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89% of refugees (74 individuals) arriving from 4/1/11 through 9/30/11 attained self-sufficiency within 6 months of arrival.
100% of the adult refugees arriving between 7/1/11 and 12/31/11 were assisted by Church World Service to participate in community service through local non-profits or were matched with community volunteers.
WhatThe mission of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program is to help refugees connect to the community resources necessary to meet immediate needs, inspire hope, promote long-term self-sufficiency, and take back control of their lives. Since the Durham office opened in 2009, CWS has served 550 refugees living in the Triangle by providing initial resettlement services with funding from the US State Department.
Each year the United States accepts a Congressionally allotted number of refugees (people who have fled their countries because of persecution based on political affiliation, religious belief, social group, ethnicity, or nationality), and resettlement offices across the nation are responsible for assisting them with getting settled into their new country. Refugees come to the Triangle from Burma, Iraq, Bhutan, Vietnam, and other countries.
CWS also offers employment services, funded by the US Office of Refugee Resettlement-funding for this program is dependent on a community match. CWS strives to offer the highest quality of services to its clients, working with efficiency, effectiveness, and above all respect for clients’ right to make their own choices.
CWS receives about $800,000 in government funding each year. Much of this money is passed on directly to the refugee clients, usually in the form of rent assistance for the clients during their first few months in the United States. The remaining funds the programs which provide direct services to refugees. Additionally, the office is adding an immigration legal services program to the services offered. The legal services program does not receive government funding and is dependent on grants, community support, and client fees.
Refugee resettlement is about our country offering a new home to persons who cannot return to, or stay in, their home country, due to fear of persecution. Refugee resettlement is successful when refugees take responsibility for their lives in America, and meet their many challenges with flexibility and a can-do spirit. Refugee resettlement is successful when our community extends a hand to welcome the stranger. Refugee resettlement is successful when diversity is embraced, celebrated, and nurtured. Refugee resettlement happens one person at a time.
Refugees are a diverse group with a variety of needs. Some refugees come to the US having held a masters or doctoral degree in their countries of origin. Others were farmers, and have never known anything other than the pastoral way of life. Some come with medical needs; some are able bodied; others are elders. Each refugee brings a unique narrative to our community.
The US Refugee Resettlement Program is a public-private partnership: the public side involves government at the city, county, state, and federal levels; the private side involves neighbors, classmates, co-workers, landlords, employers, faith communities, civic groups, individuals, businesses, and non-profits. All have a role to play in helping refugees make a new home in our community.
One individual can make all the difference to a refugee’s sense of hope for a brighter future, be it by tutoring a high school student, furnishing an apartment, helping a family buy their first home, offering a job, helping a new arrival access health care, or serving as cheerleader, idea-generator, bridge-builder.
Reception and Placement Program:Before each refugee family arrives Church World Service partners with the community to secure safe and affordable housing , organize donations of furniture and household supplies, and set up the apartment with the donated goods and initial food supplies. Upon arrival clients are met at the airport and provided initial orientation. The program assists all arrivals with essential aspects of initial resettlement during the first 90 days in country, including applying for a social security number, community orientation, initial medical screenings, and assisting with children’s school enrollment and adults’ ESL enrollment.
CWS utilizes a declining model of support which encourages self sufficiency and self advocacy. Volunteers are utilized as part of this model. They can assist clients with learning how to use American money, orienting refugees to their local grocery store, and teaching refugees how to ride the bus. Community members can also extend friendship and support to their new neighbors.
Matching Grant Employment Program: A federally funded program that provides intensive employment services, case management, and financial support to motivated individuals who are ready for work. The Matching Grant Program is an early employment incentive program provided to eligible clients as an alternative to welfare. It is available only in communities that provide financial and in-kind support to refugees-that we have this program in Durham shows that our community cares about our refugee neighbors. Renewal of the program is contingent on showing that our community has provided an adequate “match” to the government support.
Refugee Assistance Program: A state administered employment program which provides on-going job development, case management and employment follow up services to refugees and asylees who have been in the country for up to 5 years.
Immigration Program: A legal services program offered in two NC cities, Durham and Greensboro, which will focus on the adjustment of status and family reunification needs of CWS’s refugee client base. These services will be offered once Board of Immigration Appeals Recognition is granted to the CWS offices and the program staff become BIA Accredited (anticipated: February 2011).
Co-Sponsorship Development: A service provided to partner local churches, civic groups and academic institutions with refugees. The community groups assist clients with core services as well as arm them with the skills, knowledge, and support they need to realize their potential and achieve self-sufficiency in the United States.
Mary St. John North Carolina Office Director
Mary St. John has been director since CWS opened its NC resettlement office in January of 2009. She has served in management levels of refugee resettlement for more than 8 years. Prior to her work in refugee resettlement, she was with RTI International, where she served as a consultant to ministries of health and education in Africa and Asia on effective use of data in decision-making. Mary holds a B.A. in economics and an M.S. in computer science. She served in the Peace Corps as an English teacher in Morocco, and has also lived in Thailand and the Dominican Republic. Mary speaks French and Persian.
Joanna SchiestlSponsorship Developer
Joanna Schiest has been the sponsorhips developer at the CWS Durham office since April of 2009. Prior to her current role she spent 4 years in Indonesia involved in curriculum development and disaster relief/community development following the tsunami of December, 2004. She has a Masters Degree in Intercultural Studies from Columbia International University.
Case Management: Welcoming new refugees with housing, food, and connection to community resources necessary to meet immediate needs and promote long-term self-sufficiency.
Angel Blu has been a Refugee Case Manager for 2.5 years. She speaks Karen and Burmese. Before coming to the United States as a refugee in 1998, Angel was a medic and a medical secretary at Dr. Cynthia Maung’s Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Burma border. Angel was resettled to Las Vegas, NV with her parents and siblings and now lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and three children.
Jimmy Shwe began at CWS as an Employment Specialist in July of 2009 and is now a Case Manager. His cases are primarily refugees from Burma. Prior to moving to America, Jimmy served as a pastor in Thailand for 11 years. Jimmy holds a B.A in Religious Philosophy and an M.A. in Ministry. Jimmy has been working with refugees since he finished high school more than 15 years ago. Jimmy lives in Chapel Hill with his wife and two sons. He speaks Karen, Thai, Burmese, and Hindi.
Y Sang Milo has been a Case Manager at CWS since February of 2010. Prior to that, he served as a Refugee Elderly Outreach Coordinator and a Case Manager with LFS Carolinas for 8 years. He has also worked as an Interpreter under the Interpreter Access Project/UNC-Greensboro ,serving refugees in the Triangle area. He is a Montagnard from Vietnam, and speaks Vietnamese, Ede and Jarai. Y Sang and his wife live in Raleigh. They have two adult children.
Taimor Al Daghistani has been a Case Manager with CWS since June 2010. Prior to that, he worked with the Red Cross to help Iraqi refugees in Sweden. In Iraq, Taimor worked with the U.S. Government as an Interpreter/Translator/PSD (Personal Security Detail) for American VIPs, and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a PSD/Interpreter and providing humanitarian aid to displaced persons. Taimor speaks Arabic and Swedish and lives in Durham.
Job Development: Equipping refugees to find and keep jobs, as well as searching the Triangle for possible job opportunities
Ellen Andrews has been an Employment Specialist at the CWS office in Durham since September of 2009. Ellen works exclusively with clients enrolled in RAP employment services, which provides long-term employment assistance for refugees living in Durham, Orange and Wake Counties. Ellen graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill. She lives in Chapel Hill.
Gabriela Rife has been a part-time Employment Specialist since April; before that she was a Case Manager. Before she came to CWS last September, she worked with Habitat for Humanity for 9 years as a construction manager and continues to lead Global Village trips. She enjoys volunteering and has tutored English in Laos and Orange County schools, washed elephants in Thailand and donkeys in Spain. Gabriela is currently living in Carrboro. She speaks Spanish.
Rebecca Schaeffer has worked as an Employment Specialist for the CWS Durham office since June 2010. Prior to that, Rebecca worked for the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in Washington, DC. Rebecca holds a B.A. in International Relations with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. She has lived abroad in India, France, and Jordan, and speaks French and Arabic. Rebecca lives with her new husband in Durham.
Immigration Services: Coordinating and providing legal services to refugees seeking permanent residency (‘green cards’), family reunification, and naturalization.
Amy Greensfelder has been the Immigration Services Coordinator for NC IRP since December 2010. Before transferring to the Durham office she was a Case Worker for CWS’s Overseas Processing Entity in Nairobi, Kenya. In that position she prepared case files for refugees seeking admission to the United States. She was a Board of Immigration Appeals Accredited Representative with Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas prior to her work with CWS.
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