Archive for the ‘population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 13, 2012
Its clear that political officials in various declining US regions have decided that our country’s humanitarian refugee resettlement program should be used in concert with these cities’ needs. A major Utica publication backs this assertion up with few questions asked. (I like the efficiency of killing two stones with one bird, but what about giving the refugees a say in the matter?)
Apparently the UNHCR has also used its own propaganda on refugees, via its Refugee publication, to make them think that Utica is some sort of paradise – christening it “The town that loves refugees” – even though the unemployment and poverty rates are high, and gangs vie for the loyalty of young refugees. A Utica refugee resettlement agency also sings it own praises as “a one-stop shop for services” (I’ve heard this issue from journalists in other cities who say that local resettlement agencies also put that issue front and center — seems diversionary. Why does it merit public discussion?)
On the other hand some Utica locals apparently believe dubious rumors that refugees take people’s jobs, are given free houses, and don’t pay taxes for seven years (that’s a new one). An editorial in The Utica Post-Standard shows the paper’s editorial board as apparently 100 percent behind the region’s use of refugees to increase the population:
Like many Rust Belt cities, Utica was declining in the 1980s and ’90s. A city that once numbered more than 100,000 citizens dropped perilously close to 50,000.
Then a remarkable thing happened: First a trickle, then a steady stream of refugees began arriving…They kept on coming, because they found a warm reception.
“We foster conditions that make for a welcoming environment,” says Peter Vogelaar, executive director of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center…
…Vogelaar explained why the city has been an ideal refugee haven. Utica’s infrastructure accommodates the new arrivals…Then there’s the resettlement center itself — “a one-stop shop for services,” Vogelaar says.
An article in the U.N. publication “Refugee” calls Utica “The town that loves refugees.” And the 14,000 refugees who came over the past 30 years returned the favor. They bought houses — many of them vacant — fixed them up and began paying property taxes. They planted community gardens and started successful businesses. The city’s ethnic restaurants are winning wide acclaim…
…Resettlement has not been problem-free. Housing prices are rising faster than some would like. Gangs vie for the loyalty of young refugees. New immigrants keep the poverty rate high, and schools struggle with students who still need to learn English.
Some still cling to stereotypes, Vogelaar added. “That darn foreigner takes my job, is given a house, doesn’t pay taxes for seven years — it’s all false rumors,” he said. “They get labeled ‘problem people.’ The reality is, they have faced untold problems, yet they are the resilient ones. They came through it all to make new lives.”… Read more here
Posted in employment/jobs for refugees, Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, safety, UN (United Nations), UNHCR, Utica | Tagged: Mohawk Valley Resource Center, population decline, refugees, resettlement, UNHCR, Utica | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 13, 2011
Cleveland’s International Services Center (ISC) will work with the Cuyahoga County land bank in a joint effort, called The Discovering Home Program, to pair refugee families with some of the area’s many vacant homes. There are about 15,000 vacant and abandoned houses in Cuyahoga County. Currently the Cuyahoga Land Bank lists many of these houses (most requiring extensive rehab) on its website, along with an application, for sale between $5-10K. Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage finance company, kicked in $50,000 to fund some of the repairs and to jumpstart the program. ISC will require refugees to invest “sweat equity” in helping to renovate the homes – similar to how Habitat for Humanity works to build homes for low-income families. The details are found in an article in The Plain Dealer:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Within the collection of abandoned houses haunting the region stand some unpolished gems, sturdy structures that lack only a caring family to again become a home. Where will those families come from?
They’re already here.
That’s what the International Services Center told leaders of the Cuyahoga County land bank…
…”We have all these empty houses. These people need homes,” said Karin Wishner, executive director of the International Services Center, the region’s oldest resettlement agency. “This seems to be a good answer to both problems.”…
…That was intriguing news to Gus Frangos, president of what’s formally called the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp. He has more vacant houses than he knows what to do with. The usual solution, demolition, costs his agency $10,000 to $20,000 per house…
…The program, called “Discovering Home,” will begin modestly this winter with a single family moving into a house on the northeast side of Lakewood.
In November, the land bank began renovations on the narrow yellow two-story house at 1443 Hopkins Avenue, which has stood vacant for years. Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage finance company, kicked in $50,000 to fund some of the repairs and to jumpstart the program.
Plans call for the land bank to turn over the deed to the ISC, which will manage the property until the tenants — who are expected to earn sweat equity — are deemed ready to be homeowners…
…Frangos said he hopes to renovate 11 more doomed houses next year, in cooperation with the ISC, match them with refugee families and then take stock.
“My vision is, every year, I’d like to give 10, 15 houses over to their families,” Frangos said. “I think we can bring back some of these neighborhoods.”
From his perspective, the cost is manageable. Money he would have spent on demolition he will plow into renovation.
The ISC, a struggling nonprofit agency, will need additional revenue to cover its new costs as a landlord and property owner. Staffers hope the program will attract public support and donations… Read more here
I like the idea of the program since it could be a win-win for everyone – vacant homes find a use, which better uses the demolition costs, refugees get homes, raising the tax base, thus helping to stabilize the City’s neighborhoods. There is the issue, however, of local crime and the safety and quality of the local schools. That’s a question that the State Department and the private resettlement agencies need to consider before they place refugees in various cities – refugees in Cleveland are no doubt already dealing with those issues while living in low-income rentals. Also, the program will need quite a bit of money along with the “sweat equity” for things such as appliances, duct work, paint, pipes, and electric, HVAC, and plumbing repairs and installations. The ISC will need now-how and skill to deal with the possible variables – managing the money, dealing with contractors who may try to overcharge, theft and vandalism between repairs and the move in date, and acting as a landlord while the refugees pay down the costs. From a PR standpoint it would be best if other local agencies were offering similar opportunities to other low-income residents — but that’s a larger problem.
Posted in Cleveland, dangerous neighborhoods, economic self-sufficiency, housing, International Services Center, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost | Tagged: .Discovering Home Program, Cleveland, Cuyahoga Land Bank, Fannie Mae, International Services Center, ISC, refugees, resettlement, sweat equity, vacant housing | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 29, 2011
The Nickel City Smiler documentary film will be showing next weekend in Buffalo. It gives refugees their own voice, describing their experiences in the resettlement process – something the refugee resettlement agencies regularly ignore, and even suppress.
Screenings are scheduled for:
Friday, Saturday & Sunday (November 4, 5 and 6) at 7pm at the Market Arcade, Film and Art Centre, located a 639 Main Street, Buffalo NY.
Hand-made bags by Karen refugee Ma Dee, who is featured in the film, and other Karen goods will be available for purchase at the screening.
The Nickel City Smiler documentary film is also available for purchase on DVD — here.
Posted in faith-based, housing, overcrowding, household items, missing or broken, Karen, dangerous neighborhoods, housing, safety, Buffalo, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, International Institute of Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, language, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost | Tagged: refugees, resettlement, documentary, Buffalo, Nickel City Smiler, Smiler Greely, dangerous neighborhoods, population decline | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 25, 2011
Dayton, Ohio, is another city that is trying to combat economic and
population decline by encouraging immigration. Dorothy Balser,
manager of refugee resettlement services for Catholic Social
Services, said that finding jobs for refugees is sometimes a struggle – Dayton’s unemployment is nearly 11 percent – but that refugees have generally been able to fit into the Dayton community. An AP article has more:
…While states including Alabama, Georgia and Arizona, as well as some cities, have passed laws in recent years cracking down on illegal immigrants, Dayton officials say they will leave that to federal authorities and focus instead on how to attract and assimilate those who come legally.
Other cities, including nearby Columbus and Indianapolis, have programs to help immigrants get government and community help, but Dayton’s effort has a broader, and more urgent, feel.
Mayor Gary Leitzell told the city commission before the vote that immigrants bring “new ideas, new perspectives and new talent to our workforce. … To reverse the decades-long trend of economic decline in this city, we need to think globally.”
Hard-hit for years by the struggles of U.S. manufacturing, particularly in the auto industry, the recession pounded Dayton, which as the Wright Brother’s hometown calls itself “the birthplace of aviation.”
Thousands of jobs were lost with the crippling 2009 exodus to Georgia of NCR (formerly National Cash Register), one of Dayton’s signature corporations, after 125 years, and by the 2008 shutdown of a General Motors plant in suburban Moraine.
Dayton’s unemployment is nearly 11 percent, 2 percent higher than the national average, while population has fallen below 142,000, down 15 percent from 2000. Meanwhile, the city’s official foreign-born population rose 57 percent, to 5,102, from 2000 to 2010, according to census figures…
…Dorothy Balser, manager of refugee resettlement services for Catholic Social Services, said that finding jobs can be a struggle, but that refugees have generally been able to fit into the Dayton community. She thinks the Welcome Dayton plan will have a “natural positive effect” on those already here without causing a significant rise in numbers immediately… Read more here
Dayton strikes me as a more logical site where we can safely pair refugee resettlement with efforts to combat population decline, as opposed to places with higher crime rates, such as Buffalo, New York.
Posted in Catholic Social Services (Dayton), Dayton, Ohio, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost | Tagged: Catholic Social Services, Dayton, economic decline, population decline, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 3, 2011
A series of robberies, physical assaults and even a BB gun shooting have recently created fear among Bhutanese refugees resettled to Erie, Pennsylvania. Joel Tuzynski, the executive director of the Multicultural Community Resource Center has written an opinion piece in the Erie Times-News about the issue.
…Erie has been fortunate to be the new home to several hundred new arrivals of the Bhutanese Nepali community…
…Their transition from an Eastern tradition into Erie has become a very difficult journey because some of the “criminals in our midst” have seen these people as “easy marks.”
There have been a series of robberies, physical assaults and even a BB gun shooting, that have recently created fear and wondering among the Nepali regarding their new home.
These attacks upon young Nepali men and women, who are naive to the ways of the modern world, trusting of others, and non-violent by choice, are verging upon what we fear is becoming “ethnic intimidation” at this point.
Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott and Erie Police Chief Steve Franklin are trying to work with the Nepali community about reporting and solving these crimes.
…when a young man is robbed in broad daylight outside of our MCRC [Multicultural Community Resource Center] — a program that exists to welcome and assist them — it is time to call the public’s attention to this situation, which has reoccurred too often.
The physical assaults, robberies and intimidation, must stop, as it is a violation of basic civil rights guaranteed to all people under our Constitution.
We call upon our neighborhood watches, the police SWAT teams, local, state and federal officials and other concerned citizens to help us stop this targeted, criminal, uncivilized, mean-spirited, ill treatment of our newest neighbors, the Nepali community… Read more here
This case gets back to the issue of using refugees to boost the number of inhabitants of US cities with declining populations. Erie’s population was 138,440 in 1960, which declined to 101,786 in 2010. Is it ethical to use these people — as part of a humanitarian program — to boost declining population levels, when many of these places are also particularly unsafe for refugees during their vulnerable time of transition?
Posted in Catholic Charities, dangerous neighborhoods, Erie, Hindu, International Institute of Erie, intimidation of refugees, Nepali Bhutanese, police, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, safety | Tagged: BB gun, bhutanese, catholic charities, erie, ethnic intimidation, International Institute of Erie, Joel Tuzynski, MCRC, mugging, Multicultural Community Resource Center, nepalese, Nepali, physical assaults, police, refugees, resettlement, robberies | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 29, 2011
The pro-refugee documentary Nickel City Smiler, which refreshingly does not do the usual towing of the line of refugee resettlement contractors, is now set for an early November showing in Buffalo. The documentary film, produced in Buffalo, chronicles the life of a Karen refugee family (from Burma/Myanmar) after they have been resettled to a tough inner-city Buffalo neighborhood. The film documents the refugee family’s hardship and their incredible determination to one day live in peace and ensure a better future for their children.
Local refugee resettlement contractors were involved in having the
documentary removed from a neighborhood film festival last summer.
The film will be shown at:
Note: The Nickel City Smiler DVD is also available for purchase.
Posted in Buffalo, Burma/Myanmar, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, dangerous neighborhoods, furnishings, lack of, household items, missing or broken, housing, substandard, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, Karen, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, safety | Tagged: Buffalo, Burma, documentary, federal contractors, inner-city, Karen, Myanmar, neglect, Nickel City Smiler, refugees, resettlement, Smiler Greely | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 11, 2011
Sometimes I get the feeling that many refugee resettlement agencies have never heard a criticism of them that they agreed with. This does not, of course, refer to the agencies that are doing exemplary work, but to the many agencies that continue to get caught offering less than quality services – or even neglecting and abusing refugee clients. Buffalo refugee resettlement agencies continue this tradition by attacking the documentary filmmakers who first produced a film based on information supplied by the agencies, but then did another – the Nickel City Smiler documentary – centered more from the refugees’ perspective, which included some criticisms.
What would have been a great opportunity to learn from refugees who offer their constructive criticism, and thereby gain refugees’ and the public’s trust, the agencies instead squander it with unseemly and baseless accusations.
Ariel Roberta’s second part of a three-part series in Buffalo Rising reveals more details from the story.
I had a chance to meet with the directors of three of the four resettlement agencies in Buffalo. I asked them about their view of the film, and if it represents the refugee situation fairly, and how they feel about the refugee situation in Buffalo…
As required by the [U.S. Department of State] DOS, the agencies provide assistance to refugees to help them become productive members of society. The agencies are responsible for such things as providing housing, turning on utilities, shopping for groceries, applying for community programs, enrolling children in school, and finding employment.
As required by the DOS, the agencies provide assistance to refugees to help them become productive members of society. The agencies are responsible for such things as providing housing, turning on utilities, shopping for groceries, applying for community programs, enrolling children in school, and finding employment.
According to [Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services, Journey's End, and International Institute], they are audited regularly to make sure they are doing a good job.
“I think there’s an opportunity to cut and paste in things the way that you want,” remarked Marlene Schillinger of Jewish Family Services, when I asked about the accuracy of the film.
“There were a number of ways where [refugees] in the film were mislead,” said Molly Short, when I asked about some statements made by refugees pertaining to their resettlement agencies. Marlene said some refugees, including then 11 year old Moe Joe, were probably coached. After meeting with some Karen refugees, it is fair to say that they are a shy bunch, but to say they had been coached may be inaccurate. I had a few interesting conversations with Moe Joe, now 12, and I think he may be better versed in politics than I am. To say he was coached into talking about “street animals” in his neighborhood, and how the violence and crime in his neighborhood upsets him, is to underestimate his articulacy… Read more here
Posted in Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, dangerous neighborhoods, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Journey's End Refugee Services, Karen, language interpretation/translation, lack of, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost | Tagged: Ariel Roberta, Buffalo, catholic charities, CEP Films, constructive criticism, International Institute, Jewish Family Services, Journey's End, Karen, Marlene Schillinger, Molly Short, Nickel City Smiler, refugee, Scott Murchie, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 1, 2011
The Nickle City Smiler refugee documentary film is getting more attention in the media. Part one of a three part series of articles came out today at the Buffalo Rising media website.
…[Scott Murchie] is a filmmaker and director who owns a film company in Clarence, Chance Encounter Productions. He came across Donna Pepero, an employee at Journey’s End Refugee services and head of the Refugee School Impact Program when his company was randomly selected to do a documentary on refugees in Buffalo. The crew, made up of directors Scott Murchie and Brett Williams, and then freelance camera operator Tim Gera, completed an 18 minute documentary, entitled “Refugees: Buffalo’s Next Generation.” But their interest didn’t stop there. They were only telling one side of the story of refugees in Buffalo. There was also another side of the story, the refugee’s side.
Scott says he and his colleagues began to see the true problems the refugees are facing assimilating into American culture when they began their short documentary. It is hard enough for many citizens of Buffalo already living there to get by, let alone someone who just came from another country.
Getting most of their information from resettlement agencies, their first film only showcased some positive points of bringing refugees into Buffalo. As well as many positive aspects to bringing refugees to Buffalo, there are many negative situations as well. In the spring of 2008, Chance Encounter Productions started filming another, much more in-depth documentary. This time as a way to reach out to the community for help. Scott believes that the resettlement agencies are not doing a good job for refugees, in fact he believes that they are
doing a very poor job.
Nickel City Smiler received some interesting feedback. According to Scott, the response was overwhelmingly positive around the community, with people wanting to know how they could offer aid to refugees. The response within the resettlement community was however more mixed. Shortly after my review of Nickel City Smiler was published in Buffalo Rising, I received an invitation from Journey’s End to come speak with them. Of course I accepted the invitation and met with the directors of three of the major resettlement agencies in the area…
The documentary portrays the situation of refugees who are living in poor conditions in the city. For example, there are two refugee families featured, which speak different languages, crammed into a small apartment. A woman, who did not know how to get help for her husband when he was having a heart attack, is suffering with the loss. The film explores why refugees may be having such problems, and what they find is that the resettlement agencies in Buffalo could be doing a better job, well, resettling the refugees in their care.
When I met with three directors from three of the four major resettlement agencies, I asked them about their response to the film. I was curious as to why they were not represented, and I wanted to give them a chance to speak.
They told me that the film was inaccurate, possibly cut and pasted, and misrepresents the agencies completely. When I asked Ann Brittain, director of the Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program of Catholic Charities, about the two families featured in the film who live crammed in one small apartment, she said that was a completely false situation.
“It’s not that they live like that,” Ann said, “they congregate.”
She explained that on any given day you might see a lot of refugees mingling at one house, since they enjoy being together. I met Tikee, one of the fathers living in that apartment, and I do believe that the film represents Tikee’s situation fairly. Is it the resettlement agencies fault entirely? Probably not, but something went amiss for this situation and others like it to have come into being.
Why are the filmmakers and the resettlement agencies bickering? Molly Short, Executive Director at Journey’s End Refugee Services, says there was poor communication between herself and the filmmakers. Scott says the agencies just don’t want to admit their mistakes, and just don’t have the resources to care for all the refugees they bring in… Read more here
Ann Brittain, director of the Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program of Catholic Charities” when asked why her agency placed two families together in one small inner-city apartment claims “they congregate”? Well, yes they do, but what does that have to do with housing two families together? This type of failure to truth tell does nothing to help resolve the problems. The real issue needs to be addressed, e.g. are Buffalo resettlement agencies at over-capacity? Did the resettlement agency have a shortage of housing units at that time, and why?
As far as Molly Short at Journey’s End responding that communication was poor, then what is her explanation for the filmmaker’s first documentary in which they relied mainly on the local resettlement agencies’ information? Was there any miscommunication at that time? As well, improved communication will not resolve many of the facts of resettlement in Buffalo. Refugees have died in senseless violence in the neighborhood. Is it valid to use refugees to repopulate areas of our country that are losing population, when refugees are a known vulnerable group?
Furthermore, resettlement agencies will not resolve their failure to give refugees the minimum-required services, that they freely agree to give via government contracts, until they openly and adequately address the issue. This is particularly true when we are only about one year out from the State Department’s doubling of per capita initial resettlement funding.
Posted in Buffalo, Burma/Myanmar, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, children, dangerous neighborhoods, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, overcrowding, housing, substandard, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, Karen, neglect, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, safety | Tagged: Ann Brittain, Brett Williams, Buffalo, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, Chance Encounter Productions, dangerous neighborhoods, government contractors, human rights, Immigration and Refugee Assistance Program, International Institute of Buffalo, Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, Journey's End Refugee Services, Molly Short, Nickle City Smiler, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, Refugees: Buffalo's Next Generation, resettlement, Scott Murchie, Smiler Greely, State Department | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on June 25, 2011
The Penfield Post in upstate New York has an article today profiling Rochester’s Catholic Family Center and a local hospital that works with refugees.
Irondequoit, N.Y. — “Opposite” is the word Dim Sian Huai has for her life in Rochester for about the past two years.
Originally from Burma, in Southeast Asia, Dim obtained refugee status and lived in Malaysia before moving to Rochester with her brother and sister.
“The place (Rochester) was chosen for me,”…
…According to 2008 data, the latest for which data is available, 87 percent of refugees coming in to New York state were resettled upstate. Of that 87 percent, 16 percent of those refugees are settled in Rochester.
“I think the environment here (in Rochester) is easier, and housing and jobs are semi-decent,” [Jim] Sutton [a physician’s assistant and director of community medicine and the refugee health program for Rochester General] said. “Plus, Catholic Family Center is one of the better resettlement agencies in the country.”
He works with refugees primarily from a medical standpoint, and organized a conference on the topic earlier this year. The response to that two-day conference surprised even him. It drew 400 participants from 29 states.
“There are three traumas refugees go through,” Sutton said, pointing first to whatever happened in a refugee’s
native country, then becoming, in effect, “a person without a country” in a camp, then resettling in the U.S.
“We see a lot of symptoms of unhealed trauma,” Sutton said, “yet it’s also extremely rewarding to help someone who’s so vulnerable and wants to do the right thing … Even a little bit of help always gets a smile and a thank you.”
…Sutton works closely with people like Jim Morris, associate director of refugee services at Catholic Family Center.
The center has a three-month resettlement program, Morris said, during which they provide or arrange “core services” — like housing and education — as defined by the federal government.
The national network with whom the center works sends biographies of potential refugees who might settle in Rochester, Morris explained, and the center accepts about 99 percent of them.
…Most are resettled in the city of Rochester because they need to be close to public transportation and city services, Morris said, but added that he knows families that have relocated to Henrietta, Pittsford, Perinton, Brighton and beyond after their initial arrival.
…“There’s value in understanding other cultures and people,” Morris said, adding that refugees are also rejuvenating some whole blocks and neighborhoods in Rochester. “It’s a story of urban development… Read more here
A local volunteer reported in October that a neighborhood in Rochester where CFC was resettling refugees has the highest crime rate in all of New York state. Politicians in states losing population have long succeeded in pressuring the federal government into placing refugees in these areas (often extremely dangerous areas) and I never hear public or private partners in the resettlement program criticize this.
Also, I see that CFC says it takes 99 percent of refugees that the USCCB offers them, which differs from statements that other private resettlement agencies have made about their national affiliates forcing them to take refugee clients.
Posted in Catholic, Catholic Family Center (Rochester), cultural adjustment, dangerous neighborhoods, faith-based, health, language, mental health, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, Rochester, USCCB | Tagged: Brighton, Henrietta, human rights, Perinton, Pittsford, refugee, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 6, 2011
This is one of those “you’ve got to be kidding?” issues in the US refugee resettlement program. For decades the US has used refugees as a blunt-force tool to boost populations levels in dying cities — areas of the country that are so dangerous and dysfunctional that Americans are fleeing in droves. The US government with it’s trusty private resettlement agency “partners” (contractors) place refugees in neighborhoods and apartment complexes where they would never place one of their own friends or loved ones, let alone set a foot in after nightfall — or even during the day. An article in Public Broadcasting WNED refers to this issue in an article about refugee resettlement in Buffalo, NY – the country’s third poorest city.
…Refugees are perfect candidates, [Bartley, founder of PUSH Buffalo, a west side non-profit] says, to help solve the west side’s high vacancy rate.
“The way we’re going to solve that is by making it a neighborhood people want to stay in. And a neighborhood the various communities whether they’re Burmese, Somolian, Sudanese, Liberian want to put down roots in. That they don’t see it as a stopping point to get to another place,”Bartley says.
Buffalo, a “perfect place to start over”
This wouldn’t be happening on such a large scale without the Refugee Protection Act of 1980. This law tried to stop rampant population bleeding in places like Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland by filling their declining housing stock with refugees.
Last year in Buffalo alone, 1500 came to the city.
“Even with those 1500 refugees we still saw a population decline in our community. We’re still trying to catch up even with those refugees coming in,”says Molly Short, executive director of Journey’s End, a resettlement group that helps refugees acclimate… Read more here
So what would be the problem with killing two stones with one bird and placing refugees where we need to staunch population decline?
Let’s start with the fact that refugees are a traumatized group of people with high rates of stress-related illnesses such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and trauma-induced mental-illnesses — refugees have higher rates of depression and bipolar disorder, as well as alcolholism.
Secondly, refugees are much less able to protect themselves from the malignant social forces at work in our dying cities, due to: 1) language barriers, 2) a lack of understanding about how our culture and systems work, 3) fear of complaining to any authority figures such as police, and 4) they often stand out as perfect prey to predatory individuals at the bottom of our social barrel.
I saw this at work when I first started helping refugees in 2001. The government and it’s resettlement agency partners had placed the Lost Boys of Sudan refugees in a tough northside neighborhhod. The south Sudanese, a fine-boned nhilotic people with extremely dark skin, stand out in the US as obvious foreigners. Thugs of every description attacked these boys and young men on the street. During the years from 2001 through 2004 there were a total of at least ten separate attacks in Chicago involving at least 21 of the Lost Boys of Sudan refugees. I counted at least 4-5 refugees that said that thugs had punched out their teeth. There were two refugees who had traumatic closed-head injuries from the beatings (see our Safety Report from the year 2005). When I inquired with US Representive Jan Schakowski’s office about this, who I mistakingly thought would be interested in this human rights issue, her staff member gave me the cold shoulder for daring to question Chicago or her friends at the local refugee resettlement agency.
Refugees should never be resettled to dangerous neighborhoods whether it be to boost a dying city’s population level, to make local politicians happy, to make resettlement agencies happy, or any other reason that doesn’t have the refugees’ basic safety and welfare issues at the center of consideration.
Posted in Buffalo, dangerous neighborhoods, government, Journey's End Refugee Services, Journey's End Refugee Services, mental health, population levels, using refugees as pawns to boost, PTSD, safety | Tagged: Church World Service, dying cities, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Jan Schakowski, Journey's End, Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, Refugee Protection Act of 1980, refugees, resettlement | 1 Comment »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
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