refugees, resettlement, secondary migration, State Department, Tyson Fresh Meats, Waterloo | 1 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 August 24, 2011
Smiler Greeley, the Karen refugee from Burma resettled to Buffalo and featured in the Nickel City Smiler documentary, says that community gardens draw his fellow refugees because they used to make their living planting. Besides, the gardens are fun and it saves money. An article in Buffalo Rising gives us another glimpse into refugees’ lives in that city.
When PUSH (People United for Sustainable Housing) planned the community garden on Hampshire Street, they only had one requirement in mind: gardeners looking for a plot to sow…
…More than half of the gardeners to apply were Burmese refugees.
The piqued interest from the refugee community made sense. The majority of the refugees coming to Buffalo from Burma and Nepal were farmers in their previous countries, according to Chelsea Wagner, of Journey’s End Refugee Services.
“They used to make their living planting, so they’re interested in this kind of stuff,” said Smiler Greeley, a Burmese member of the community garden, and cultural liaison at Journey’s End Refugee Services. Greeley was speaking at a public forum on Tuesday held by the Partnership for the Public Good (PPG) addressing the potential of community gardens and urban farms to serve the refugee community…
…Due to the combined success of the garden and an apparent interest expressed by much of the refugee community, many groups such as the PPG and Journey’s End are working to expand community gardens in locations with high refugee populations, particularly those of Burmese and Nepali origin.
“You can’t make your life on this, but this is fun. It’s fun and it saves money,” said Greeley. Read more here
The Nickel City Smiler DVD is available here.
Posted in Buffalo, Burma/Myanmar, community/cultural orientation, Karen | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, Karen, Buffalo, Nickel City Smiler, Burmese, Smiler Greeley, community gardens, urban farms | 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 15, 2011
A mysterious bill called “The Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act of 2011″ is being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Gary C. Peters (D-Mich). Church World Service just sent out the following news release, although Congressman Peters’ website doesn’t yet have any information.
Washington — March 15, 2011 – Global humanitarian organization Church World Service applauds Congressman Gary C. Peters (D-Mich.) for introducing the Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act…
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…The Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act of 2011 would elevate the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services, thereby giving the office broader authority to make structural changes and to direct resources more effectively, while increasing transparency and inter-agency communication.
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The bill also would improve the process by which refugee resettlement funds are allocated to states by including in the formula a projection of refugee arrivals during the coming fiscal year in addition to figures for the past three years of arrivals. It also calls for increased data collection on secondary migration, health and mental health issues, housing needs, and long-term employment outcomes, as well as
a Government Accountability Office report on the resettlement program overall… Read more here
We’ll have to wait and see if this legislation would do anything to actually help refugees. No doubt it will definitely include perks for the refugee resettlement agencies and their friends in government. I’d like to see how the bill would “increase transparency” in light of the current situation in which we have to wait months or years for FOIA’s to go through, basic information cannot be found anywhere on the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) website about things such as how much private funding resettlement agencies actually bring to the refugee program, how often the ORR actually inspects the resettlement agencies that receive ORR funds, and why privatization (the Wilson-Fish Program) of state resettlement programs — away from public oversight – continues to accelerate.
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The part about “increased data collection” also raises my curiousity, although the ORR seems to already collect an awfully large amount of data yet problems remain in effect for years if not decades. For example, refugees are still not learning English for years since few instructors who speak their languages teach the ESL classes. Then there is the ongoing problem of refugee Medcaid-funded medical services that are done without interpreters. Also, years after refugees arrive they continue to lack basic information such as knowing about their Constitutional rights, about personal finances, etc.
Posted in HHS, ORR, CWS, health, mental health, reform, funding, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, community/cultural orientation, Michigan, employment/jobs for refugees, openess and transparency in government, secondary migration, refugee, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Detroit area, housing, employment abuses, Wilson-Fish Program, legislation | Tagged: ORR, refugees, resettlement, HHS, Office of Refugee Resettlement, refugee resettlement program, refugee resettlement, ESL, refugee resettlement agencies, gao, Department of Health and Human Services, transparency, CWS, Church World Service, FOIA, Freedom of Information Act, secondary migration, Domestic Refugee Reform and Modernization Act of 2011, Domestic Refugee Reform & Modernization Act of 2011, Congressman Gary Peters, Gary Peters, data collection, Government Accountability Office, Wilson-Fish | 4 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 10, 2011
Greg Wangerin, Executive Director of RefugeeONE (fka IRIM)
The Gapers Block -- a Chicago-centric web publication – has an article reporting about refugee clients of the refugee resettlement agency RefugeeONE (formerly known as Interfaith Refugee and
Immigration Ministries, and InterChurch Refugee and Immigration Ministries), an affiliate of CWS, EMM and LIRS. An audio interview details the abuses the couple suffered in Sierra Leone. When the US government resettled them to Chicago the woman shoveled snow into garbage bags and put them into the dumpster because she didn’t know what else to do with it. An elderly Somali man arrived and told her, “just push it to the side.”
But what about this resettlement agency? It turns out that they recently rebranded themselves as RefugeeONE, after long being known as Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries (IRIM). Why the name change? Sometimes I worry that these agencies think they can rid themselves of past errors and weaknesses (wrongdoings?) by essentially becoming a completely different agency, in the public’s mind at least, via a name change.
So what is in the agency’s past? It turns out we have an old State Department monitoring report of IRIM, when the agency was under the directorship of someone named May Campbell. This is the most recent available inspection report (which tells me that they are just about ready for another once-in-ten-years inspection, or the Admissions Office has been illegally holding back reports from our FOIA’s. It’s either one or the other.)
Let’s see — 1) Placed a refugee in an apartment with a leaking bathroom ceiling and a broken door lock, and another in an apartment with a “water problem” (normal for Chicago low-income apartments after all), 2) left a refugee family, including an elderly woman, to sleep on the floor of their apartment for almost five months (until the day before the pre-announced monitoring visit – funny how that works). It turned out that the eleventh-hour delivery of beds (two single beds for four people) was the only home visit the case worker did (supposed to be done within 30 days, not at 4.5 months), 3) apparently didn’t bother to give another refugee family any chairs or couch, lamp, or a bed for their one-year-old child — just a dresser, three tables, and a double-bed (???), 4) no table or lamp for another family. [Check out so-called "minimum-requirements" in Operational Guidance to see why this is cheating the refugees and the taxpayers], 5) staff were not meeting with refugee families to make sure that they were giving them basic services and meeting their essential needs.
The refugee family that was sleeping on the floor of their apartment also reported that their employer was taking advantage of them by requiring them to make up bathroom break times at the end of the day. Apparently IRIM (now RefugeeONE) did nothing to help these refugees with this blatantly unfair treatment. No doubt the excuse would be that the agency ”didn’t know about it” (yet aren’t these contractors paid to know what’s happening to their refugee clients? If the only people watching over these refugees in their first several months don’t know what’s going on then who would? No one.) Apparently the refugee clients also reported that the agency had not told them what to do — via required community/cultural orientation – in the event that they experienced unfair, exploitive or illegal labor practices. By the way when I made a trip back to Chicago in 2001 some Lost Boys of Sudan” refugee clients of the Heartland Alliance agency told me that coworkers at an O’hare airport baggage handling company where they worked where screaming at them and physically threatening them. They said they told their Heartland Alliance case workers but nothing happened. Things just seem to keep happening when government monitors are away — for 10 years at a time.
On a last note, in 2009 journalists at the Chicago Tribune quote RefugeeONE’s current director, Greg Wangerin, saying,”I’m ashamed. I feel like I’m selling a lie”, in reference to all the problems in refugee resettlement during the recession. Here’s my question: Do these private refugee resettlement agencies ever look to themselves when pointing the finger of responsibility?
Posted in State Department, CWS, Operational Guidance, Sierra Leonean, faith-based, Christian, beds, community/cultural orientation, Chicago, housing, substandard, furnishings, lack of, housing, Episcopal, Lutheran, Baptist, home visits, employment abuses, RefugeeONE (formerly, Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries), RefugeeONE (formerly, Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries), RefugeeONE (formerly, Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries) | Tagged: Chicago, Church World Service, Church World Services, CWS, EMM, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Greg Wangerin, heartland alliance, human rights, Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, IRSA, LIRS, Lutheran immigration and refugee services, Lutheran Immigration and Refugees Service, May Campbell, refugee neglect, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, RefugeeOne, refugees, resettlement, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, USCRI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 4, 2011
A refugee client of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, an affiliate of CWS and EMM, wrote to us today about deficient services at the agency. The refugee reported the following problems:
Here is a 2001 inspection report for Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston (the most recently available inspection report, which means they have not been inspected in quite some time).
Posted in Texas, faith-based, Christian, churches, beds, transportation, community/cultural orientation, housing, substandard, Houston, insufficient assistance with daily tasks, furnishings, lack of, employment/jobs for refugees, late health screenings, housing, rats and roaches, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston | Tagged: Ali Al Sudani, Church World Service, CWS, Elliot Gershenson, EMM, Episcopal Migration Ministries, houston, Interfaith Ministries, refugees, resettlement | 1 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 February 27, 2011
The State Department finally released another inspection report of YMCA International Services, a Houston USCRI affiliate, three years after we submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. I blogged about this case last June.
This report is from January 2008 and reports that YMCA International Services was “non-complaint” with most of the terms of its government refugee contract. That’s a nice way to say “contractual fraud” and “neglect and abuse of refugees”.
Here are some of the highlights of the report:
- All refugee homes inspected had significant roach and/or mice infestation.
- Refugees and YMCA expressed concern about safety of refugee apartment complexes. Refugee families at the Glendale Park Apartments complex reported that people were harassing them on their way to the supermarket and their children were getting into fights on the bus (being attacked?).
- YMCA did not give refugees ready-to-eat food upon arrival.
- Records were in complete disarray.
- Home visits to refugees were almost never documented.
- A Cuban refugee couple only had a bed with one small, thin blanket, a plastic folding table, and two folding chairs. The bed was extremely uncomfortable, if not unsafe, with protruding mattress springs. The family waited over 45 minutes at the airport for the YMCA case worker to arrive, who did not speak their language. YMCA did the housing and personal safety orientation using hand signals. The couple did not feel safe in the apartment complex. They had heard of local robberies and the police had come to their door warning them to.use caution in the parking lot. YMCA took 3½ months to give the family community and cultural orientation.
- Upon arrival YMCA gave an Iraqi refugee couple with a small child only one bed (no bed for the child) with one small, thin blanket, a plastic folding table, and two folding chairs. The bed was extremely uncomfortable, if not unsafe, with protruding mattress springs. The YMCA employee who picked them up at the airport did not speak their language. YMCA did the housing and personal safety orientation in English. The couple did not feel safe in the apartment complex as they had heard of local robberies and the police had come to their door warning them to
use caution in the parking lot. YMCA took 3½ months to give the family community and cultural orientation. There was no ready-to-eat food upon arrival. The family used money they brought from Iraq to buy food until they received their food stamps. Neighbors told them the apartment complex was “risky” and they wanted to move. The family received an electrical bill that began one month before they arrived, but YMCA told them they must pay it. No one from YMCA visited the family until three months after their arrival, and YMCA did not give them a community orientation so they did not even know how to use the bus system.
- YMCA placed a Burmese refugee family that arrived in December in an apartment that had a large hole in a ground-floor bedroom window, and the management still had not repaired it two weeks later. The bed YMCA gave them was so uncomfortable that they slept on the floor. No one from YMCA spoke their language at the airport. YMCA did the housing and personal safety orientation in English and hand signals. It was two months before someone from YMCA visited them at home.
- YMCA placed a Burundian refugee couple in an apartment complex surrounded by barbed wire. The only furniture upon arrival was four plastic folding chairs and five beds. For their first two months the family ate their meals on the floor. They pulled couches from the trash. No one from YMCA spoke their language at the airport. YMCA did the housing and personal safety orientation using hand signals. The family needed clothes but YMCA did not offer to help them.
- YMCA caseworkers were enthusiastic! Yipeeee!
- The State Department monitors had to order YMCA to check all fiscal year 2007 refugee cases and compensate refugees for all missing money.
- YMCA fired the Refugee Program Director, Gabriel Gebray, yet allowed the agency’s Executive Director, Jeff Watkins, to keep his job. He apparently got off scott-free.
Here is a question: if an Executive Director of an organization claimed he had no idea how his refugee clients were being neglected, what does that tell you about his performance? Don’t Executive Directors ever look at the records or talk to refugee clients?
I know ignorance is bliss but is it an excuse to not be accountable?
Posted in beds, Burma/Myanmar, Burundian, clothes, community/cultural orientation, Cuban, dangerous neighborhoods, food, furnishings, lack of, home visits, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, substandard, Houston, Iraqi, language, language interpretation/translation, lack of, meeting refugees at the airport, rats and roaches, safety, State Department, USCRI, YMCA International Services | Tagged: Gabriel Gebray, houston, Jeff Watkins, refugee neglect, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, State Department, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, USCRI, YMCA International Services | 3 Comments »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
