Archive for the ‘Karenni’ 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 7, 2012
Refugees in many parts of the country find that together with the language barrier obtaining driving licenses as one of the main barriers to economic self-sufficiency. Transportation to work is difficult to arrange in areas lacking mass transit. Myanmar refugees in Kentucky have found it difficult to get driving license permits, citing a poorly translated (into Burmese) version of the written test. Alternatively, Kentucky law allows residents to take the permit test orally. Yet, in an explanation that doesn’t make sense to me, the director of a local organization that assists refugees claims that translators (interpreters?) must be court certified, and supposedly there is no local certification process available in Burmese or Karenni. (Why not?) An article in the Bowling Green Daily News explains:
When Bu Reh came to Bowling Green from the jungle of Myanmar, he wanted a quality life for his family – a home, education, jobs and a car.
He didn’t know how difficult that would be…
…After failing his driver’s permit test multiple times because he couldn’t understand the badly translated questions, Bu Reh invested about $1,000 to take his test in Arizona, which has better Burmese translation.
He got his driver’s license in Arizona, giving authorities the address of relatives who live there. After returning to Bowling Green and using it for awhile, the license was suspended and taken away.
His story is one example of how language barriers hinder communication and cause problems for international residents. Because of a lack of good translation, many refugees are unaware that it’s against the law to provide a fake address to get a license in another state. It’s also difficult to understand driving rules and pass the written and driving tests. Many refugees walk and ride bicycles, and they often rely on others to shuttle them, they say…
…Several Burmese refugees – and refugees from other countries – claim the written permit tests are badly translated, making them faulty and nearly impossible to pass. Furthermore, a variety of languages are spoken in Myanmar and written tests are not offered in Karenni, one of the most popular languages spoken among Bowling Green residents, according to speakers at the forum.
The translation issue also prevents many refugees from accurately understanding the law, which is why so many think it’s all right to give fake addresses for driver’s licenses in other states, said Jennifer Bell, director of CEDARS, a local organization that assists refugees and other international residents…
…One man said through a translator that he’s very thankful to live in Bowling Green, but he has failed the permit test six times, which is frustrating. Another man said the only problem he has encountered since living in Bowling Green is the inability to get a driver’s license. He currently rides a bicycle…
…Still, there are problems within the government that church and CEDARS members are working to correct. Kentucky law allows residents to take the permit test orally, and they’re trying to find an appropriate translator for that task, Hohman said.
But those translators are required to be court certified, and Bell isn’t aware of a local certification process available in Burmese or Karenni, she said in an email.
…Hohman [is] working with police and legislators to get the written test re-translated into a better form of Burmese, he said.
He also spoke with Arizona police officers, who said they would consider releasing the driver’s license suspension for some refugees who are working to get a valid Kentucky license, he said…. Read more here
Posted in Bowling Green, Burma/Myanmar, driving instruction, economic self-sufficiency, Karenni, language | Tagged: Bowling Green, Burmese, driving license, karenni, permit, red tape, refugees, resettlement, translation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 30, 2012
A reader sent me another article from earlier this month about that recent report by San Francisco State University, and the nonprofit Burma Family Refugee Network, about refugees from Burma living in extreme poverty in Oakland. It has details about a Karenni refugee woman in Oakland who had to give birth at home (because she couldn’t find a ride to the hospital). The director of the International Rescue Committee in Northern California says he would like to see services at resettlement agencies for a longer period than six months. (Bear in mind we are just now making our way out of this severe recession since 2009, and the IRC in Northern California still hasn’t extended services – in spite of the doubling of the US State Department per capita refugee grant 2 years ago — see analysis here.) The article is in the East Bay Express has added details about the problems:
Hae Htoo lives in a one-bedroom unit in East Oakland with five other family members [her husband, brother, and three children]. The twenty-year-old arrived in the US six months ago and hopes to learn English and find a job. But a recent report by San Francisco State University and nonprofit Burma Family Refugee Network shows that refugees from Burma who now live in Oakland, such as Hae Htoo, are facing dire circumstances…
…even…employed [refugees from Burma in Oakland] are living in poverty — 75 percent, according to the report — since jobs may be short-term, part-time, and low-wage. The study also found that some people eligible for welfare were not on it. Another paradox is that 90 percent said they had doctors, but healthcare was still one of their top problems, due to the language barrier. ”Even though they have doctors and insurance, they still don’t get healthcare,” said Jeung. “They didn’t understand how to get an appointment, or if they are given a prescription, how to take their drugs”…
…Hae Htoo gave birth to a newborn daughter just two months ago. That morning, she felt contractions but wasn’t sure if she was going into labor. By the time she was ready to give birth, she could not find a ride to the hospital. She gave birth in the bathroom; her husband caught the baby….Following [a] 911 operator’s instructions as translated by [a] neighbor, Hae’s husband tied one of his shoelaces around the umbilical cord and waited for an ambulance…
Mental health is also an issue; more than 70 percent [of the refugees surveyed in the study] reported stressors that impaired them. (The survey included culturally appropriate answers such as feeling “heaviness” or “head is hot,” mental states that prevent someone from focusing or being able to work). Jeung said mental health issues stem from both war trauma and the acculturative stress of having to adapt to a new land…
…[Ken Briggs, interim executive director of the International Rescue Committee in Northern California] hopes the [IRC] will be able to offer long-term case management in the future…”I would like to see services within the resettlement agencies that provides support for a longer period [than six months], particularly with job search and case management”…
…Hae Htoo…is worried. Her husband will be laid off from his bakery job in three months. “I am worried we won’t be able to pay rent and bills”…
Zar Ni Maung, co-founder of the Burma Family Refugee Network, said that even folks who have been here since 2007 still struggle. Some are exhausting their CalWorks lifetime benefits [The lifetime cap for welfare and CalWorks was recently cut from five to four years]. He fears some refugees will remain a permanent, poverty-stricken underclass.
“They’ve been here long-term now,” he said. “Who’s going to pay for their rent? Who is helping them find a job? A lot of people have been placed [in jobs], but they do not continue going to work or have been laid off. Nobody seems to be looking into why this is happening. They don’t have skills. The issues are here. How are we going to fix it?” Read more here
Posted in IRC, R&P, Burma/Myanmar, Karenni, funding, housing, overcrowding, employment/jobs for refugees, Oakland, housing, safety, economic self-sufficiency, Catholic Charities of the East Bay (Oakland) | Tagged: refugees, karenni, IRC, resettlement, Oakland, International Rescue Committee, interpretation, poverty, east bay, Catholic Charities of the East Bay | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 28, 2012
If you follow this blog you might remember reading about the experience a volunteer helping refugees from Myanmar had with the Bowling Green International Center. Cindy Florez, who I spoke to and corresponded with in 2009 and 2010, met the refugees in a refugee camp when she was in Thailand and later drove to Bowling Green to welcome them when they arrived for resettlement. There, she found her friends living in filthy, rundown apartments, overrun with massive cockroach infestations – and commented about the problems on a website. Later, bringing the refugees a carload of donated items she was greeted by a hostile landlord (apparently a Burmese individual, and friend of the Institute?) who ordered her off the property, using the police to illegally remove her from the property (tenants may chose who their guests are, not landowners or police). A mystery person in the building also threw M-80 firecrackers at Florez and her female Karenni interpreter.
Now, two years after we placed a request with the State Department’s FOIA office for that public agency’s monitoring inspections reports of the private resettlement agencies for late 2008 and early 2009, the office has finally responded with a few reports. One of those reports is a March 31-April 1, 2009 inspection of the Bowling Green International Center. It turns out that the State Department monitors were able to conduct the rare once-in-5-or-10-year-inspection without discovering any of the problems that Florez documented in writing and on video (monitors did not find any infestation, even though two of the refugee cases they visited reported these). So, what went wrong?
That remains for the State Department monitors to explain, although their office has frequently repeated that they act only as a “partner” to their resettlement contractors. Even with that lack of authority in the oversight relationship I think it still remains for them to explain why they will not investigate any of the individual cases reported by members of the public and the community (instead, they selected only the usual small random sample, four refugee cases in this case, for home visits).
Part of what probably went wrong was an extensive clean-up before the monitors’ arrival, after the community member caught this resettlement contractor providing substandard services. No doubt other problems include the rarity of the monitorings and the great weight given to resettlement contractors’ own written records as “proof” of services they provided.
Finally, I notice that the report states that this refugee resettlement agency “reports a collaborative relationship with the state refugee coordinator” without mentioning that the “state” refugee coordinator is just another private refugee resettlement contractor – Catholic Charities of Louisville.
Posted in Bowling Green, Catholic Charities of Louisville Inc., housing, substandard, International Center in Bowling Green (Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association), Karenni, missed immunizations for refugee students, Office of Admissions, public/private partnership, rats and roaches, State Department, transportation | Tagged: Bowling Green, Catholic Charities of Louisville, International Center, karenni, monitoring, refugees, resettlement, State Department, Western Kentucky Refugee Mutual Assistance Association | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on January 26, 2012
This topic seems to fall under the “Do not do” section of the best practices category. According to the State Department resettlement contracts, resettlement contractors are not to place incoming refugee cases in temporary housing, rather they should place refugees in their own permanent housing, e.g. an apartment rental, upon their arrival. Nevertheless, some contractors do this despite the requirement (I understand that once in a while refugees arrive in the US on short notice from the State Department, but what other excuse contractors are using for use of temporary housing I am not aware of). According to a July 2009 monitoring inspection, World Relief Aurora – an affiliate of World Relief in Aurora, Illinois – is one of the contractors that government inspectors found which have failed to place refugees into their own housing upon arrival. In this case, the agency placed refugees into the homes of unrelated refugee host families.
Monitors visited four refugee families and found that none of the adults were working yet, even though they were eager to work — one family had been in Aurora for four months, and another refugee man three months earlier. In addition, none of the refugees had received an initial health screening, which the Operational Guidance contract document requires be done within 30 days of their arrival. With regard to the housing:
…All of the refugees that monitors visited except [an] Iraqi family had been placed with unrelated refugee host families for a few days when they first arrived until they could sign leases for their own apartments. No form of written agreement showed what the host families had agreed to provide or for what period. The affiliate assured monitors that they provide bedding and other supplies, and that families usually volunteered. The Burmese Chin refugee told monitors that his bed and other items belonged to a previous tenant who had moved away. A case note in his file also revealed that the affiliate had asked the refugee to pay a previous tenant’s rent share for a period before the refugee moved in. The young Karenni refugee did not understand what furnishings were his to keep if he moved out… Read report here
Here is a snippet from a February 2010 posting which shows World Relief has long-placed refugees into non-permanent housing upon arrival.
… [a] Burundian refugee woman in Boise should not have lived with church members after initially arriving in Boise. The State Department’s Admissions Office has repeatedly warned World Relief affiliates (here, here and here) that this practice is prohibited…
Posted in best practices, Chicago, Cooperative Agreement, faith-based, housing, Karenni, late health screenings, Operational Guidance, World Relief | Tagged: best practices, Cooperative Agreement, inspection, monitoring, refugees, Relief Aurora, resettlement, World | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 6, 2011
In a post last January I wrote about the experience I had taking a refugee to the doctor for a muscle tissue biopsy. He spoke Sudanese Arabic but the medical staff connected him via speaker phone to a Kurdish Arabic interpreter. As a result of this insufficient interpretation he endured excruciating while not being able to communicate that they had given him insufficient local anesthesia. As a result he was too traumatized to go back for cancer tumor treatment. An article in the The San Diego Union-Tribune explains that these mishaps with refugees have included a mistaken abortion referral for a refugee woman, and a refugee man’s close call loss of his sight in one eye:
…David Sein-Lwin, chairman of the newcomers assistance committee at the Oakland Burmese Mission Baptist Church [said], “In my experience, health is one of the biggest issues [for refugees] because of language limitations. The Karenni have even less interpreters. I have helped several times with social services, and it’s pretty tough to do that [interpretation] to Karenni. It takes two [interpreters], it takes more time, and it can be frustrating.”
In these scenarios, one interpreter translates from Karenni to Burmese, and the second from Burmese to English.
[There are] health consequences for refugees who have limited or no access to translation services. Lia Tluang, for example, arrived in Oakland at age 16 with an eye injury that he’d sustained while working in Malaysia. Although he needed surgery to save the sight in his left eye, his Medi-Cal benefits were terminated after eight months. Tluang, who is of the Chin ethnic minority group, initially didn’t have the language skills to reapply on his own. He was able to get an operation at age 18, after he figured out how to sign up for Medi-Cal, but now, the vision in his left eye is limited to a distance of 1 foot.
Because of translation problems with a Burmese interpreter, a pregnant Karen woman living in Oakland who wanted to keep her baby was mistakenly referred for an abortion. A translator and doctor at Asian Health Services was able to intervene before the woman went in for the procedure.
“Our system is so fragmented, and it’s difficult to access care if you are English-speaking and insured,” Jeung said. “So if you are low-income, non-insured and non-English-speaking, this system makes no sense to you, especially if insurance didn’t exist where you came from. They need help in making appointments. If we refer them elsewhere, interpretation in a specialty setting is a challenge, and even physically getting to the clinic and affording bus fare – these are all the barriers that my patients encounter along the way.”
In Oakland, the burden of translation falls on a handful of people like Kwee Say, an interpreter at Asian Health Services who…is seemingly always on call….She is also literally putting out fires – once, a family called her when their apartment was burning down because they didn’t know who else to contact… Read more here
Posted in Karenni, language, medical care, Oakland, San Diego | Tagged: access to medical care, Burmese, interpretation, interpreter, karenni, Language Line, medical errors, medical mistakes, non-English-speaking, refugees, resettlement | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 3, 2011
Once again there has been a tragedy involving refugees and a van rollover. One refugee from Myanmar is dead and two others were seriously injured in an accident near Rushmore, Minnesota. The killed and injured were on their way to meatpacking jobs in Worthington. An article in the Argus Leader has the story:
Myanmar immigrants, persecuted for years, have found happiness in Sioux Falls, says a priest who works with some of the newcomers.
But for the past two weeks, grief has subdued the joyousness they have felt.
One member of their community died Nov. 19 in a one-vehicle rollover near Rushmore, Minn.
Two other passengers remain hospitalized in Sioux Falls, beginning what could be weeks of rehabilitation.
Three families are suffering, says the Rev. Paul King of St. Lambert Catholic Church…
…“For Bya Reh’s family, he was the only wage earner. His eldest son is going to school.”
Reh, 48, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which happened at 2:47 p.m. on a Saturday. Eight people, including the driver, were traveling on Interstate 90 on a surface that had been made slick by freezing rain that started earlier in the day.
The group was traveling to their jobs at JBS Swift & Co. meat-packing plant in Worthington. Five of the passengers were Sudanese, King says. The other two Burmese on the van were Oo Meh, 30, and Beh Reh, 51. Bya Reh and Beh Reh are not related.
The two men and Meh are members of the Karenni, a minority group in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma…
…Bya Reh, whose funeral was Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving, leaves behind a wife and four children, a 23-year-old daughter and three sons, ages 21, 13 and 12.
Beh Reh, who spent a week at Sanford Health in critical condition, broke a hip in the accident and also suffered bruised ribs, a bruised heart and a severe blow to his head.
“He’s still quite confused and agitated,” King says. “He was on a respirator for most of last week. He’s able to talk but quite confused.”
Beh Reh is married with four children. His daughters are ages 21 and 11 with two sons ages 19 and 15.
Meh and her husband both work at the meatpacking plant. They took opposite shifts so someone could be home with their children, daughters ages 12 and 4 and a son who is about 8. She sustained fractures along her spine and broke her pelvis….
…The three families moved to Sioux Falls less than three years ago and have struggled to find work… Read more here
In the past several years there have also been van rollover accidents with refugees in Arizona, central Georgia (and here), and north Georgia.
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, Karenni, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, meatpacking industry, passenger van roll-over, Sudanese | Tagged: Burma, JBS Swift & Co, karenni, meat packing, Myanmar, refugees, resettlement, roll-over, van, Worthington | 1 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 November 28, 2011
Researchers at San Francisco State University and the Burma Refugee Family Network (BRFN) released a report that claims almost 60 percent of Oakland’s refugees from Burma/Myanmar are living in extreme poverty, with 63% being unemployed. Those of Karenni origin from Burma fair even worse: 81 percent are unemployed, and 90 percent are living in extreme poverty. The report concludes that refugees from Burma in Oakland are at risk of becoming a permanent, poverty-stricken underclass, and that the local resettlement program has not been successful. An article at EurekAlert has the story:
Refugees who have fled Burma to live in Oakland, Calif., are at risk of becoming a permanent, poverty-stricken underclass warns a new report released today by researchers at San Francisco State University and the Burma Refugee Family Network (BRFN). The report found that almost 60 percent of Oakland’s refugees from Burma are living in extreme poverty…
…”These recent refugees from Burma are facing dire circumstances,” said Russell Jeung, associate professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University…
…Jeung and his students, together with BRFN and other community-based organizations, surveyed 194 refugees from Burma to assess the community’s needs. The researchers found that in addition to high poverty rates, these refugees face barriers to accessing employment, health care and government benefits caused by their lack of English. These barriers have been exacerbated by recent cuts in the provision of English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and a lack of appropriate interpretation services…
…The report found that among Oakland’s refugee population from Burma:
- 63 percent are unemployed. Those that are employed have sporadic, low-wage jobs.
- 57 percent live below the federal threshold for extreme poverty, earning less than $1,000 per month for an average household size of five. Most of the remainder live below the federal poverty line.
- 38 percent speak no English at all. Another 28 percent speak English poorly.
- 74 percent report that lack of English is their biggest barrier to accessing health care.
- 47 percent report that English classes are the most-needed service in their community…
…Now resettled in Oakland, refugees of Karenni origin are struggling to adapt to life in the United States: 81 percent are unemployed, 90 percent are living in extreme poverty and 90 percent have no high school education…
…”Our findings suggest that resettlement programs in Oakland are not yet successful,” Maung said. “We would like to see federal and local refugee government agencies and nonprofits working together with and supporting grassroots community organizations in order to help members of our community achieve self-sufficiency.”… Read more here
Refugees from Burma/Myanmar have also experienced muggings and robberies in Oakland, as have refugees from Bhutan/Nepal.
Posted in alienation-isolation, Burma/Myanmar, dangerous neighborhoods, economic self-sufficiency, employment/jobs for refugees, ESL & ELL, Karen, Karenni, language, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Oakland | Tagged: Burma, Burma Refugee Family Network, Cesar Chavez Institute, From Crisis to Community Development: Needs Assessments of Refugees from Burma, Myanmar, Oakland, poverty, refugees, resettlement, San Francisco State University | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 31, 2010
An article in the Seattle Times offers a window into current conditions for refugees in Washington State. Low-skill jobs are scarce and homelessness is skyrocketing. A one-night homeless count in January found 978 refugees and immigrants living in shelters or in transitional housing.
Refugee families…displaced people from war-torn parts of the world — are confronting homelessness all over again in their new homeland.
As tough to navigate as the homeless-support system can be for growing numbers of families in the Northwest, it can prove profoundly challenging for refugees, who may be unfamiliar with how the system works, may have few if any marketable job skills, often don’t speak English and don’t understand the culture here.
…”We are bringing people from refugee camps to get a new start in the U.S. only to see them Dumpster-diving somewhere,” said Tom Medina, who heads the state’s office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance.
As part of the federal government’s commitment to helping displaced and persecuted people around the world, the U.S. will resettle about 80,000 refugees this year — about half the total number of those that get resettled across the globe.
Last year, some 2,600 — many of them Iraqis and ethnic minorities from Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Bhutan — came to Washington. The state is second only to Minnesota in drawing refugees who were first resettled in other parts of the U.S.
For many unable to find work, the housing shuffle begins when the government assistance they were receiving runs out, or their lease expires and the rent goes up, or the family dynamic changes in a way that they can no longer cover housing expenses.
In January, King County’s most recent annual one-night homeless count found families of refugees and immigrants that together totaled 978 adults and children living in shelters or in transitional housing — up from 638 the previous year.
That doesn’t account for the untold numbers who bed down in hotels, camp out in churches or squeeze into the already cramped apartments of friends or relatives.
Often, families that do have housing struggle to hang on to it… here
Local community-based groups that contract with the state to help refugees find work have a poor track record. In 2007, agencies placed 48 percent of refugees in jobs, but last year only 28 percent.
Together with state and local governments, the federal government invests heavily in helping refugees settle in.
Across the country, the State Department contracts with 10 agencies known as “volags” — short for voluntary agencies — to support refugees, helping them find housing, enroll their children in school, apply for benefits and look for work.
Separately, the federal government last year gave $4.2 million to Washington state and the state kicked in $4.6 million more. Washington, in turn, awards contracts to a network of community-based service providers to help refugees learn English, and get job training and other services.
In terms of direct financial help, refugees are eligible for cash assistance and food stamps — $360 per month for up to eight months for single adults. Families with children under 18 are eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, known as TANF.
A family of three is eligible for $562 — higher than in all but 10 states — with the amount increasing about $100 for each additional eligible person, up to a maximum of $1,320.
Additionally, the federal government provides upfront cash for each arriving refugee — $1,100 per person.
…State Department officials acknowledge the current job market is creating a problem for many refugees but say that, as bad as things are in this country, conditions in the camps are even worse.
The federal government is studying how it might resettle people in areas of the U.S. where there are more available jobs. For example, with the recession coming to Washington later than other parts of the country, this region might have been one of those places.
But even in good times the community-based groups that contract with the state to help refugees find work have a poor track record.
In 2007, for example, 48 percent of refugees in the state were placed in jobs at an average hourly rate of $9.25. Last year, only 28 percent found work.
The article also mentions that President Obama will soon announce an increase in the number of refugees the US will accept next year.
The Obama administration is conducting the first major review of the nation’s 30-year-old resettlement program. But even before the findings are released, the administration is preparing to announce an increase in the number of refugees it will invite into the country next year.
State Department officials say refugees in camps overseas are told about the hard realities of the American economy, giving them the option to stay or go to another country.
But refugees themselves say that’s a tough call — that after years in squalid refugee camps, it’s hard to let go of their high hopes about life in America.
Posted in Burma/Myanmar, employment/jobs for refugees, funding, homelessness, housing, Iraqi, Karenni, Nepali Bhutanese, Obama administration, Seattle, secondary migration, refugee, Somali, State Department, Washington | Tagged: Burmese refugees, homeless refugees, homelessness, karenni, Kent, King county, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugees, resettlement, seattle, Somali refugees, washington state | 1 Comment »
Christopher Coen
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