Friends of Refugees

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Archive for the ‘Ohio’ Category

Akron sees influx of Nepali-Bhutanese refugees

Posted by Christopher Coen on May 23, 2012

There is now a surge of Nepali-Bhutanese refugees resettling to Akron, Ohio. This happens when refugees seek to join their relatives already resettled in a local area (refugees termed as “geo cases”) as well as my secondary migration from other US cities (the Nepali-Bhutanese may be hearing from friends and families that jobs are available in Akron). Of course the surge puts pressure on the local resettlement agency to find a lot of material-item donations – e.g. furniture, essential household items, clothes, toiletries – in a relatively short period. Akron’s Beacon-Journal newspaper explains:

When members of the Bhutanese family arrived in Akron from a refugee camp in Nepal, they had nothing but the clothes on their backs and a few keepsakes in a bag.

The International Institute of Akron provided them with a furnished apartment, a hot meal and all of life’s little essentials, including kitchen gadgets, towels, sheets, blankets and cleaning items.

“It was a difficult life in the camps for 20 years,” said Bhim Subba, 50, who traveled to Akron with his wife and two children in February. “We were seeing no future there and decided to be resettled.”

The institute expects to serve a record number of refugees this month, with 85 already arriving as of late last week and the possibility of more in the remainder of the month. The figure is more than double the 30 to 40 refugees the agency normally gets in a month.

With the influx, the institute is looking for donations of basic items for the families.

“We need it all,” said Debbie May-Johnson, executive director of the institute…

…May-Johnson said most of the refugees coming into Akron are from Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal and Burmese camps in Thailand. She said they are asking to come to Akron because they already have family here, with refugees from these camps settling in the city for the past five years.

May-Johnson said the institute has an equal number of refugees who come from other U.S. cities to Akron, seeking job opportunities and affordable housing… Read more here

Posted in Akron, International Institute of Akron, Nepali Bhutanese, secondary migration, refugee | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Cleveland housing for refugees – Cheaper to rehab vacant house than to demolish it

Posted by Christopher Coen on May 13, 2012

The first refugee family has moved into a vacant, foreclosed house in Cleveland as part of a program to rehab empty housing stock in the city. The project is a collaboration between the Cuyahoga County land bank and International Services Center. It turns out that the $40,000 expended to rehab the house is less than what it would have cost to demolish it. An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer explains:

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — A pilot program operated by two nonprofit groups to place refugees in vacant, foreclosed homes has settled its first family into a renovated house in Lakewood.

Bhutanese natives Ruk and Leela Rai, along with their 3-year-old son, Anish, moved into an updated century home on Hopkins Avenue last week.

Two years ago, the International Services Center resettled the Rais in Cleveland from a refugee camp in Nepal,where Ruk and Leela had lived for 20 years. Their son was born in the camp.

Through the center’s programs, they learned life skills and found jobs. And now they are the first recipients of the new housing program created bythe center and the Cuyahoga County land bank.

About a year ago, the land bank, which has acquired a number of empty foreclosed homes, teamed with the center to split the costs of renovating the vacant Lakewood home and renting it to a refugee family.

So far, the partnership has worked well. And there’s a good chance it will continue, as the center needs housing for its stream of refugees, and the land bank, which razes many empty foreclosed homes, needs occupants.

It cost $40,000 to rehab the Lakewood house, which is cheaper than demolishing an empty foreclosed property… Read more here

Posted in Cleveland, housing, International Services Center, Nepali Bhutanese | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Cleveland Resettlement Agency and Land Bank Pair Refugee Families with Vacant Homes

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: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Refugee health services in Akron, OH

Posted by Christopher Coen on November 21, 2011

The US Department of State and the International Institute of Akron are resettling about 350 refugees annually in Akron. Secondary migration from other areas of the US is significant, with 350 more refugees arriving annually. Adult refugees here face the usual barriers to medical care, such as transportation issues, the language barrier, and cultural differences that hinder understanding and communication between medical staff and patients. Medical workers treat refugees for parasites, hepatitis, tuberculosis, dental problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other health issues. Although most refugee children are in good health when they arrive, some have medical concerns not typically seen in American-born children — e.g., hepatitis, latent tuberculosis, anemia, failure to thrive, parasites, chronic ear infections and certain oral health problems. An article in the Beacon Journal has more:

…Each year, about 350 refugees from Myanmar, Nepal, Iraq and other countries arrive in the Akron area with the help of the International Institute of Akron, according to Kate Sass, the institute’s director of refugee resettlement. Another 350 refugees who have been living in other cities throughout the United States also relocate to the region in a typical year…

...Cultural differencesAlong with the obvious language barrier, things such as transportation issues and cultural differences create challenges, Van Nostran said. Some patients also struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder from their past experiences.

The staff has learned, for example, that it is considered rude in some cultures to only use one hand instead of two to give patients their prescriptions or other paperwork.

In another case, Van Nostran said, hospital staff were concerned that a refugee couple were ignoring their newborn shortly after birth. The staff later learned this was the custom in the family’s native culture, which believes doting on a newborn will draw the attention of “evil spirits.”

“It has challenged us not to make assumptions but to ask specifically about cultures,” she said…

…When refugees arrive, they must have an initial health exam within 30 days for parasites, hepatitis, tuberculosis, dental problems and other health issues.

Some refugees have latent tuberculosis, which isn’t active or contagious but still must be treated with a nine-month course of antibiotics to avoid an active infection in the future, she said.

“You learn a lot,” Erme said. “Health-care providers who take care of refugee patients need to be open to learning and realize that what we were taught in our medical professional education may not always apply to this population.”…

…Caring for children

…Although the majority of children are in good health when they arrive, he said, refugees have some medical concerns that typically aren’t seen in American-born children — things such as oral health problems, latent tuberculosis, parasites, anemia, failure to thrive, chronic ear infections and hepatitis… Read more here

I think that the International Institute of Akron resettling refugees into crowded housing with rats and roaches also must not have been particularly healthful for refugees in Akron.

Posted in Akron, children, cultural adjustment, health, housing, overcrowding, housing, substandard, International Institute of Akron, language, PTSD, RMA (Refugee Medical Assistance), secondary migration, refugee | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

“Fight” at Columbus apartment complex in August was actually a robbery

Posted by Christopher Coen on October 12, 2011

 

A so-called “fight” between a man and the Nepali-Bhutanese residents of an apartment complex in Columbus turns out to have been an alleged robbery. Police shot the man to death. The robbery apparently involved more than one perpetrator. An article in ThisWeek Community Newspapers has the details:

…an Aug. 24 police-involved shooting at the 604-unit Breckenridge Apartments on Shanley Drive east of Karl Road. Initial reports said a melee that broke out there that night was a result of racial tensions between the Bhutanese people and African American residents of the complex, but Remy said that turned out not to be the case.

It was instead, he said, a matter of a robbery.

The incident involved a “couple of gangsters robbing people,” Abdi Soofe of the city’s Community Relations Commission told The Columbus Dispatch for a story that ran on Sept. 6.

A 21-year-old man died after being shot by a police officer as he scuffled with another cop during a fight involving more than two dozen people in the courtyard of the apartment complex, according to The Dispatch.

Angie Plummer, executive director of Community Refugee and Immigration Services-Ohio, said the situation was not the result of racial tensions but was instead “a bunch of criminal … ne’er-do-wells looking for people to prey on.”… Read more here

Posted in Columbus, Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), dangerous neighborhoods, Nepali Bhutanese, police, safety | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Refugees in Ohio unable to use Medicaid cards for prescriptions

Posted by Christopher Coen on October 2, 2011

An article in the Columbus Dispatch reports that for close to two months refugees in Ohio have been unable to obtain prescription medications.

For nearly two months, as many as 400 refugees in Ohio have been unable to use their Medicaid cards to obtain prescriptions because of a glitch involving a state vendor.

The problem should be fixed by next week, said Ben Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

But it’s been a headache for newcomers dependent on the government program to pay for medications.

Refugees have presented Medicaid cards at pharmacies, but their names weren’t appearing in pharmacy computer systems as eligible for the benefits… Read more here

Posted in health, Ohio | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Police shoot man to death at Columbus apartment complex after tensions involving Bhutanese escalate

Posted by Christopher Coen on August 29, 2011

Tensions between black and Nepali-Bhutanese residents of a North Side Columbus apartment complex reached a peak last week when officers were called on a report of a fight that included a man with a gun. The story is in The Columbus Dispatch:

The fight that resulted in the shooting death of a man by a Columbus police officer on Wednesday night apparently was the result of racial tensions between black and Nepalese residents of a North Side apartment complex, neighbors said.

Residents of the complex said a melee broke out between four black men and as many as 20 Nepalese immigrants, all of whom live in the Breckenridge Apartments off Shanley Drive.

About 100 Nepales refugees live in the complex, said a woman from Nepal who lives there. She said the racial tensions are ongoing, and she asked not to be named for fear of retaliation.

Yesterday, police still wouldn’t release the name of the man who died shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Ohio State University Medical Center…

…The incident began, Columbus police said, when officers were called about 8:30 p.m. to 1666 Shanley Dr. on a report of a fight that included a man with a gun.

Just as officers arrived, they heard gunshots, said Sgt. Christine Nemchev, spokeswoman for Columbus police.

Two officers went into a crowd that was fighting in the apartment-complex courtyard, and one of them got into a scuffle with an armed man. That man was shot by the officer’s partner, according to police… Read more here

Another article identifies the man killed by police as 21-year-old Francis Owens.

My question is a simple one: What did the refugees’ resettlement agency do to help them resolve the escalating tensions? Some landlords let disruptive and hostile tenants in, and its at that point that other tenants need to think about getting out. Did the resettlement agency place these refugees at the apartment complex? Did the agency help the Nepalese try to negotiate through the tricky situation?

Posted in Columbus, Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), Community Refugee and Immigration Services (CRIS), dangerous neighborhoods, Nepali Bhutanese, police, safety | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

 
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