Appleton Post Crescent
Monday, November 18, 2013
About 75 refugees from conflict zones across the globe will resettle
in the Appleton area in 2014. They will be coming from Congo, Iraq and
Myanmar.Work is progressing on
coordinating health screenings, housing and integration services for the
group spearheaded by World Relief Fox Valley, a nonprofit that launched
its Oshkosh office in early 2012.
This
is the third year for the resettlement operation that has already
brought 174 individuals — largely from Burmese. But others have arrived
from Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and
Darfur, said Myriam Mwizerwa, the Oshkosh office director.
“We’re
expecting 135 in the next year, with about 75 of them in the Appleton
area,” Mwizerwa said. “We don’t get notification about who is coming and
when until about two weeks before they arrive.”
That leaves a short time window to prepare for health screenings, financial assistance and housing.
World Relief also aggressively helps with job searches for the adults that include skilled trades.
“Our
goal is self-sufficiency,” Mwizerwa said. “We have to get everyone in
an employment position within a year and work to find industries that
match skills.”
A group of nonprofits, school and city officials met Friday at City Hall to iron out some details for the influx of refugees.
Kathy
Flores, Appleton’s diversity coordinator, said they took some cues from
Oshkosh officials who recently welcomed two waves of new immigrants.
“As
a community we’ll be looking to provide some educational opportunities
to do some research about what’s happening in these countries,” Flores
said. “These individuals have faced some trauma in their home countries
and are coming here for some very serious reasons, and we’re excited to
be helpful and welcoming.”
With
first refugees expected as early as January, Flores said they’ll be
working with churches, synagogues and mosques to prepare accommodations
and neighborhoods.
She said proactive preparations and education are keys to eliminating any uneasiness or tension with the new populations.Health, school officials prep
Kurt
Eggebrecht, the city’s health officer, said the department will
coordinate health screenings for the refugees and could face a wide
range of conditions.
“We’ll consider not
just physical health but the mental health of refugees,” Eggebrecht
said. “We’re here to facilitate and ensure they get all their needs
taken care of.”
Local
agencies contract with the state Department of Children and Families to
pay for the screenings. Last year, about $1 million was reimbursed to
Wisconsin through a federal refugee medical assistance program.
With about 40 percent of the refugees expected to be children, Appleton schools will play a major role in the resettlement.
Lee
Allinger, Appleton’s school superintendent, said language assessments
will help determine special placement for the kids. McKinley Elementary,
Roosevelt Middle School and Appleton North High School have newcomer
programs geared toward transition and English development.
“Education
is a main focus toward acclimating any group to the Fox Valley and
Appleton,” Allinger said. “We’re a very willing partner in this effort
and we know the community will come together to support these new
families.”
Calling Wisconsin home
More
than 70,000 refugees and former refugees live in Wisconsin. The vast
majority, or about 55,000, are Hmong from Laos. Other groups are from
Vietnam, Cambodia, the former Soviet Union and others, according to the
DCF statistics.
The
influx of Hmong refugees has been sewn into local culture, said Kole
Oswald, an Appleton alderman. Hmong arrived in sporadic waves from the
1980s through the early 2000s.
In the 2010 census, 5,472 people identified as Hmong in Outagamie and Winnebago counties.
“The
Hmong population showed us their contribution to the fabric of Fox
Valley life,” Oswald said. “Based on the embrace of those refugees, I
expect nothing but a great response from the human service providers and
local government.”