Local Government and Resettlement: Tips for Working Together for Refugee Welcome

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1 Local Government and Resettlement: Tips for Working Together for Refugee Welcome The Welcoming Refugees Project is supported by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR/ACF/DHHS)

2 Agenda Welcome and Opening Remarks City of Seattle Aaliyah Gupta, Interim Director, City of Seattle Office of Immigrant & Refugee Affairs Alexandra Olins, Director, Employment and Citizenship Services, Asian Counseling and Referral Service City of Columbus Guadalupe Velasquez, Assistant Director, City of Columbus Nadia Kasvin, Director/Co-Founder, US Together Questions and Comments

3 OFFICE OF IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE AFFAIRS Improving lives Strengthening communities 3

4 Seattle Demographics 8 th largest refugee receiving state 19% of Seattle residents are foreign born 129 languages spoken in our schools 43% of foreign born speak English less than very well 30% of households are linguistically isolated 25% are at less than 125% of poverty level Photo Credit: UnitingNC

5 OIRA Goals Facilitate integration into all aspects of city life social, cultural, civic, economic Engage communities in processes that impact decisions about the city s future. Improve City s programs and services to meet community needs Photo Credit: Loris Guzzetta, Church World Service - Lancaster

6 Listening, and then acting Local governments need to have close ties to their immigrant and refugee communities. Important to bring immigrant and refugee community voices to City Hall Ensure that immigrant and refugee community needs are represented at government policy making tables.

7 Responding to needs Pilot on Islamic financing for housing purchases Partnerships to address the gap created by the ban on remittances Issue paper on East African communities in Seattle to help frame policy and program decisions moving forward. Photo Credit: Loris Guzzetta, Brooklyn Grange

8 Refugee Women's Institute 30 focus groups in 2012, asking about refugee and immigrant concerns. Fear and mistrust of the police was a major thread, RWI was born out of that 20 refugee women and 20 female police officers participated in a 10 week institute Goal: To build trust and strengthen relationships. Refugee women reported expanded knowledge of SPD, greater comfort calling 911, paying bills, searching for housing. SPD officers reported expanded knowledge of Seattle s refugee communities.

9 Collaborations with community partners Asian Counseling & Referral Service Ready to Work Program: Enabling people to envision not just a job, but a career. Intent: address unmet needs by offering a program for low level English learners that integrates English language development with holistic support and employability skills. Contextualized ESL for work and career exploration Provide holistic case management and employability skills Enable low level English speakers to plan for a career, and not just a job

10 Ready to Work- special features Intensive ESL Digital literacy Weekly workshops Wrap around case management Career advising and job development Engagement of quality employer partners Focused on deep learning Photo Credit: Loris Guzzetta, Church World Service - Lancaster

11 City of Columbus and US Together

12 Refugee Impact Study

13 Keys to Success Commitment Communication Collaboration Photo Credit: Loris Guzzetta, Brooklyn Grange

14 Citizenship & Civic Engagement

15 Immigrant Heritage Month & Naturalize Citizenship Recognition Event

16 Impact of Refugees in Central Ohio: 2015 Major findings from the Impact of Refugees in Central Ohio Report

17 Questions and Comments Questions? Comments?

18 Speaker Contact Information Aaliyah Gupta Alexandra Olins Guadalupe Velasquez Nadia Kasvin - nkasvin@ustogether.us

19 Deeper Dive Conversation Friday, December 18, 1:00-2:00 pm EST To join us, send an to hannah@welcomingamerica.org with Name: Organization: Location: What you would most like to discuss during the call:

20 Building Welcoming Communities Campaign Communities Can Commit to One of Three Tiers: Tier 1: Making the Initial Commitment: Communities newer to welcoming efforts Tier 2: Enhancing Collaboration: Communities ready to develop, implement and expand local welcoming plans Tier 3: Taking Action and Demonstrating Progress: Communities committed to serving as national models by demonstrating exceptional progress along the BWCC roadmap and in one or more of three key action areas: Civic, Economic, and Linguistic integration Opportunities for Participating Communities: Receive recognition on campaign materials and White House website Opportunity to attend special White House events (example: Building Welcoming Communities Convening - October 7) Access to monthly webinars and monthly communications, Information on funding opportunities, and Access technical assistance and consultation from agencies and national partners (level of technical assistance will depend on tier)

21 Encourage your community to sign up Communities can get more information about signing up for the Building Welcoming Communities Campaign by ing and including a point of contact on their staff.

22 Upcoming Webinar Longitudinal Study Results: Assessing Refugee Integration and Welcome from the RISE Study Tuesday, January 12 1:30 pm EST Photo Credit: Loris Guzzetta, Brooklyn Grange

23 New Resource: Volunteer Recruitment Video

24 Recorded Webinars & Other Resources

25 Thank you for joining us! The Welcoming Refugees Project is supported by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR/ACF/DHHS)