Friends of Refugees

A U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program Watchdog Group

Archive for the ‘USCRI Albany’ Category

Volunteer gives a thumb down to USCRI Albany

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: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

 
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