Archive for the ‘volunteers’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 1, 2012
Below is a comment that a regular reader of this blog submitted for today’s State Department public hearing on the size and scope of the refugee program for fiscal year 2013:
I am a private citizen refugee advocate who has been assisting refugees with resettlement issues for the past three years. My comments are based on my experience helping refugees after they arrive in the United States with two exceptions: (1) It shouldn’t be as hard as it appears to be logistically for refugees to go through the process to enter the U.S. . By that I mean, not that each individual shouldn’t be scrutinized in detail, but that the process should entail the least travel through dangerous areas in their home countries, the fewest return trips to an application center, the most feedback about application status, the fewest repeat requests for information, and the speediest answer about whether refugee status will be granted. (2) The travel loan program should be converted to a travel grant program. There seems to be some sort of philosophy that it is citizen-building to saddle a refugee with debt as his/her first exposure to life in the United States. I disagree…It is regularly and repeatedly emphasized to them that failure to repay the travel loan can jeopardize their ability to get U.S. citizenship because of an adverse credit report – yet they are all too often given no information about how to seek forgiveness of a loan many of them will likely never be able to repay in time because of their personal situations. Furthermore, I think having the resettlement agencies act as collection agents for these loans is a significant conflict of interest…
My remaining comments concern my experience during the course of my activities as a refugee advocate…Resettlement agency failures to meet contracted responsibilities are not isolated incidences but are regular, daily occurrences on a widespread basis. I believe these failures occur not because of lack of resources, although that is surely true in some cases, but primarily because of a lack of leadership. Leadership in the local affiliates, leadership in the national offices of resettlement agencies, and leadership in the Domestic Resettlement Section. The failure of leadership that talks to each other more than to refugees. Leadership that cares more about what Washington thinks than what refugees think…I have encountered exactly two offices serving refugees in which a human actually answered the telephone; my experience instead has been full of voice mail not returned and even voice mail boxes completely full – this by agencies who are serving people who may not even have used a telephone before coming to the U.S. Leadership, such as that at World Relief, who cares more about its employees’ religious qualifications than their actual competence. Leadership that does not put enough of its own cash into a resettlement program but instead phonies up the value of its match (the value of which, I believe, is rarely, if ever, audited…English language instruction, crucial, of course, for new arrivals, is regularly inadequate and irrelevant to what a new arrival needs. Referrals for mental health services are regularly inadequate or nonexistent. Housing placements are regularly in dangerous neighborhoods and/or too expensive for the refugee to sustain after financial support stops. Too often refugees are completely abandoned after the initial six months placement…Too often the minimum contractually-required services are not adequately provided or not provided at all. Too often refugees become homeless…There are few people in responsible positions who have the personal and professional competence to install effective programs, who care whether their subcontractors perform well, who care whether their employees serve their clients well, who blame themselves and not their clients when things are not working well…
Particularly disappointing is the leadership of the Domestic Resettlement Section who appears to be more apologist for and defender of resettlement agencies and their local affiliates no matter what rather than the overseers and refugee advocates they should be. Complaints go unanswered; or, if answered, are answered with the condescension of a parent who knows best and must be trusted to do the right thing. Investigation may be promised but one never knows whether it happens and what the result is because that would be a violation of confidentiality. All I know is that what I complained about did not appear to change…Program audits are too infrequent and do not appear to include audits of financial responsibility…Particularly disappointing is that the Domestic Resettlement Section seems to think all is well and nothing needs to change – at least nothing they care to share with the public…
Here is a link to a documentary about refugees in Buffalo, N.Y. I think you’ll find their indomitable spirits despite all that has happened to them is most inspiring. I also recommend the press kit that is posted on the web site for an insight as to how resettlement agencies in Buffalo inspired the making of this film. Read full letter here
Posted in capacity, dangerous neighborhoods, democracy, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Office of Admissions, openess and transparency in government, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, State Department, Travel Loan Program, volunteers, World Relief | Tagged: Advocate, comment, Domestic Resettlement Section, FY2013, public hearing, refugees, resettlement, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), State Department, US Department of State | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 18, 2012
***UPDATE*** – April 24, 2012 — Dovetree Apartments alleges that only one apartment was affected by bed bug infestation
Bed bugs have infested at least 24 apartment units in an apartment building housing refugees in San Antonio. The resurgence of bedbugs is a problem throughout the United States (Note: like mosquitoes they take a blood meal from humans, however, unlike mosquitoes they transmit no diseases). Bedding donated to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio seems to be the culprit in this case. An article at KSAT has the story:
Refugees from all over the world came to San Antonio to escape war, poverty and persecution in their home countries, yet Pamela Espurvoa, a refugee advocate, said they arrived here only to encounter a bed bug infestation at the Dove Tree Apartments in the 4500 block of Gardendale.
Yet now, Pamela Raines, director of development for Catholic Charities, the agency responsible for their resettlement, said Dove Tree will begin treatment on Friday once the affected apartments are identified.
“Catholic Charities will certainly cover it,” Raines said, referring to the cost of the extermination…
…Espurvoa said tenants of all ages were being bitten by the bugs. She said an exterminator told her the bed bugs were in the mattresses, walls, air ducts and clothing.
“He couldn’t believe the magnitude of this, and this is only one unit,” Espurvoa said.
Espurvoa said she believes at least two dozen units are infested…
…Reason being, the apartment manager said, was that the infestation occurred after the refugees moved in.
Both she and Espurvoa said the likely source was the bedding that was donated, since the families arrived with next to nothing… Read more here
An article at the San Antonio Express-News indicates that several buildings are affected. Also, a Myanmar refugee said she had not reported the problem to apartment management despite a month-long infestation.
…Exterminators have been called to combat a bedbug problem at a Northwest Side apartment complex reserved for refugees seeking asylum.
The outbreak was reported Tuesday at the Dove Tree apartments in the 4500 block of Gardendale. Dove Tree is one of several San Antonio complexes where refugees settle after arriving through the United States Refugee Resettlement Program.
Catholic Charities is helping provide exterminators to spray affected units Friday, according to a source. The organization had no comment Tuesday night.
The pest problem has been reported to affect several buildings.
Nye Reh, from Myanmar, lives with his wife and five other relatives in a two-bedroom unit where a spray of insect droppings covers the corner of a mattress.
Reh said through a relative interpreting for him that he itches throughout the day.
Damanti Biswa said she sleeps near her front door to get away from the bugs. Tika Biswa interpreted for her, saying she’s had the problem for the past month and hadn’t reported the bugs to apartment management yet…
…The resurgence of bedbugs has been a problem throughout the United States, not only in apartments but also in the nicest hotels, said Roseann Vivanco, clinical instructor at the University of Texas Health Science Center…
“Bedbugs don’t mean a person is dirty; they don’t discriminate between the rich or poor,” Vivanco said. “There does need to be some education, continuous cleaning, and they’ll need assistance with that. I’m glad to see that Catholic Charities has stepped up to the plate to help out.” Read more here
Posted in bed bugs, Burma/Myanmar, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of San Antonio Inc., Nepali Bhutanese, San Antonio, volunteers | Tagged: bed bugs, bhutanese, Burma, catholic charities, infestation, Myanmar, refugees, resettlement, San Antonio | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 7, 2012
A Catholic volunteer in Kansas City seems to have found the right balance between welcoming refugees to her community without becoming overly involved. She’s found a way to connect with the refugees via her heart and mind while realizing the goal is their autonomy. An article in the Kansas City Star tells her story:
When Bernadette Coulter responded to a note in her church’s bulletin about helping in a conversational English class for refugees, she had no idea what she was getting into.
That was six years ago. On Friday, Coulter was sitting with her husband and friends in a federal courtroom watching Mamur Karabaev, an Uzbekistan refugee she calls her “adopted” son, affirm his American citizenship during a naturalization ceremony.
Karabaev is the last of a dozen refugees who escaped Uzbekistan after a massacre and found their way eventually to Coulter. She calls them her “boys.”
“I never expected to be this involved,” the Shawnee woman said. “It has been very fun and exciting and rewarding, heartbreaking and frustrating.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat.”…
…Barbara Smith, a friend and member of Good Shepherd Catholic Church with Coulter, said she has watched the story unfold from the beginning…
…Friends of Coulter, a 63-year-old retired hairdresser and mother of three, speak of her humility and willingness to help others. Becoming involved in the refugees’ lives, that’s just something Coulter would do, Smith said.
“One person can make a difference and she did it,” Smith said.
But what Coulter did may not always work so well, one person warned.
David Holsclaw, director of English as a second language at the Don Bosco Center, said relationships such as the one between Coulter and Karabaev are the exception to typical stories he’s heard about volunteers who may be over-involved.
“There are some volunteers that go nuts and become way too involved and really become problematic,” Holsclaw said…
…Developing an emotional connection can be detrimental to the resettlement process, he said.
For her part, Coulter thinks being a volunteer helped her.
“I think I had an advantage not being constrained by rules or regulations,” she said. “I was able to jump in feet first.” Read more here
Posted in Catholic, Kansas City, Uzbek, volunteers | Tagged: kansas city, refugees, resettlement, Uzbekistan | 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 August 23, 2011
An article in The Roanoke Times tells the case of a retired Southern
Baptist couple and the Nepali refugees they have assisted. It seems as if the couple have good hearts, and they have obviously been enormously helpful to the Nepali community. While claiming that they don’t proselytize (the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion) the couple have begun Christian services for the Hindu Nepalis.
…By the time Diana and Jim Martin heard about the July 29 fire at Westover Manor apartments, the building was about to be condemned.
The morning after the fire, the Botetourt County couple stood in the Westover parking lot next to their matching minivans. They were surrounded, as they usually are, by a couple dozen Nepali refugees who live in the southwest Roanoke complex — including one family of four that was displaced by the fire…
…Before the Nepalis became their calling, the lifelong Southern Baptists knew nothing about ritual cremations or eating goat stew, the kind you chew carefully before spitting out the bones.
A retired social worker, Diana had never owned a passport or traveled outside the country — unless you count the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. She concedes that she still struggles to adapt to some of the customs, including Hindu funerals and ritual cremations: “They put chrysanthemums in the body’s mouth!”
But the couple sealed their commitment when they traded in their cars for minivans so they could haul refugees around to appointments and classes, to doctor visits and radiation treatments, and — in several cases, with four more soon to deliver — to the birth of a child. Their gas bill is $500 a month…
…They met the Nepalis three years before the fire, in the same Westover complex. New volunteers for Commonwealth Catholic Charities’ Refugee and Immigration Services, the Martins were assigned as mentors to an Iraqi woman and her two sons…
…On a recent afternoon, Diana’s list is several items long and growing by the minute: drop off eye medication for a man with allergies, buy $97 worth of groceries for a woman whose food stamp card had been deactivated, deliver her standard birthday gift of four helium balloons to a girl…
“Dinah, you come to my home! Come to my home!” exclaims 4-year-old Salina Kadariya, on the stoop of a Mountain Avenue apartment building where several Nepali families have gathered to greet Dinah Mom. Salina wants a princess backpack for school; all the girls do…
…”Servant evangelism” is her term for what they do, an experience she doesn’t believe is easily replicated in modern America — or even on exotic foreign mission trips. “We’re showing our love by serving them, doing what Jesus did,” she says, adding that they don’t proselytize.
They do pick up more than 75 adults and children every Sunday for the Nepali-led Christian service they began in their Jefferson Center space.
Most of the Roanoke Nepalis are Hindu, including many of those attending the church. As Lutjen put it, “For many of them, they’ve got so many gods, they’ve just added Jesus to the list.”
Indeed, most are religiously inclusive, according to translator Laxman Bhandari, a Nepali refugee who arrived in 2009 and lives in southwest Roanoke’s Terrace Apartments with his wife, Lalita.
Though he admires the social work the Martins do, he doesn’t attend their service, preferring the Indian-founded Hindu temple in Roanoke County. “We lost everything — our country, our land. The only wealth we came here with is our culture and religion,” Bhandari said.
“We will celebrate with other religions, as long as there is mutual respect.”… Read more here
Posted in apartment house fires, Baptist, converting refugees, faith-based, Hindu, Iraqi, Nepali Bhutanese, Roanoke, volunteers | Tagged: Commonwealth Catholic Charities' Refugee and Immigration Services, evangelism, Hindu, Nepali, proselytization, refugees, resettlement, Roanoke, Southern Baptist, Westover complex | 3 Comments »
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 beds, Burundian, Catholic, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, churches, community/cultural orientation, cultural/community orientation, post arrival, employment services, faith-based, food, fractious relationships with volunteers, fredericksburg, furnishings, lack of, housing, substandard, Iranian, language interpretation/translation, lack of, rats and roaches, State Department, transportation, volunteers | 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 November 24, 2010
This Thanksgiving holiday story in the Louisville Courier-Journal is about everything that is right in refugee resettlement – a helpful resettlement agency, generous volunteers, and ethnic community support. A Burundian refugee father of five succumbs to a parasite in his lungs but his 29-year-old nephew and his wife, as well as compassionate volunteers, step in to help.
Three years after leaving Africa’s violence and the refugee camp where his wife died from complications of childbirth, Sindayihebura Pierre’s dream for his family finally seemed to be taking root.
The Burundian father of five had worked hard to build a new life in Louisville. He’d landed a night factory job. He’d bought a Jeep. And he’d proudly watched his children thrive in public schools.
But in September, 44-year-old Pierre died suddenly from a parasite he’d been carrying since his days in the camps, leaving his children orphaned in a country they still barely knew…Read more here
Posted in Burundian, Catholic, Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc., children, Louisville, volunteers | Tagged: Burundian refugees, Catholic Charities of Louisville, Louisville, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, Thanksgiving | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 9, 2010
The Washington Independent has a story about the U.S. still admitting tens of thousands of refugees, despite supposed dwindling resources and competition for jobs. Then, no where in the article is any evidence offered of dwindling resources. In fact, the author points out that the State Department doubled the per refugee grant money to resettlement agencies this year. Strangely, the author describes the doubling of the grant as a “small step”.
…In the United States, the refugee resettlement system has always worked largely thanks to the generosity of people like Delp, as a public-private partnership with volunteer services and government backing. But the recession is threatening the stability of the program and the availability of resources to refugees. The government has stepped up its contributions to help new refugee migrants adjust to American life, but provides just eight months of resources. With jobs scarce, the churches and community centers that help after then are stretched to the point of breaking.
The government is aware of the problem, but thus far has taken only small steps to ameliorate it. The State Department doubled the amount of money it gives private resettlement agencies to help refugees when they first come to the United States, from $900 to $1,800. That amount helps the groups provide services for refugees and fund-raise for additional aid money for up to 90 days after the refugee enters the country. But the State Department knows $1,800 is not enough to support a refugee for three months, particularly with the difficulty of finding work, a State Department official told TWI…
…Forcing refugees to wait in camps, which often cannot provide the same health and education services they could find in the U.S., can have a detrimental affect on them, says Susan Krehbiel, a vice president at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
“It does become kind of a Catch-22,” Krehbiel says. “Some of the refugees have been in camps for 15 to 20 years. There are some human costs to delaying peoples’ resettlement.”
Still, Krehbiel says the current system struggles to serve the refugees it does admit, and relies too heavily on volunteer donations of time and money. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, established in 1980 as part of the Department of Health and Human Services, provides funding for up to eight months of cash and medical assistance, and refugee families may be eligible for additional money through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, and Medicaid.
The government also provides up to five years of employment services, supplemented by private programs. But with the sluggish economy, employment programs through the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service have seem a marked difference in the speed of job searches among refugees, Krehbiel says. While in previous years 80 percent of refugees were employed within four months, the recession dropped that number to about 60 percent. It usually takes about a year to get 80 percent of refugees in the program hired, she says…here
So why does LIRS believe that the U.S. Refugee program “relies too heavily on volunteer donations of time and money”? Whenever this issue is brought up there are no figures about how much private money resettlement agencies are bringing to the program. If we don’t have any figures how can the public check whether there is enough public funding or not?
Posted in churches, employment/jobs for refugees, faith-based, funding, HHS, LIRS, openess and transparency in government, ORR, public/private partnership, R&P, reform, State Department, volunteers | Tagged: Department of Health and Human Services, LIRS, Lutheran immigration and refugee services, Medicaid, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, public-private partnership, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, State Department, TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families | 5 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 30, 2010
The bad news from Fredericksburg, Virginia just keeps coming in (here). Our previous post on this case is here. Area churches are now saying that USCCB’s Catholic Diocese of Arlington left refugees in apartments without food or beds, and did not take refugees to the doctor’s office.
Meanwhile, many Fredericksburg-area refugees wonder whether they were better off in the camps. Some call relatives back home and tell them to stay where they are.
At least four families that resettled in the Fredericksburg area have returned to the Middle East.
Church leaders in the area said they were shocked to visit newly arriving refugees only to discover refrigerators containing just a carton of spoiled milk, houses without beds, and sick people who had not seen a doctor. Some area volunteers chronicled 36 instances of refugees lacking the basic services required by the State Department.
This is obviously nothing new. We have seen this at resettlement agencies around the country for the past decade, even far before the current recession. Why can’t the State Department make sure its refugee contract requirements are being fulfilled? Why don’t resettlement agencies stop taking new refugees when they are no longer able to help additional incoming refugees? (By the way, those refugees that returned to the Middle East must have been Iraqis).
Local churches asked government agencies for help, and government officials came in for visits, but the problems didn’t end. Why not? What’s the point of fancy visits by officials if they can’t get resettlement agencies to abide by basic contract requirements?
“…clergy say the resettlement program, in some ways, ties their hands.
When area volunteers encountered problems with the resettlement office, they didn’t know where to turn.
The problems grew. Eventually, area clergy brought in officials from the State Department, Health and Human Services, the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops and political offices.
The churches asked for a halt in arrivals.
‘But at the end of the day, we have to help these people,’ said the Rev. Larry Haun, pastor of Fredericksburg Baptist Church. ‘If they’re still going to come, then we need to fix a broken system.’ “
The article also points out that the public cannot follow how much money is going into the program, especially from private sources. Neither the government oversight agencies nor the private refugee resettlement agencies show how much money, if any, the resettlement agencies are actually adding to all the government grants and contracts. So how are we to check whether they really need more government funding? Are we to take their word for it? Where is the transparency?
See State Department 2007 monitoring. Note that in spite of their inspection and their recommendations, with no penalties imposed, not much seems to have changed.
*Update — April 2, 2010 Editorial at Free Lance-Star (here)
Posted in arlington, beds, Catholic, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, churches, food, funding, Iraqi, neglect, NSC (National Security Council), reform, transportation, USCCB, Virginia, volunteers | Tagged: arlington, beds, blankets, catholic church, Catholic Diocese of Arlington, churches, clergy, contract requirements, contracts, food, fredericksburg, Fredericksburg Baptist Church, grants, Health and Human Services, HHS, Iraqis, middle east, pastor, refugee, refugees, resettlement agencies, State Department, transparency, transportation, U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Virginia, volunteers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 29, 2010
World Relief’s new hiring policy banning non-evangelical Christians has triggered an exodus of World Relief Chicago staff members, who have denounced the policy as religious discrimination (here).
See our previous posts on this issue (here, here, here and here).
The former director of the Chicago office of World Relief, a global evangelical Christian charity that receives federal funds to resettle refugees, said she was forced out in January because she disagreed with how the policy was implemented. …
….”As a Christian, I feel it is my duty to advocate for the most vulnerable,” said former legal specialist Trisha Teofilo, who also left because of the policy. “I believe Jesus would not promote a policy of discrimination.”President Barack Obama faces pressure to reverse former President George W. Bush‘s executive order enforcing the right of organizations to receive federal funds while hiring based on faith. On the campaign trail, Obama recommended halting government contracts with groups that proselytize to clients or hire only members of a certain faith.
The hiring policy comes as
Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the hiring policy is legal. But opponents, including current and former employees, say it is hypocritical for an agency to discriminate when its mission is settling refugees — many of whom have fled religious intolerance in their home countries.
“It’s legal, but it’s ridiculously wrong and un-Christian,” said Delia Seeburg, the director of immigrant legal services in World Relief’s Chicago office. She plans to leave for a new job next month.
World Relief, an arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, said the policy simply establishes a routine that has been in place for years.
The hiring policy is legal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but that doesn’t mean that religious organizations that discriminate against refugee services workers based on religion are the right agencies for the U.S. refugee resettlement program. President George W. Bush enacted two executive orders that made it easier for faith-based groups to take part in federal programs.
Executive Order 13198 created a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at HHS in order to identify and eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles to the equal participation of faith-based and community organizations in the provision of social services by HHS (Federal Register, January 31, 2001).
Executive Order 13279 charged HHS to give equal treatment to faith-based and community groups that apply for funds to meet social needs in America’s communities. This Executive Order was designed to ensure that no organization is discriminated against based on religion, and that federally funded social services are available to all regardless of religion (Federal Register, December 16, 2002).
In addition, World Relief’s new discriminatory hiring policy has led to refugees losing an important local mental-health services program.
The agency also has dismantled mental health services for refugees in Chicago after losing staff and funding because of the hiring rule, officials said. …
….Because a selective hiring policy could conflict with professional guidelines for social workers and clinical psychologists, the mental health unit was forced to close and refer its clients elsewhere.
Furthermore, World Relief is also now losing important private sources of funding as a result of this discriminatory hiring policy — a problem in the refugee resettlement program where private resettlement agencies must add significant private funding to most of the funding that comes from the federal government, also known as the “public/private partnership”.
But some foundations have declined to renew grants for World Relief based on the hiring policy.
Nikki Will Stein, executive director of Polk Bros. Foundation, said that as long as the policy is in effect, the foundation will not consider applications from World Relief.
“We live in a multicultural, multireligious world,” she said. “We were very surprised with the specificity of the document. … People should be free to believe what they believe as long as they’re doing their job.”
President Obama’s stance on this issue during the 2008 election was that he did not belive that organizations that discriminate based on religion should receive federal funds, but he is now reviewing the legal ramifications.
Since suggesting that federal funds be held back from organizations that discriminate based on religion, Obama has referred the matter of religious hiring to the Department of Justice.
A current World Relief Chicago employee also worries about what might go on behind closed doors, his implication being that groups that are so wedded to their personal religious beliefs irrespective of our Constitution, laws, and regulations may not be playing by the rules when the doors are shut.
Translators, counselors and legal aid providers help refugees navigate their new world, including emergency rooms, banks, real estate and employment, putting World Relief workers in a unique position of power.
“I really feel for the refugee clients who have no choice,” [another employee] said. “If they are victims of religious persecution and they’re being resettled through an agency staffed by all Christians who may or may not understand their plight, I think that is unjust.”
Yet, the Rev. Brad Morris, an interim director for World Relief Chicago, brought in from Nashville, Tenn., after Embling’s departure, claims that this is about religious freedom.
[Rev. Morris] said the hiring policy has nothing to do with the services provided and that he doesn’t see a conflict.
“I don’t believe it’s discrimination. It’s an internal hiring policy,” he said. “Corporations want to hire people who are in line with who they are and what they stand for. One of the reasons I came to work with World Relief was it was a Christian organization to begin with.”
But World Relief is free to pursue its religious beliefs and pursue good works for the public without having to take part in national programs that are inherently multi-ethnic and multi-religious. The issue here is groups’ participation in our government programs and who use our tax money. Does it make sense for participating groups to discriminate against the very groups of people they are resettling here as refugees?
For example, Iraqi SIV immigrants are a new source of Arabic interpreters for whom we have a shortage in this country. How would World Relief or other religious groups that chose to discriminate be able to serve their Arabic-speaking refugee clients without these interpreters? Is it okay that we just resettle refugees without essential services?
I think its clear that President Obama needs to repeal the ill-advised Bush Administration executive orders that have helped this situation to occur — Executive Orders 13198 and 13279. Please contact the White House via their email form and ask the President to repeal these orders (here).
Posted in Christian, discrimination in hiring, evangelical, funding, Illinois, Islamic, religion, volunteers, World Relief | Tagged: 13198, 3279, barrack obama, bush, Chicago, Christian, Christian organization, civil rights act, counselors, Department of Justice, discriminate based on religion, discrimination based on religion, evangelical, executive orders, faith, faith-based, faith-based hiring, federal funds, George W. Bush, hiring policy, Illinois, Illinois Attorney General, Illinois Department of Human Services, Illinois Human Rights Act, Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, Iraqi, legal aid providers, Lisa Madigan, mental health services, Muslim, National Association of Evangelicals, Polk Bros. Foundation, polk brothers foundation, proselytize, proselytizing, refugee resettlement, religion, religious, religious persecution, SIV, Translators, welcoming the stranger, World Relief, World Relief Chicago | 1 Comment »
Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
Comment submitted for today’s State Department hearing on size & scope of refugee program
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 1, 2012
Posted in capacity, dangerous neighborhoods, democracy, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Office of Admissions, openess and transparency in government, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, State Department, Travel Loan Program, volunteers, World Relief | Tagged: Advocate, comment, Domestic Resettlement Section, FY2013, public hearing, refugees, resettlement, RPC (Refugee Processing Center), State Department, US Department of State | 1 Comment »