Richmond Trimester Report to the
Virginia Office of Newcomer Services
February 1, 2009 - May 31, 2009
Program: Refugee Social Services
Profile of Refugees Served
Refugees served this quarter were from Bhutan, Iraq, Burma, Afghanistan and Burundi.
Arrival Patterns
Richmond resettled 9 cases totaling 30 people. Family size ranged from a single person to families of four to six people. Several arrivals are joining relatives recently resettled in Richmond. Twenty-five of the arrivals were Bhutanese, with the remainder Iraqi and Burmese.
Program Highlights and Accomplishments
Employment
Fourteen full-time and six part-time placements were made under RSS this trimester, despite the poor economy. Another thirteen full-time and three part time placements were made under the Match Grant program. Health insurance was available to eight of the RSS fulltime placements. From the previous trimester, all eleven people placed under the RSS grant were still employed after ninety days.
Seven placements were made at Manheim Corporation in Fredericksburg through Innovative Services, a staffing agency. RIS invested a great deal of hours of driving and strategic planning to try to make these placements successful. Just as someone from the group finally got his drivers license so that he could drive people in the van provided by Innovative Services, Manheim lost its car detailing contract with Chrysler and began to lay people off, eventually laying off all the refugees placed there by RIS.
RIS renewed its relationship with the Jefferson Hotel, and made 6 placements there. The agency continued to place clients in the food service department of Richmond City Public Schools. Although the office is concerned about the hiatus when these women will not be working over the summer, it has been a source of income, has given them work experience and built their confidence. Other work will be sought for them over the summer.
The office also renewed a professional relationship with a human resource manager who used to work for another hotel business. As a result nine people were hired at the new Hampton Inn by the airport. Unfortunately, while they are getting some hours, none has worked full-time, or even close to it, since they were trained. The new Hilton Garden, also by the airport also hired RIS refugee clients. Although they earned praise during their training, none of the refugees placed there were getting any hours at all in the weeks following the training. RIS will talk with the hotel company about prospects for offering the employees positions at other hotels. A hiring freeze at Bon Secours prevented some clients who had been interviewed and accepted for work from beginning their jobs.
This trimester the office helped 28 refugee youth and young adults between the ages of 15 and 23 to apply to participate in the Summer Youth Employment Program, arranging plans with the program staff, assisting with filling out applications, organizing and transporting youth to the application event, and helping the youth and their parents understand the process and the program. The office later learned that all were chosen to participate. Plans are underway to communicate with the program and prepare the participants.
This trimester the office helped 23 refugee youth between the ages of 15 and 23 to apply to participate in the Summer Youth Employment Program, arranging plans with the program staff, assisting with filling out applications, organizing and transporting youth to the application event, and helping the youth and their parents understand the process and the program. The office later learned that at least 16 of the 23 were chosen to participate and are hopeful that still others will be accepted into the program for older participants. Plans are underway to communicate with the program and prepare the youth.
ELT and Volunteerism
Ninety RSS enrollees received ESL instruction this trimester. RIS has 57 active volunteers instructing; in this period twelve new tutors were trained to teach ESL. Twice a week classes at West End Presbyterian Church ended in April, and the program at Crestwood Presbyterian Church finished May 24. Crestwood will not offer summer classes this year, but a computer lab will remain open. RIS will provide three ESL classes and one citizenship class at West End Presbyterian Church during summer.
Intensive ESL for Employment classes are going well. Newly arrived refugee students attend regularly on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. English civics lessons are introduced to the newcomers. Topics include: severe weather, what to do when stopped by the police, home safety, personal safety, flu prevention and response, holidays, etc.
Neighborhood classes at Westover Baptist Church teach twelve beginning older Bhutanese refugees on Wednesday and Friday mornings. Currently, there is only one level at this site as three younger students stopped coming to the intermediate class when they started to work. St. John's Woods classes ended the end of the trimester. If volunteer teachers are available, RIS will try to provide ESL instructions on Saturday afternoons during the summer. Twenty one students were in the classes.
Two interns (from University of Richmond and Furman University) started to work with the ESL program and will be with RIS until the third week of July. One intern is tutoring two Bhutanese families in the West End and helping the ESL for Employment classes. Another is working on the ESL database, preparing to teach a Citizenship class and substitute teaching at various sites.
Support Services
Addressing health issues continues to demand a great deal of staff time. There were a number of hospitalizations of elderly Bhutanese. A three year old recent arrival will need surgery for a heart defect.
Negotiating the obstacles of the shifting employment scene requires close attention. Reapplications for benefits are necessary every time hours change, which seems to be occurring more frequently. Obtaining and arranging child care is an ongoing effort that requires multiple steps.
An intern who had worked in employment chose to continue to work at RIS post graduation on almost a daily basis, substantially augmenting the efforts of the job developer and caseworkers. Sometimes staff had to drive clients to work as far away as Fredericksburg until other transportation could be arranged. This involved being at the clients' apartments daily, beginning at 4:00 am, to get them to a bus in time to make the 7:00 starting time, and driving them on the weekends back and forth to Fredericksburg, for over a month. Several heroic volunteers have provided work transportation during extremely late or early hours and on weekends when bus service is not available. More of the Bhutanese and Iraqi arrivals from the past year are poised to obtain driver's licenses which will help a great deal in getting people to jobs.
In light of the potential flu epidemic, the office made sure to orient all new arrivals of the concern and to reinforce home and personal hygiene practices as well as review emergency procedures. Caseworkers carry contact information for clients at all times
Management/Staffing
In February the Richmond office was finally able to bring onboard its long recruited VISTA volunteer, Abby Sine, who had previously completed 300 hours of volunteer service at the office in fulfillment of her Masters Certificate in International Program Management. She will assist in communication, development, and to activate committees of the Richmond community board.
During the trimester, the MSW interns helped the office to transition to electronic case records, compiled a manual for caseworkers and other interns, and set up staff development activities. Staff development included a session on Social Work ethics in refugee work provided by two VCU instructors, a presentation on Job Corps, and a presentation on Child Protective Services. The office also held a review of the parameters of the Reception and Placement program and a program on the RSS, TAP and Match programs. The office is preparing to receive summer students as well as MSW students for the next year.
In May, the office held its annual volunteer recognition dinner. The office appreciates the support of ONS in participating and helping to affirm the volunteers, who do the bulk of the work of refugee resettlement. RIS had an outreach table at the Asian American Festival.
Barriers -- Problems
The trimester saw considerable improvement in Richmond City's processing of food stamps and TANF applications. However, RCA and Refugee Medicaid are still taking at least a month for approval. The office will continue to work with the Richmond Department of Social Services and with the Office of Newcomer Services to achieve a faster turnaround time for RCA and Refugee Medicaid.
Planned Initiatives
New approaches in job development are being explored, including a sweep of the city's assisted living and nursing homes, more contact with staffing agencies and contacting former clients and volunteers for possible job leads. Twenty six people will be brought to Hill-Phoenix in Colonial Heights in mid-June to submit applications at the job fair there.
Several new interns will work with staff over the summer. Two full time Shepherd Poverty Program interns will assist with the summer youth enrichment program which will be held in three apartment complexes and a number of interns have been accepted from VCU programs.
Volunteer recruitment and placement are in full swing to address social service, employment and ESL needs. The community board is preparing to issue an e-newsletter, pursuing press coverage of a disabled refugee, and assisting with the annual parish second collections. The community board is growing in membership and energy. The agency will be working with the Capital One Asian Network on volunteer programming and a donations drive. St. Michael's Parish is poised to resettle three Burmese men as soon as they arrive at the airport.
Summary and Assessment
The economic situation in the Richmond community has been difficult, with an unemployment rate of 7.8 % in the metro area. Rehrig International, a company that used to employ large numbers of unskilled laborers, closed permanently during the trimester and other manufacturers were laying off employees. Hotels are experiencing low occupancy rates and current employees are working reduced hours.
Last year at this time, the economy had already begun to slow in Richmond. However, last year, when a job was obtained the client could usually expect to work the number of hours for which he/she was hired. In the past 6 months, for the most part, this has not been true. Refugees have historically been inclined to work multiple jobs, particularly since most entry level jobs don't produce enough income to more than subsist on. At this point, it seems that those who want to work more than one job do not have that option since even part time work is not easy to obtain or retain. For example, in a previous trimester we reported that a client who was already working acted as an interpreter for a job interview for another client. Both were offered a job. The client who interpreted, who has an excellent reputation at his first job, chose to work both jobs, but was laid off by the second job in this trimester.
As stated in the employment section, all nine employees at Manheim Corporation were laid off and of the numerous clients hired by the White Oak Chick-fil-A in November-December, only two remain because the others were given only a few hours per week. The lack of hours does not appear to be related to performance.
So far, RIS has chosen to deplete its reserves of discretionary money in order to prevent evictions. Although it may be forced to do so, it is still hesitant to allow an eviction of a family who is making every effort to support itself. Again, the discretionary pool is getting so low as to make it impossible to maintain this assistance. Discretionary funds are donated to the agency through direct appeal, donor designations to employer appeals, fundraising efforts and unsolicited contributions. The Interpreter/Translator program is generating funding that will be used to help offset shortfalls in refugee support. The pressure to raise funds is diverting of the energies of the small staff, which are hired to provide services. The coincidence of lack of employment at the time of expectations to bring in more refugees is heavily taxing on the service providers.
The effect of the economic situation on refugee mental health is difficult to gauge. There is evident frustration but some refugees are not as aware of the economy as others.
Employment-related Community Collaboration
The office director met the chaplain of a meat processing company at an Interfaith Council of Greater Richmond event. He told her the company was hiring a large number of people and directed her to a contact at the One-Stop taking the applications. Unfortunately, on checking that same day, the application process had been closed as they already had over a thousand applications.
Boyd Headley, the chair of the Richmond RIS Community Board, is the Business Relations Specialist for the Capital Region Workforce Partnership, and an employee of Goodwill (the One-Stop). As Boyd's job is to identify employment opportunities for clients, he sees this as an opportunity to share possibilities with RIS.
RIS refers clients to English classes at Goodwill, and some vocational training, such as computer and work readiness classes at the One-Stop when appropriate, but lack of English fluency is usually a barrier even for those who speak fairly good English. RIS's experience has been that clients are expected to be as work-ready for a Goodwill training placement as they would need to be for a job in the mainstream workforce.
Boyd has brought Goodwill and RIS to the table together to map out a formal agreement between them to maximize services to refugees (as well as other immigrants). Boyd's goal is to see that the One-Stop works more effectively to meet the needs of refugees, stipulating what each entity will do toward that end. He recently said his director believes the timing may be right to finalize the process soon. RIS will follow-up on this effort in the next trimester.
Boyd has brought in Robert Henry, also of Goodwill, to the Richmond Community Board. Through him, RIS got advanced notice of the Summer Youth Employment Program. His linkage with this program was instrumental to what appears will be a great opportunity for 28 refugee youth to participate in a program that will provide payment for them to work and learn this summer.
Guy Frank continues to participate in monthly meetings of Commonwealth Workforce Employment Network. This large group brings together a broad range of employment focused human service professionals, along with human resources people from businesses. The main focus is to share leads, approaches and resources. Among the members are representatives of the Department of Rehabilitative Services, Capital Relocation Group, Averett University, Sears, AARP, HomeWell Senior Care, Virginia Job Corps, and many others.
The office hosted a speaker from Job Corps. Staff feel they are likely to identify some young people who may be well-served by the program.
This trimester Laura Sanchez, of the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce joined the community board. She has agreed to arrange a meeting with a hotel resource manager with whom RIS had a strong working relationship in the past, but which seems to have weakened recently. Laura hopes she may be able to help re-establish it. The VHCC has many business contacts to which RIS hopes Laura will help it connect.
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