State of Florida Department of Children and Families Rick Scott Governor David E. Wilkins Secretary M E M O R A N D U M DATE: July 29, 2013 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: Members of the Orlando Area Refugee Task Force Pedro Padua, Refugee Services (RS) June 12, 2013 TF Meeting Minutes THE NEXT TASK FORCE MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR: Date: August 14, 2013 Time: 10:00 A.M. - 12:00 Noon Location: Florida Department of Transportation 133 S. Semoran Blvd Orlando, FL 32807 Contact: Pedro Padua Office: (407) 317-7336 Cell: (407) 625-8205 Fax: (407) 245-2766 E-Mail: Pedro_Padua@dcf.state.fl.us This task force has been active in the Orlando area for many years. The participants are representatives of various government agencies, private not-for-profit organizations and mutual assistance associations. An average of about thirty to thirty-five people attends these meetings on a regular basis. The purpose of these meetings is to increase awareness of the refugee populations, share best practices, build collaborations between agencies, spot trends in refugee populations, characteristics or movements, help create good communication among service providers; get informed about upcoming community events at the local, state and national level, request for proposals, training, workshops, conferences, etc., discuss refugee service needs and explore solutions to those needs. Meeting participants also receive updates, information and clarification on new federal and state regulations and policy changes pertaining to refugees. If there are any issues that you would like to include in the agenda, please contact me at the above address. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting! 400 W. Robinson Street, S1111D, Orlando, Florida 32801 Mission: Protect the Vulnerable, Promote Strong and Economically Self-Sufficient Families, and Advance Personal and Family Recovery and Resiliency
ORLANDO AREA REFUGEE TASK FORCE MEETING INTRODUCTIONS This meeting was held at Orange County Health Department, located at 832 W. Central Blvd., Orlando, FL 32805. Twenty seven people were in attendance. Hiram Ruiz, Director of Refugee Services, Taddese Fessehaye, Community Liaison Unit Manager and Pedro Padua, Central Region Community Liaison represented the Department of Children and Families, Refugee Services (RS) Program. Everyone introduced themselves and the agency they represented. SPECIAL PRESENTATION Mrs. Dolores Moore, Domestic Violence (DV) Outreach Advocate for Harbor House of Central Florida gave an overview about the various services provided by the agency. She explained DV is a pattern of controlling behavior that may include physical, sexual, economic, cyber, emotional and/or psychological abuse by an intimate partner or family member. She added it can happen to anyone without regard to socio economic status, race, age, sexual orientation, religion or gender. Harbor House (HH) has a court based program at the Orange County Court House to help victims with Orders of Protection or Restraining Orders. In addition, HH conducts DV 101 training to raise awareness about the sensitive nature of working with victims and increase provider capacity in ensuring the safety of victims. Deciding to leave an abusive relationship can be a difficult and dangerous step to take and safety planning is crucial. She stressed that the overriding concern when working with victims is safety. Harbor House can shelter up to 100 victims; however no survivor is turned away regardless of capacity. The agency offers the following services: 24-Hour Crisis Assistance, Emergency Shelter, Crisis Counseling, Support Groups, Court Advocacy, Information and Referral, Emotional Support and Assistance, and Safety Planning. The most important factor considered when people call the hotline for services is SAFETY if a person is at risk shelter is provided. The agency conducts Community Presentations & workshops on DV, Teen Dating Violence Education, and Human Trafficking. Hiram Ruiz asked about the agency s capacity to serve to non-english speakers. Ms. Moore replied they have staffs who speak Creole and Spanish and they have access to other community resources and volunteers that speak other languages. Hiram suggested that if they needed to increase language capacity, HH could be added as provider to Pacific Interpreter Contract to access interpreter services when providing services to eligible refugees. Debbie Cruz from Catholic Charities indicated DV is one of the areas covered in their orientation sessions to new arrivals. Taddese suggested someone from the agency could be invited to cover this topic during refugee orientations. Kathy Walker from Orange County Health Department added DV is one of the areas covered in their health assessments. In replying to a question what they do with the information, she said Medical Case Management presents options to clients and based on their decisions, referrals are made to appropriate agencies. 2
Hiram suggested it is an area that requires on-going staff training. Ms. Moore added they offer a 4 day core training with 6 hours of continuing education credits. Anyone interested can contact Stephanie Kresl, Community Education & Training Coordinator at 407-886-2244 ext. 234 or by email at skresl@harborhousefl.com For further information about Harbor House, please visit: www.harborhousefl.com GENERAL UPDATES United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): Ms. Connie Bae from the Orlando Field Office was in attendance and reported that notices for a 3 rd Quarter Stakeholders meeting will be going out soon. She added the office will have resource materials at Orlando s World Refugee Day event. ACCESS: Gloria McCrimon, Senior Human Services Program Specialist mentioned that customer authentication is getting ready for statewide implementation. Workforce Central Florida: Linavette Rodriguez, Special Projects Coordinator, reported that on-line program registration is down at this time; but new program design will be up next month. Taddese asked Richard Logue, Director of Refugee & Immigration Services at Catholic Charities, about communication with workforce since they no longer have a staff present at their location. Richard indicated documentation continues to be sent to workforce. He said the main problem in Orlando is finding sites where people can do volunteer work; especially for Haitians. New Refugee Arrivals: Lutheran Services of Florida - Kathryn Geller, Resettlement and Match Grant Program Manager reported 15 arrivals in April (10 Iraqi and 5 Cuban) and 13 in May (6 Iraqi, 6 Congolese and 1 Russian). Their 2013 year to date is 92. Catholic Charities Jennifer Powers, Resettlement and Match Grant Program Coordinator, reported their original projection 2013 was 150. They are now projecting: 180-200. Their 2013 Year to date is 144 Arrivals. They had 25 Arrivals in April (15 Cubans, 4 Burmese, 2 Eritreans, 2 Iranians, 1 Ethiopian, 1 Sudanese) and 14 in May (9 Cubans, 5 Iraqi). RS-CONTRACTED PROVIDER UPDATES Catholic Charities of Central Florida: Richard Logue, reported Comprehensive Refugee Services (CRS) has served 2,964 unduplicated clients; 2,129 Cuban/Haitian parolees, and 835 refugee/asylees (1,277 with less than a year in the US and 1,622 with 1 to 5 years). Youth services consistently see about 120 students each month (mostly middle and high school students). He reported the following trends Over the last four months 433 cases were opened representing 658 individuals; the majority being Cuban (60%). Haitian numbers are declining but there has been an increase in Venezuelan and Egyptian asylees with a steady stream of Iraqi family reunification cases. He stated the Employment Program had 80 placements in April followed by 66 in May; which seems to indicate overall job opportunities are improving. He added 90 day employment 3
retention is at 67%. He announced the hiring of Daisy Clemente as new Employment Services Coordinator; adding she came to CRS from Goodwill Industries bringing along many of her contacts. Ms. Debbie Cruz stated that assistance is being provided to people wishing to use computer lab to apply for public benefits. Staff is making sure applications are properly completed. Taddese Fessehaye asked if there was a waiting list for ESOL. Richard replied that there is but they are working to develop additional sites and mentioned an evening class at Colonial High School as a possibility. Orange County Public Schools: Claudia Good, Refugee Adult Education Program Coordinator, could not attend but sent in the following report. Enrollment remains consistent at 530 students per month with an average of 25 new intakes per month. New arrival classes at Jerusalem Baptist Church (JBC) and Catholic Charities started this week and will run through July. There are 34 students on the list for CC and 17 for JBC. There was graduation last week: PALMAS had 18 students complete ESOL and 14 students that graduated from Technical Programs. Seven (7) of the tech graduates found jobs in the field of study (auto service, accounting, video production, hotel/resort management and health care). Community Coordinated Care for Children: Marie Alicea, Enrollment Specialist, reported that as a result of new contract amendment with CRS they have been able to enroll new clients; however they still have 30 children on waitlist. Seven (7) children were enrolled in April and 10 in May. She mentioned the way enrollment is set up right now, clients must be employed or in school. Pedro Padua asked why it was necessary to wait for someone to get a job to enroll them in the program. It was stated this is the way it is set up. Because it was evident people need to have child care in place to be ready for employment, Richard Logue agreed to look at contract for possible amendment. Lourdes Mesias from LSF commented they have a child care contract and they enroll clients prior to employment to facilitate employability. County Health Departments: Seminole County Health Department Jan Poindexter, Refugee Health Assessment Nurse reported they are doing 16 screenings per month. Most common problems are high cholesterol and symptoms of depression. In response to a question what they do with those clients experiencing depression, Jan stated that in most cases they work with the respective Case Manager. Orange County Health Department Martha Ortiz, Medical Case Manager, indicating they have found similar incidences of depression; particularly Cuban women who find it difficult to adjust because of family left behind. Kathy Walker, TB Program Manager introduced Ms. LaQuita Moore as the new nurse hired to increase screening capacity. She added she needs to work on increasing clerical capacity for proper scheduling of referrals and asked resettlement, in the meantime, to fax her directly a list of clients that need screening as they arrive so she can schedule them. Hiram mentioned that he had opportunity during consultation to talk with Barbara Day, Chief, Domestic Resettlement, Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration, and Eskinder Negash, 4
Director, Office of Refugee Resettlement, regarding the conflicting policy for health screening of refugees (30 days) vs Entrants (90days) and they agreed to review the issue. He added that Florida has been resettling an average of 27,000 refugees per year; however six months into this fiscal year there has been 18,000 arrivals. If this trend continues, it is possible we could end up with 36,000 refugees resettling this year, which no doubt would have ramifications for all services, including health screenings. He encouraged providers to report any back logs as a result of increase demand. Osceola County Health Department Ms. Heyda Rodriguez De Jesus, Health Services Representative sent in the following report: A total of 29 screenings were done in April (13 Venezuela and 16 Cuba) and 19 in May (12 Cuba, 2 Venezuela, 3 Egypt, 1 Iraq and 1 Haiti). REFUGEE SERVICES UPDATE RS 2013 Statewide Consultation: Hiram said he was quite pleased with the consultation overall and based on survey results most people rated the consultation as excellent. He said several of the recommendations presented will be taken into account in future planning. World Refugee Day: Jennifer Powers from Catholic Charities reported they are working on final touches for event on June 22 and encouraged everyone s attendance and participation. Community Partners are welcome to display their resource materials at designated table for event. NEXT MEETING Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Location: Mid Florida Tech High School 2900 W. Oakridge Rd Orlando, FL 32809 Contact: Pedro_Padua@dcf.state.fl.us. Phone: (407) 317-7336 Taddese_Fessehaye@dcf.state.fl.us. (407) 317-7335 5