1. Refugees and Immigrants in Wisconsin
Department of Children and Families
Division of Families and Economic Security, Refugee Assistance Program Section
Presented by Irina Zelenskaya and Shoua Vang, October 8, 2009

2. Mission of the Refugee Assistance Program
Enhance Workforce Development Services to Immigrants/Refugees/Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals
Improve LEP Access in Job Centers
Build Partnership with local, state, federal entities
Build partnerships with Faith-Based (FBO) /Community-Based Organizations (CBO), resettlement agencies, Mutual Assistance Association (MAA)

3. Migrant Services Responsibilities
Bureau is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the state’s Migrant Labor Law.
The Law, enacted in 1977, provides
standards for wages;
hours and working conditions of migrant workers,
certification,
maintenance and inspection of migrant labor camps,
recruitment and hiring of migrant workers
guarantees the right of free access to migrant camps to insure migrant families are not isolated from the rest of the community, and/or services they are legally entitled to.

4. Refugee Services Section
Administer & monitor programs
Secure federal grant funding
Ensure culturally & linguistically competent services delivery
Organize trainings for interpreters & bilingual professional staff
Review state policy & procedures
Primary funder ORR, DHFS; RFP process to contract with agencies and MAAs;
Must hire and train bilingual staff; Capacity building
Interpreter Training programs
Advise on Policy in refugee issues

5. Programs & Services Programs & Services
Employment and Training
Preventive Health
Health Screening
Older Refugee
Mental Health
Batterer’s Treatment Pilot
Unaccompanied Minors
DWD/BMRLS contracts with VOLAG’s, MAA’s, CAP’s, PIC’s, and W-2 agencies to provide E&T services – through the RFP process.
Refugees are eligible for W-2
If ineligible for W-2, Refugee Cash Assistance
Refugee can be ‘triple-enrolled’ in
W-2
A refugee employment and training program
WIA
Refugee/W-2 co-case management enables the W-2 agency to leverage the bilingual refugee case manager

6. Definition of Refugee
A person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution.
-- Article 1 of the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention

7. Refugee
When did refugees become recognized as “political” refugees in the United States?
Following World War II thousands of Eastern Europeans entered the U.S. as refugees.
The Displaced Persons of 1948 – first refugee legislation enacted
Refugee Act of 1980 – Refugees from Southeast Asia
Where are refugees from?
From all over the world: Laos, Vietnam, Former Yugoslavia, and Somalia. The newest refugee groups arriving in the United States today are the Iraqis and Burmese/Karen-Burmese.
There is a distinct difference between a refugee and immigrant. A refugee is someone who has been uprooted from his or her country and cannot return due to fear of persecution, and an immigrant is someone who leaves his or her country willingly to further economic opportunities.

8. Refugee Resettlement Process
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) makes refugee status determination after interviewing them.
Three solutions
Repatriation to country person fled
Integration into country of asylum
Third country resettlement
Third Country Resettlement – United States
Refugee Act of 1980 – federal/state support and private/public coordination of refugee resettlement
U.S. official interviews and determines if they qualify under U.S. refugee law.
Approval for resettlement: medical examination, security background checks, cultural orientation.
Resettlement and Placement agencies provide initial resettlement services to refugees in the U.S.
Refugees receive 15 hours of cultural orientation. Cultural orientation covers problem solving skills, life in the U.S., and resettlement. Cultural orientation is provided overseas and continues once they arrive in the U.S.
Resettlement and Placement agencies (funded by Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration in the Dept. of State) are required to provide the following services to refugees:
Sponsorship
Pre-arrival resettlement planning, including placement
Reception on arrival
Basic needs support (including housing, furnishings, food, and clothing) for at least 30 days
Community orientation
Referrals to health, employment, and other services as needed
Case management and tracking for days
R&P agencies in Wisconsin: Lutheran Social Services in Milwaukee, Catholic Charities of Green Bay

9. WI Refugee Population
Estimated Population of Refugees and Former Refugees (YTD 2009)
*may include U.S. born children
Total estimate 73,981
FFY
Refugees ,823
Secondary Migrants and Asylees
Total ,563
Projected Arrivals for FFY 2010
Africa
East Asia
Former Soviet Union/Eastern Europe 3
Western Hemisphere 20
Near East/South Asia 317
Total

10. Refugee Population in Wisconsin
2004 – 2008
0-15 Refugees
16-30 Refugees
Refugees
Refugees
501+ Refugees
Total – 5,563
Douglas
Iron
Bayfield
Washburn
Ashland
Vilas
Sawyer
Burnett
Price
Florence
Oneida
Polk
Rusk
Marinette
Barron
346
Lincoln
Langlade
Forest
Taylor
St. Croix
Chippewa 27
Oconto
Dunn 63
Menomonee
Clark 14
Marathon
439
Pierce
Eau Claire
142
Shawano
Pepin
Door
Buffalo
Waupaca
Kewaunee
Trempealeau
Wood 68
Portage
132
Outagamie
285
Brown
303
Jackson
Adams
Waushara
Monroe
Winnebago
169
Manitowoc
141
Calumet
La Crosse
289
Juneau 4
Marquette
Green Lake
Fond du Lac 49
Vernon
Sheboygan
364
Sauk
Richland
Columbia
Dodge
Ozaukee 5
Crawford
Washington 51
Grant
Iowa
Dane
322
Waukesha 45
Milwaukee
2252
Jefferson 4
LaFayette
Green
Rock
Racine 33
Walworth 11
Kenosha 5
refugee per county

11. Refugee Service Areas
Consortiums created to stretch shrinking refugee dollars and create closer partnerships and more coordinated service

12. Service Delivery System
All refugee programs are federally funded
Contract to regional consortium consisted of Volags, MAAs and other non-profit organizations
Have one elected member of the consortium to serve as a fiscal agent

13. Employment Programs Social Services Road-to-Work (TAG fund)
8 consortiums & 4 agencies
2008 outcomes: 506 FT employment
Road-to-Work (TAG fund)
7 consortia
2008 outcomes: 187 FT employment,
32 – grant termination

14. Employment & Training Services
Developing a Family Self-Sufficiency Plan (including Employability Plan)
Job development: job placements, grant terminations, grant reductions and job follow-ups
Vocational ESL training
Short term Customize Skills Training
On-the-Job-Training
Case management services

15. Targeted Assistance Supplemental: Milwaukee Region
Allocation based on refugee population.
$287,138; three year term,
Additional support/case management for new refugees in Milwaukee region
Other supportive services to new refugees: orientation to world of work and to life in US, citizenship, ESL, etc.

16. Preventive Health Program Services
Wrap around health screening and education services
Access to mainstream health services
Provide health education in a culturally competent manner

17. Older Refugee Program Services
Outreach and education to the refugee community
Partnership with local Area Agency on Aging
Holistic and culturally appropriate services
Citizenship classes
Case management to coordinate supportive services
The program is designed to address the specific cultural, social and linguistic needs of the elderly refugee population by allowing them to participate in individual as well as group activities that strive to improve and bridge social relationships between them and the broader community in which they live.

18. Mental Health Program Services
Outreach and education to the refugee community
Holistic and culturally appropriate clinical services
Case management to coordinate support services
Health system change through training bilingual clinical staff and in-service training for mainstream mental health staff
4 Providers Milwaukee, Diocese in Green Bay, Wausau, Madison…Professional and para professional staff
Funds applied to expand to LaX and Eau Claire area & expand existing programs
Capacity building thru training of bilingual therapists…
Kajsiab House model

19. Batterer’s Treatment Pilot Program
Close coordination with court system
Linguistic and culturally appropriate treatment
Support groups
Case management to coordinate with other counselors or treatment providers
Sustain a feeling of belonging and attachment to families and communities
Pilot in Green Bay, Wausau and Milwaukee

20. Discrimination
Treating people differently through prejudice: unfair treatment of one person or group, usually because of prejudice about race, ethnicity, age, religion, or gender
--Encarta on-line dictionary
An eerily familiar echo. . .

21. Consequences of traumatic stress
Social
Drug abuse
School failure
Anti-social behavior
Isolation/withdrawal
Psychological
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Reexperiencing, Avoidance, Hyperarousal
Depression
Conduct disorder
Emotion Regulation

22. Continuum of care Intensive Intervention Early Intervention Prevention
Child
Early Intervention
School
Public health model in which resources are strategically placed to benefit most people.
Bottom level: prevention
Return to slide of Trauma exposure vs. PTSD sx, and say : what can we learn from the 1/3 who do NOT develop sig sx, despite such broad trauma exposure?
MH promotion: helping communities be vibrant, connected,
Early identification and intervention: can we reach Hassan before he has blown out of the classroom? Can we begin to intervene with the known risk factors—such as a culture of hostility within a school—rather then waiting for the emergence of significant emotional problems/
Intensive intervention: for the subset that needs it, needs to be available
Prevention
Community

23. Community
Approach: Parent outreach lead by Community-based organization
Goals: Engage parents as partners in advocating for children
Connect with parents before problems emerge
Connect parents with school and beyond
Community

24. School Approach: School-based youth groups Teacher consultation
Goals: Connect with youth in non- stigmatized setting
Connect before problems emerge
Address core risk factors of alienation, discrimination
School

25. Refugee Demographic
Wisconsin is home to over 69,839 refugees & former refugees
The Hmong are by far the largest group
Trend of refugee in the last 10 years include groups from Southeast Asia, Former Yugoslavia, Former Soviet Union and different countries of Africa.
As we speak, we are expecting our newest group of refugees: Burmese, Somali, Iraqi, Bhutanese.
The refugees have settled in 20+ counties
About 1200 African refugees
About 12,000 expected to be resettled in U.S.
Their profile similar to many African tribes facing extermination…you’ve heard of Darfur…
Challenge exists in resettlement of Somali Bantu…read profile
Few employment skills, hard to adjust to 8 – 5 workday; poligamy legal there, not here…Many single, divorced women now on their own; Living in rough neighborhoods…
45 Meskhetian Turks settled in Waukesha…40 more expected in 06
Hard working, not used to getting anything for ‘free; want a job ASAP…read profile

26. HMONG HISTORY
Forbearers of U.S. Hmong immigrants settled in northern Laos, plateau known as Plains of Jars
Life before 1960s: Animists
Agrarian lifestyle:
farming gardening hunting
fishing

27. HMONG HISTORY
Life before 1960s changed for approximately 150,000 Hmongs when war erupted in Vietnam
Hmong fled Laos to Thailand
United States

28. One of eleven refugee camps in Thailand holding 120,000 Burmese refugees
Read Burmese profile…

29. Burmese family at home in camp

30. Burmese children in camp school

31. The first Somali Bantu family to arrive in Milwaukee
Family pictured with Abdulaziz Shariff Mohamed, co worker at BMRLS
Single (divorced first wife…second wife had younger children) her nephew and two sons.
She is now working in a day care serving Somali children and the three kids are in school
All doing well

32. Enjoyment Make the Job Development experience enjoyable and memorable.
Smile
Motivate, Motivate, Motivate
Maintain morale (you and your staff)
Help refugees achieve their American Dream

33. Contact Information
Irina Zelenskaya
phone: (608)
Shoua Vang
phone: (608)
Contact information:
Heidi Ellis
Phone: