|
|
 Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program
Becomes Licensed
Child Placing Agency
After several months of preparation, New American Services'
Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program became included as a Licensed Child Placing
Agency (LCPA) by the state of North Dakota
effective July 1.
The license has been held for many years by Lutheran Social
Services of North Dakota, the agency of which the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor
Program is a part. This is the first
year that the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program has sought to be part of the
agency's licensing, due to the program's recent broadening of focus. The license allows this program and other
Lutheran Social Services programs such as Adoption Option to place children in foster care, group
homes and adoptive families. Licensing
is a requirement for child welfare-serving agencies throughout North
Dakota.
After several months of pouring over the LCPA standards,
making a few minor adjustments to ensure compliance and preparing appropriate
documentation, Adoption Option and the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program were
visited by a group of six reviewers from the state. Overall, the review went very well and both
programs received positive feedback along with the renewed agency license.
|
 |
|
Resettlement News from around North Dakota
Grand Forks
Update
The Grand Forks Resettlement office of New American Services
welcomed several new staff members in recent months.
Tara Dupper began working as the Grand Forks Resettlement
Coordinator in May. Tara
is a Master's degree social worker and brings a wealth of experience with
refugee resettlement. She interned with
a refugee resettlement office in Colorado,
followed by more than four years of experience resettling refugees and working
with secondary migrants in Alaska.
Jacquelin Wieland was also
hired in May as a New American Services case manager. Jacquelin recently graduated from Concordia
College in Moorhead,
MN, with a Bachelor's degree in social
work. She performed her internship with
New American Services' resettlement program in Fargo
during spring semester of 2010.
Most recently, Shyam Rai
was hired as a full-time case aide. Shyam
had been volunteering as a family mentor with Global Friends Coalition and has
experience with family resettlement as a volunteer. He brings knowledge about local services
available to clients and is multilingual in Nepali, Hindi and English.
Udaya Porkhrel joined New American Services as an on-call
interpreter. He has an extensive
international professional background in the field of education and is
multilingual in Nepali, Hindi and English.
Bed Fund
The Grand Forks
program is now accepting donations to support a Bed Fund.
Previously, Faith Presbyterian Church provided funds to help
pay the cost of beds, box springs and bed frames for newly arriving
families. This spares newly arriving
families from using their one-time grant money, which they receive upon arrival,
to buy beds.
If you are interested in donating to the Bed Fund, please send
a check payable to New American Services and indicating "Bed Fund" in the memo
line to New American Services, 1001 24th
Ave. S., Grand Forks, ND,
58201.
News from Bismarck
The Bismarck Resettlement
office received 19 refugees in FY 2010, right in line for the projection of 20 individuals. Two families out-migrated from Bismarck to join relatives in other states.
All of the
families who arrived in Bismarck were joining relatives who already lived
there. Employable adults all
currently have jobs, as do some of the teenagers in the families.
Heartfelt thanks
to the volunteers in the Bismarck community. The community's support
of New American Services this first year back is greatly appreciated. Also, special
thanks to intern Whitney Hardy who completed her social work internship with New
American Services on June 30.
|
|
More than 220 participants
learned and shared at
Building Bridges 2010
Building Bridges 2010 focused on services provided to new
Americans by schools, mental health professionals, social service agencies and
human relations groups. More than 220
participants registered for the two-day conference held in April. New Americans from Bhutan,
Iraq, Sudan
and Central Africa shared cultural information from
their regions and their experiences of resettlement in the United
States, along with the ways in which they give back to
the community that welcomed them.
Warren St. John, author of "Outcasts United: An AmericanTown, a Refugee Team and One Woman's Quest to
Make a Difference," was a keynote
speaker. He told about Luma Mafleh, a soccer coach in Clarkston,
GA, who succeeded with the daunting
challenge of creating community in a place where people seemed to have so
little in common.
 An artistic display by local artist Lana
Suomala was a major contribution to the conference. Lana's work can be viewed at lanasuomalaart.weebly.com.
|
|
Celebrations
-
World Refugee Day 2010
Grand Forks
The Grand Forks Town Square
Farmer's Market hosted the Global Friends Coalition's World Refugee Day
Celebration on June 19 with the help of sponsor US Bank. The sun was
shining and hundreds of people took part in the day's festivities, including
informational tables, food samples, an awards ceremony, entertainment, a
fashion show and a spirited soccer tournament later in the day.
This event provided an opportunity
for community members to learn more about the refugee experience and take in
the talents of many new Americans. Some
attendees even signed up to become mentors or English language tutors.
The hew Americans and volunteers
appreciated the opportunity to catch up with friends as they enjoyed the day
together.
Fargo / West Fargo
The World Refugee Day in
Fargo / West Fargo was held June 17, with unsettled weather the
order of the day. Olivet Lutheran Church generously opened their doors as
the alternate site at the last minute due to thunderstorms.
 As a result, the committee had to change course a
bit for the program and event, but the day was a wonderful observance of
the current refugee crisis around the world. It was also a recognition of the
skills and experiences that new Americans bring to communities in North Dakota and around the United States.
Luma Aziz Al Obeidy represented Iraq with greetings; Juwle Nagbe spoke
on behalf of the area's Liberian Community; Tika Adhikari described the refugee
life from the Bhutanese perspective; and Hari Timsina read a poem he had
written for the event. Music was
provided by Ricot Aladdin, Haiti, and several dances were
performed by dancers from Bhutan.
Special thanks to corporate event
sponsors - Hornbachers, Sunmart, Cashwise, Asian American Grocery, Walmart and
Juanos.
|
|
|
|
|
Your financial support
helps refugees to start
a new life in the
United States.
Thank you! | |
Annual Refugee Arrival Statistics for North Dakota
Since October 1,
2009, a total of 404 new Americans have resettled in North
Dakota, all through New American Services, the Lutheran
Social Services resettlement program.
Fargo - 237
West Fargo - 43
Bismarck - 19
Grand Forks - 92
Moorhead - 2
(with relatives)
The arrivals came from 14 countries:
Afghanistan
- 1
Bhutan
- 178 (45%)
Burma
- 8
Burundi
- 5
Ethiopia
- 10
Congo
- 37 (9%)
Iran
- 2
Iraq
- 97 (25%)
Lebanon
- 2
Rwanda
- 9
Sierra
Leone - 3
Somalia
- 27 (7%)
Sudan
- 11
Ukraine
- 3
The Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program accounted for 11 arrivals.
|
Announcing Building Bridges 2011
March 28-29
Fargo, ND
Save the dates -
March 28 and 29, 2011 - for the
annual Building Bridges Conference to be held at the
Holiday Inn in Fargo.
|
|
New Amercian Services
is a program of
Lutheran Social Services
of North Dakota
Darci Asche
Community Support Supervisor
701-271-1604 dasche@lssnd.org
Tara Dupper
Grand Forks Refugee Resettlement Office 701-772-8552 Tracy Kuchan
Bismarck Refugee Resettlement Office 701-223-1510 |
|
