Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
The slowdown in refugee arrivals since October 2010 has led to a situation where resettlement agencies are now refocusing efforts on doing needed employment coaching for refugees already here. Did the doubling of the State Department’s per capita grant funding to resettlement contractors last year do the same? Let’s hope so. The federal government increased the funding with no strings attached, which was not necessarily good for the refugees — especially due to the problems at Houston’s four resettlement agencies: The Alliance For Multicultural Community Services, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Houston, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, and YMCA International Services.
Yani Rose Keo, interim executive director of Houston’s Alliance claims that her agency is now spending more time with refugees, according to an article in the Houston Chronicle.
The number of refugees resettling in the U.S. and Houston has dropped considerably this year because of new security measures, according to the U.S. State Department.
Nationwide, refugee arrivals have declined more than 30 percent, from nearly 54,000 in the first nine months of fiscal year 2010 to about 37,000 during the same period this year.
“We are committed to conducting the most rigorous screening in order to ensure that those being admitted through the refugee program are not seeking to harm the United States,” according to a statement from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Government officials attribute the slowdown to a new “pre-departure” check that went into effect in late 2010. The additional screening is intended to identify information that might have come to light since initial biographical and biometric checks were conducted...
Fewer arrivals means less funding for YMCA International and four other local refugee resettlement agencies, which receive per-capita grants from the State Department to help refugees transition into their new lives in the U.S.
The grants total about $1,800 per refugee, with $1,100 slated for direct assistance, and the balance paying for administrative costs, such as case managers...
The Alliance For Multicultural Community Services laid off four employees, but hired one back last month, as arrivals began to pick up again, said Yani Rose Keo, interim executive director.
“Normally we are super busy June, July, August, September,” Keo said.
She said Alliance is using the unexpected down time to help refugees who are already here.
“We do a lot of employment coaching right now,” Keo said. “That’s what’s the key. When they get here, we spend more time, closer with them, coaching them.”… Read more here
