Friends of Refugees

A U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program Watchdog Group

Archive for the ‘Kansas City’ Category

Welcoming The Stranger Without Becoming Overly Involved

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: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Volunteer Gives Update On JVS of Kansas City

Posted by Christopher Coen on February 11, 2012

A volunteer helping Karen refugees in Kansas City added a comment to a December post about Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City (JVS).

My wife and I have been working with the Karen refugees in KCMO for two years. Nothing has changed with JVS they still put refugees in terrible housing conditions, they do not explain the lease arrangements with them. We have several families that face legal action now because they did not understand that they could not just break a lease and move. Also they take all Karen refugees to Bank of America to open bank accounts, without explaining anything about checking accounts, balancing a check book, etc. (my wife and I have done this). Most Karen refugees especially adults are left to take care of themselves too soon, very short or no English classes at all. Lack of helping to find jobs, do not explain WIC program with lots of families having months of expired unused WIC coupons due to lack of no knowing what to do or to do it. JVS is a waste of time for the Karen refugees, we have close to 40 families that we work with, taking to medical appointment, helping with WIC, TANF, Food stamps, Medicaid and any other needs to include transportation to appointments, even lighting their furnaces in the winter. We do this for free and do not work for any group…it is out of compassion and love for the Karen refugees…something that should be a requirement for anyone working with refugees no matter where they come from…. See December post

Posted in housing, insufficient assistance with daily tasks, Jewish, Jewish Vocational Services, Kansas City, Karen, language, language interpretation/translation, lack of | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Fired immigrant employees sue JVS of Kansas City – claim agency scapegoated them

Posted by Christopher Coen on December 5, 2011

Almost two years now after the Kansas City Star – and the Pitch a year earlier – published accounts about Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City (JVS) placing refugees in substandard housing (here and here), comes word that three former employees of the agency are suing, claiming they were blamed for their supervisor’s bad decisions. The three are suing for discrimination due to their race, skin color and national origin, claiming that their supervisor, Deborah Fiene, who was in charge of housing, scapegoated them for her own poor decisions in placing refugees in extremely substandard and unsanitary housing. The three claim that JVS fired them due to “unsatisfactory job performance” yet they all had received positive evaluations and each promoted less than a year earlier. They claim in their suit papers that Feine was never punished despite evidence of impropriety on her job performance. They also claim that the agency rifled through their desks and stole personal documents, including citizenship papers, while later arguing in court papers that the agency was exempt from the lawsuit because it was a religious organisation. A Kenyen newspaper (one of the accusers originates from Kenya), The Standard, has the story:

A Kenyan US based journalist and two other African immigrants have gone to court and sued a Jewish organisation in the US for racial discrimination.

Peter Makori, a resident of Kansas City who originally hails from Kisii in Kenya and Abdi Murasaal and Bakar Abdalla from Somalia have sued Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) of Kansas City for damages claiming they were dismissed from their employment because their boss, of Caucasian origin (white) discriminated against them due to their race, skin colour and national origins.

The three, through their lawyer, Brian Barjenbruch complained in their suit papers filed in the circuit court of Kansas City Missouri, that a white female employee who was herself not punished committed the mistakes that led to their dismissal from work…

…Makori and Abdallah worked as refugee resettlement case managers at the JVS, while Mursaal was their general manager at the organisation’s Centre for New Americans.

They are seeking…compensation for unfairly losing their jobs and other inconveniences. They claim in their suit papers the fact that their colleague who is white was never punished despite evidence of impropriety on her job performance showed that they were victims of racial discrimination.

The centre works with the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) – a body that is contracted by the US State Department for Homeland Security – to bring refugees to America from turbulent regions around the world….

…The former JVS employees have claimed that their colleague, Deborah Fiene, who was in charge of housing, had allegedly placed refugees in dirty and sub-standard housing, which contravened the regulations of the State Department and USCRI. Despite this, she was not punished but the boss used the three as her scapegoat and summarily sacked them.

They claimed that their complaints against Fiene to the organisation’s executive director, who is also white, that the housing coordinator was putting refugees in poor housing, were dismissed…

…Makori…claimed in his suit papers that a few days preceding his dismissal, his desk at work was ransacked and numerous documents taken away…

…Bakar claimed in his suit papers that his desk was ransacked and several documents, including his citizen’s certificate, which was in his drawers lost. Abdi claimed that the management had ransacked his desk and several documents taken away.

They pointed out their employer had accused them in their dismissal letters that they were sacked because of “unsatisfactory job performance” yet they all had received positive evaluation and each promoted less than a year earlier… Read more here

The case involved more than JVS simply placing refugees in wretched housing. Newspaper accounts reported that refugees were left on their own for medical appointments, and that JVS failed to give a refugee family all sorts of minimum-required household items, while documenting that it had done so.

Posted in faith-based, household items, missing or broken, housing, housing, substandard, Jewish, Jewish Vocational Services, Kansas City, Kenyen, medical care, Somali, Sudanese, USCRI | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Jewish Vocational Services defended, but not their refugee clients

Posted by Melissa Sogard on February 27, 2010

A friend of Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) in Kansas City, the editor of the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, came to the defense of the organization last year (article). No surprise there.

We first reported about this USCRI-affiliate agency back on January 25, 2010 (see post here).

The editor claims that JVS Executive Director Joy Foster and board President Callan Cohen believe that a series of internal changes last year, “in both policy and personnel”, have improved the situation.

Yet, how does that explain the revelation of yet more ongoing neglect of refugee clients this year, revealed in articles in both the Kansas City Star as well as the Pitch? Well, JVS’s Foster explains that weaknesses “surface” during a time when the organization is ”stretched”. Has the organization been more stretched this year than it was last year? We learn that nearly 500 refugees were resettled last year, but that Foster expects JVS to resettle just 450 refugees in 2010. Therefore a reduction in refugee clients this year would not be the cause of the stretching. No further explanation is given.

Foster claims that JVS has had a “structural” budget deficit, and that this has left many refugee families, “in dire straits even BEFORE they arrive in Kansas City”! Foster blames the federal government for this, saying, “it almost always costs more to rent and outfit an apartment for a newly arrived refugee family than JVS receives from the federal government.”

Yet why should that be a surprise. The State Department keeps repeating over and over that they offer “seed” money as part of the public/private partnership. The government’s contribution to this humanitarian program to resettle refugees has never be meant to cover ALL costs, as resettlement agencies like JVS well know. Charities such as JVS, in the government refugee contracts they sign, promise to add “significant” amounts of their own private funding. That’s the “private” half of the public/private partnership, or at least its supposed to be.

“The good news is,” Foster said, “that the U.S. Department of State informed us on Jan. 22 that money for reception and placement will double for the calendar year.”

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Does that mean that JVS’s responsibilities to the refugees will also double? No. There has been no announcement of any additions to the fairly measly list of minimum standards contained in the Operational Guidance refugee contract document.

How about requiring resettlement agencies to provide used telephones and basic phone service so that refugees can call about job openings? Nope. Could we just have a requirement that refugees be given a little dictionary ($5 at Wal-Mart) to help them learn English. No. How about requiring resettlement agencies to take each refugee to just 1-3 potential, realistic job leads each week. No way. Resettlement agencies defend their failures to help refugees find jobs by saying, “we are NOT required to find them jobs.” How about requiring some minimum efforts at least? Would that be too much to ask?

Oh well.

Posted in Kansas City, Missouri, Operational Guidance, USCRI | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Jewish Vocational Services, Kansas City

Posted by Melissa Sogard on January 25, 2010

We’ve been reading articles and posts around the internet regarding problems at this refugee resettlement agency – JVS (Jewish Vocational Services). There are two recent artcles in the Pitch, here and here. (Christopher wrote a comment for the first Jan. 7th article regarding how the U.S. Department of State conducts investigations of refugee resettlement agencies – see Comment #8; also see Comment #1).

There articles tell the story of what our group has seen at refugee resettlement agencies in other parts of the U.S.; refugees being placed in apartments that do not meet the requirements of the State Department’s guidelines, refugees not been given rides to crucial doctor appointments, refugees who have no idea who to call when their refugee resettlement agency is not there to assist them.

JVS is an affiliate of the USCRI (U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants). The USCRI’s affiliates have been in dozens of newspaper articles during the past several years that have documented neglect of refugees.

I guess my question is why hasn’t JVS responded to the reports of neglect? The silence almost reads as a confirmation of the reporter’s information and the stories told by JVS’ refugee clients. Does it really all come down to funding issues? If the private contributions added to the public money contributions were too little, why were the refugees accepted by JVS for resettlement? Did a grant or two fall through? How is the public to understand what has happened with so few details provided by JVS?

Posted in Burundian, housing, housing, substandard, insufficient assistance with daily tasks, Jewish, Jewish Vocational Services, Kansas City, State Department, USCRI | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

 
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