Archive for the ‘employment services’ Category
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 December 2, 2011
According to Peter Huston who volunteered at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) in Albany, NY, the organization is not doing adequate work. This site is a local office of USCRI, and not an affiliate organization. Peter Huston’s blog has the details:
Is USCRI Albany a successful organization?
This is an important question that people should ask. Not only does the organization receive large amounts of government funding, resettle large numbers of people, but it also sends a signal to the outside world that it is THE place to send refugees in need of care.
In other words, more than once when I have taken refugees to places like the New York State One-stop Job Center, the state mandated and tax funded office that is supposed to assist all legal residents of the area with job-hunting, the secretary or someone else has suggested to me that I take the person, the refugee in need of work, down to the refugee center as this is supposed to be THEIR job. However, being familiar with the refugee center (and its very dedicated but completely overwhelmed job placement people)I know darn well that that is not an effective solution. In other words, the existence of the refugee center (USCRI-Albany) gives many people in social services the feeling that things are being taken care of when anyone familiar with the refugee center (USCRI-Albany) knows that they are not being handled properly.
Not too long ago a refugee invited me to attend an event where a spokesperson for USCRI-Albany stated that USCRI-Albany is an organization that helps refugees when they come to our area. In fact, USCRI-Albany is an organization that invites refugees to our area, promises the state department they will care for them, receives payment for doing so from the state department, and then, sometimes, only sometimes, actually cares for them in a responsible manner…
…1 comments:
Anonymous said…
- Peter Limon is Lavinia Limon’s brother. It’s a family operation all right. I’m a former employee. As we used to say, “When life gives you Limones, …keep your head down and don’t ask questions…or else…”
October 15, 2011 4:37 PM …Read more here
Posted in Albany, employment services, Karen, Karenni, State Department, USCRI, USCRI Albany, volunteers | Tagged: Albany, Karen, karenni, lavinia limon, One-stop Job Center, Peter Limon, refugees, resettlement, US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, USCRI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 30, 2011
It turns out that resettlement agencies in Lancaster, Pennsylvania have not been giving coats or good shoes to refugees as early as the winter of 2009 (even though resettlement agencies sign a contract with the US State Department promising that they will give refugees Appropriate seasonal clothing required for work, school, and everyday use as required for all members of the family, including proper footwear for each member of the family, here). A school district official also visited refugee families and found instances where two or more Bhutanese families sharing an apartment. The two local resettlement agencies, Church World Service Lancaster and Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern PA, apparently had not even informed the School District of Lancaster – or at least the School District’s point person for homeless students – about the arrival of the Bhutanese families. An article in the Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era covers this resettlement site:
In late 2009, with winter setting in, the children of some Bhutanese families were coming to school without coats or good shoes.
Ken Marzinko, School District of Lancaster’s point person for homeless students, started visiting the parents, and in some cases, found two or more Bhutanese families sharing an apartment.
“I was caught off guard,” Marzinko said of hearing about the refugees and their needs.
Like most Americans, Marzinko wasn’t aware the United States had in 2008 begun taking in 60,000 of the more than 100,000 Bhutanese crowding camps in Nepal. More than 800 now live in Lancaster County, and many more are in the pipeline... Read more here
The most recent State Department inspections of the two local resettlement agencies, from 2006, show other problems. The report for Church World Service Lancaster shows that only 53% of refugee clients were employed after 90 days, even though jobs at that time were quite plentiful in Lancaster, with an unemployment rate of only 3.4% in 2006. Agency staff had also used white out throughout the case logs.
The Lutheran Children and Family Service inspection report also showed that refugees’ relatives who helped with their resettlement did not understand that the agency was ultimately responsible for all contract requirements. Apparently the agency had duped these relatives into believing that they were responsible for the requirements of the agency’s contract (a common occurence according to these State Department monitoring reports). In three of four refugee homes that monitors visited, batteries in smoke detectors were dead.
Although the two agencies, the Lutheran agency being a subcontractor of LIRS, were vested with the State Department contract requirement that each refugee receive a physical health screening within 30 days, refugees were not being screened within that time requirement. Case logs also did not make references to airport reception of refugees and employment referals – as supposedly equired – so that there was no documentation that these services were provided by the resettlement agencies.
Posted in children, clothes, Cooperative Agreement, CWS, employment services, faith-based, housing, housing, overcrowding, late health screenings, Lutheran, Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern PA, meeting refugees at the airport, Nepali Bhutanese, Operational Guidance, Pennsylvania, State Department | Tagged: bhutanese, Church World Service, Church World Service Lancaster, CWS, federal contractors, LIRS, Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania, Lutheran immigration and refugee services, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 14, 2011
Some refugees in Twins Falls, Idaho claim that College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center (CSI) is slow in helping them to find jobs. There’s also the issue of CSI placing refugees with professional credentials in manual labor jobs, according to an article in the Times-News:
Every day, while his nephews watch television and niece chats with friends online, Prithi Rai scours the classifieds.
He and his brother, Man Bahadur Rai, started looking for jobs shortly after arriving in Twin Falls from a Nepali refugee camp on May 5. Though they speak English fluently, they are having a hard time finding positions that don’t require prior experience, education or special certifications.
Man and Prithi have been on only two interviews each, both set up by the College of SouthernIdaho Refugee Center. They want more.
“We’re very concerned about jobs,”Man said…
…Though many Americans are struggling to find jobs, Ron Black, director of the CSI Refugee Center, said positions paying $7.25 to $8.25 are available here. “It’s just, are you willing to work to get the job?”…
…For many refugees from various countries, following etiquette and rules can be difficult, too. Some show up to interviews in inappropriate clothes like flip-flops, despite the refugee center’s coaching. Others clam up during interviews, even if they know English, Black said.
Once they are placed, “the biggest problem we’re having is a lot of them are not sticking with the job,”he said. Some quit after a short time because they don’t like the hours or assigned tasks. The problem is especially acute with refugees who have higher educations and have never done manual labor.
In addition to the refugee center job coordinators setting up job interviews, they also encourage refugees to look for jobs themselves.
Prithi and Man have tried, but “we do not have the knowledge of where the job openings are,”Prithi said. Man was so desperate to get a job that he put in an application at a company in Idaho Falls without realizing how far the commute would be.
The two interviews set up by the refugee center “is not enough for us,”Prithi said. He wonders: Why couldn’t the center send him on 10 or 20 interviews?… Read more here
Posted in Nepali Bhutanese, employment services, professionals, employment/jobs for refugees, Twin Falls, CSI Refugee Center (Idaho) | Tagged: USCRI, refugees, bhutanese, Idaho, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Twins Falls, College of SouthernIdaho Refugee Center, CSI, Ron Black | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on June 18, 2011
The ORR recently put out a message about the 2012 Matching Grant Program to refugee resettlement agencies. For the Matching Grant Program the ORR awards $2 in public funds for every $1 raised by the private resettlement contractor, up to a maximum of $2,200 in federal funds per capita (that is, per persons in the program, although not proportioned equally to all refugee clients).
Dear colleagues,
The Office of Refugee Resettlement is very pleased to announce the publication of the 2012 Matching Grant Program funding opportunity announcement.
The Voluntary Agencies Matching Grant Program is an alternative to public cash assistance designed to enable refugees, asylees, and other ORR eligible populations to become self-sufficient through employment within 120 to 180 days from date of arrival into the United States (U.S.) and/or date of eligibility for ORR services… Services provided under this cooperative agreement
include, but are not limited to, comprehensive case management, employment services, maintenance assistance, cash allowance, and administration.
…Participating agencies agree to match the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) grant with cash and in-kind contributions of goods and services from the community. Currently, ORR awards $2 for every $1 raised by the agency up to a maximum of $2,200 in federal funds per client. At least 20 percent of the non-federal share (the grantee’s match) must be met with cash or cash equivalent; the balance may be cash, in-kind services, or donated goods. Note that while Federal and match funds are calculated and awarded on a per capita or enrolled client basis, the actual spending of such funds is not per capita based. This is to allow Matching Grant Program service providers flexibility in providing individually tailored services (higher or lower than the per capita rate) necessary for the client to achieve self-sufficiency… [emphasis added]
Program related questions should be directed to Tom Giossi in the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Thank
you,
ORR
(An online version is found on the ORR website.)
So, it looks like resettlement agencies are able to direct money to
individual refugee clients depending upon the individuals’ needs. The policy does therefore, however place a large amount of power over individual refugees in the hands of these small religious and/or non-profit private groups. This freedom can also be misused to reward some refugee clients and punish others, especially those that speak-up. It would be naive to think this cannot and does not happen. Refugee clients are often fearful of retaliation from authority figures – and they commonly misperceive these small, private government contractors as “authorities” – due to the negative and traumatic circumstances from which they have fled For that same reason, however, many refugee clients have learned the necessity of being courageous and speaking up for themselves when they see abuses.
My concern is the power this Matching Grant Program policy gives those agencies that have, or newly develop, a propensity to punish refugee clients who speak out. (I’ve seen it happen – this is not hypothetical.) To counter that negative and unintended consequence what we need here, at the very least, is unbiased and independent oversight – and that’s not what we have with the current cozy partnership between government oversight agencies and the private agencies they oversee. Not only is “partnership” the official policy, but most of the government monitors are former resettlement agency employees who went in search of government jobs – jobs that may be more demanding/ stimulating, but that also have much better benefits.
Therefore, who protects refugees from the real and possible abuses? Essentially no one, so far, except the outspoken and courageous community members and leaders we periodically see. I don’t think that’s enough though, and it certainly can never substitute for effective oversight.
Posted in employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, Matching Grant program, ORR, public/private partnership, retaliation, revolving door | Tagged: human rights, Match Grant, Matching grant, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement, voluntary agencies | 5 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on June 12, 2011
Hello?
We get a glimpse into resettlement experiences of two Iraqi refugee
cases assigned to resettlement contractors in Salt Lake City, Utah, in articles in KSL Broadcasting and Deseret News. An Iraqi woman arrived to an empty apartment. She turned a broken TV that she had scavenged on its side as a makeshift table. An television journalist forced out of the country with his wife and children by Iraqi militia members reports that although the family spoke no English at all, no one met them at the Dallas airport during a flight connection, nor did anyone meet them at the airport once they arrived in Salt Lake City. Instead, a security guard referred them to the airport FBI office.
…Suhad Kudhair and many in her “large family” in Iraq had English language skills and worked with American companies, which labeled them as disloyal to Iraq and attracted threats to their lives, mostly from Iraqi militia. She and her two sons fled to Egypt in 2006, where the process of accomplishing refugee resettlement to the United States took three years. “I told them I have a sister in California. They said California was too expensive, and I was going to Utah.”…
…Once in Utah she worked long hours on a farm, at a day care, as a medical translator, and now works for Catholic Community Services doing what a lot of other Iraqi refugees do once they are established: She is a case manager for new refugees who are in the process of resettlement.
She knows as well as anyone what it is like to arrive in a strange country at the end of 36 hours on airplanes to a place where there are no friends, no family, no job and an apartment with no furniture.
Kudhair said she scavenged a TV set that did not work properly but made a makeshift table when laid on its side. Turned on, the picture tube made an interesting blue glow in the room that people found curious enough they would take pictures of it when they visited the apartment… Read more here
And this about the Iraqi television journalist and his family who were
also resettled to Salt Lake City:
My name is Mohammed Mushib. I live in Salt Lake City, but I was born in Baghdad and lived there until 2007. In Baghdad, I was a television journalist. In Salt Lake City, I am a refugee. Once I reported stories, now I am part of a story…
…I had a nice house, a nice car, and my wife Faeza and I started our family…
…In 2003, the war started. Iraq was in chaos. We did not have a government for one and a half years, so the people established security units for each neighborhood. I was a security guard in my neighborhood. In 2005, the civil war started. The militias killed many people. I lost friends, I lost relatives, there was death all around…
…In February of 2008, the United Nations told us that we could go to the U.S. as refugees…
…We, along with about 20 other families, flew to Turkey, on to New York, then to Dallas, then to Salt Lake City. The other families went different ways in New York, we flew alone to Dallas. We spoke no English. No one met our plane. I saw a salesclerk at the airport who was wearing a hijab. She was from Somalia, and she only spoke a little Arabic. I was very relieved and grateful for her help – she gave us cake and cola and a banana, which she paid for – that I cried. God sent her to us at that moment.
We arrived in Salt Lake City, no one met us. I found the exit, there was no one except a security guard. who pointed me toward the FBI, which I knew from movies. They told me that our contacts from the International Rescue Committee were outside! They took us to a motel for the night, and after 1 or 2 hours of sleep, there was a knock on the door. It was a woman who spoke Arabic and identified herself as the person whose name I had gotten from my brother. She brought us food and welcomed us to Utah. In the morning, our case worker, Travis, took us to our apartment and to WalMart to shop, and our new life began… Read more here
The good news is that Utah and the Salt Lake community has actually taken proactive and creative efforts to help refugees who have advanced skills and degrees – so different from what we saw in nearby California when Iraqi SIVs (Special Immigrant Visa holders) were arriving in Sacramento in late 2009. (In that case state refugee coordinator Thuan Nguyen gave us endless excuses and misreferrals in our attempt to aid two Iraqi engineers whom a resettlement contractor had referred to low-skill, low-pay jobs. In one case that involved a job at a distant food market beginning at 5am before buses operated, and in another case involved a set-up at a gas station where the resettlement contractor first took a relative in to be interviewed before coming out and canceling the SIV refugee’s interview.)
Efforts in Utah involve the New-American Academic Network, which seeks to place refugees with professional credentials in jobs and training that will help them to find proper employment for economic self-sufficiency.
…”As particularly the Iraqi population was coming into the valley, we were experiencing sort of a new phenomenon in the sense that many of the Iraqi population or individuals had training — undergraduate, graduate and professional positions,” said Rosmarie Hunter, special assistant to the president for campus community partnerships at the University of Utah.
“They were coming over as engineers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, but were coming here and being resettled in much the same way where they were going into entry-level positions,” she said, which left some unable to afford to live here, or unable to afford professional testing and retraining needed to work in their profession.
“People were going back, and perhaps in very unsafe circumstances,” Hunter said.
The New American Academic Network was created to help those professionals re-certify to work in their fields of expertise. NAAN is a partnership between the University of Utah, University Neighborhood Partners, the International Center, Workforce Services and resettlement organizations in Utah.
“The main problem is the financial problems for the refuges,” said Muthana Maktouf, also from Iraq. “The NAAN program tries to find other help, other resources, started to find internships for the students.”… Read more here
Posted in Catholic Community Services of Utah, economic self-sufficiency, education, employment/jobs for refugees, furnishings, lack of, Iraqi, IRC, meeting refugees at the airport, professionals, Salt Lake City, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, Utah | Tagged: Catholic Community Services of Utah, human rights, International Rescue Committee, Iraqi, IRC, NAAN, New-American Academic Network, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement, Salt Lake City, SIV, Special Immigrant Visa, Thuan Nguyen, University of Utah, Utah | 3 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 28, 2011
A video at the VJ Movement (International Video Journalists Movement) There is more than One Truth website asks if the ORR has let Special Immigrant Visa immigrants down – by making promises that the ORR has not delivered on.
Story by: Cathryn Ramin
Summary
Special Immigration Visas, known as SIVs, were given to less than 1500 of the many Iraqis who risked their lives working as translators and interpreters for the U.S. Armed Forces. Does America have an obligation to support these people?
Posted in Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, employment/jobs for refugees, ORR, professionals, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants | Tagged: Afghans, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Cathryn Ramin, human rights, interpreters, Iraqis, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, SIV, Special Immigrant Visa, Translators, U.S. armed forces, unemployment, Video Journalists Movement, VJ Movement | 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 February 15, 2011
Today the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Allegany County has declared that a plant in Pittsburgh that employs refugees is essentially a “sweatshop”. The plant “partners” with Catholic Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh and Jewish Family & Children Services of Pittsburgh to employ refugees at wages lower than the industry standard. Local unions also claim that the plant is unsafe.
Allegheny County Council tonight declared a Rankin steel plant a sweatshop, the first time it’s taken such action.
W&K Steel LLC and its customers will not be able to work on any county projects. Council members voted to bar them from future bids after hearing from several labor groups who allege low pay and unsafe working conditions at the plant... Read more here
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Catholic, Catholic Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh, employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, faith-based, Jewish, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Jewish Family and Children's Services | Tagged: Charities Diocese of Pittsburgh, Jewish Family & Children Services of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, sweatshop, underpaid, unsafe working conditions, W&K Steel | 1 Comment »
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