COMMUNITY BLUEPRINT TO HELP IMMIGRANTS & REFUGEES THRIVE
Launch event for the Community Blueprint featuring panelists, including NAMS' Kheir Mugwaneza. Source: Blueprint Project Team.
In September, Allegheny County launched a new initiative called a "Community Blueprint" to specifically target immigrants throughout the county and help them thrive. The plan seeks to increase focus and access for immigrants in the areas of Language Access, Health and Well-Being, Education, Economic Development, Family Support, and Civic Engagement. Created by the efforts of 173 local residents, including immigrants and community leaders, this plan will provide strong support for immigrants and increase efforts to welcome them into our community.
Immigrants in Allegheny County
Over the past several years, the demographics of immigrants coming into Allegheny County have changed significantly, sometimes even varying from year to year. According to studies and surveys conducted throughout the county, over 80,000 people report speaking a language other than English at home, with about 1/3 of those people saying that they spoke English "less than very well." In recent years, Allegheny County has seen over an 80% increase in immigrants from Central/South America, Africa, and Asia, while seeing a 20% decrease in European immigrants. With new populations come new challenges and needs, which is why community members working with immigrants wanted to come up with the Community Blueprint to specifically target these groups.
Priority Areas
The Community Blueprint team, through meetings with professionals, service providers, immigrant community leaders, and others, identified six target priority areas: language access, health & well-being, education, economic development, family support, and civic engagement. Language access will focus on increasing opportunities for immigrants to learn English, as well as working with service providers to have interpretation available. Health & well-being will ensure that immigrants are getting adequate healthcare with interpretation if needed, that is also culturally appropriate and easily accessible. Education will help schools engage both immigrant students and parents better. Economic development will focus on increasing job opportunities for immigrants, as well as access to housing, childcare, and transportation. Family support will seek to focus on children and parents, as well as providing services for domestic violence, substance abuse, and trauma therapy. Civic engagement will increase access to citizenship, leadership opportunities, and community support organizations within immigrant communities.
NAMS is already playing a role in the Community Blueprint, as CARR director Kheir Mugwaneza has been a part of its development and is also on the steering committee for the blueprint implementation, and NAMS is a participant in the Immigrant Services & Connections program (ISAC), which will be an integral part in helping immigrants in Allegheny County access services. Through a collaboration of organizations, service providers, and community leaders, the Community Blueprint will be implemented to support immigrants throughout the county.
Primary source: www.alleghenycounty.us/DHS/immigrantcommunityblueprint.
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VITAL VOICES: MUSA'S STORY (Part 1)
Musa is a Sudanese refugee who was resettled in Pittsburgh through NAMS. He is currently working at the Children's Institute as a chef and also works as an interpreter for NAMS. This is part of his story of coming to the US. (Pictured here in Indonesia.)
Musa: I spent almost five years in Indonesia. In 2012, My friends and I decided that we would try to go to Australia by boat—81 people, mostly refugees from Afghanistan, along with me and another friend from Africa. We started out from Surabaya at 10:30 in the morning. The weather was hot, and they took us to a fishing boat. After we left the shore in this small boat, a lot of the other refugees started getting seasick from the waves and were vomiting from the salty ocean waters. I laughed when my friend Ramadan started getting sick. “Be strong man!” I said to him. “Why’re you vomiting?” Moments later, I threw up in his face. “Sorry, my brother!” I said. He answered, “No problem. You just be strong!” and then he laughed.
At midnight, it started raining and the waves were rocking the boat. It was very dark, and we couldn’t see where we were. Suddenly, the engine stopped. An engineer who was with us tried to fix it, but unfortunately, it still wouldn’t work. He started to cry, and many of us followed, crying because we were stuck. The captain, a smuggler, said he would send for the fishing man that helped them get to the boat to fix the engine and bring a new engine. Two hours later, he came in a small time. Everyone was hopeful and happy because he could fix it, and he did.
Four days later, we were still in the ocean with no food, just water. We all say that we won’t give up and we’ll keep going, but suddenly, our boat engine stopped again. We’re stuck in international waters. The captain started crying, and all the refugees in the boat started crying too. (If your father starts to cry, you follow him.) The captain came to me and asked me to pray for him because he has two sons. I told him, “You’re married and you have two sons—you’re lucky! They’ll take your name.” I cried, “What should I do because I’m not married?” He calmed down when I said that to him.
We tried to fix the engine to return to Indonesia. We even called the Indonesian police, asking them to help us. They asked us where our location was. We were on an island, but Indonesia has over 7,000 islands, and we forgot the name of the one we were stuck on. After six hours, the police arrived, and they took us to the police station for an investigation.
Two days later, we were transferred to the immigration detention center at Surabaya. In my room were seven people, all from different countries—Sudan, Egypt, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Eritrea, and Myanmar. Some people tried to escape from under the water pits. Others, after four months, were transferred to the head office of migration in Jakarta. We stayed at the head office for six months, and then, without any reason, they transferred us to another detention center in Jakarta, nearby the UNHCR office in Jakarta, where we stayed for a whole year until they finally released us to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Read Part 2 in our January newsletter to find out what happens next...
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COMMUNITY CRAFT GROUPS
NAMS now runs two separate craft groups to help build community and give women a place to practice and grow their skills. The Knitting Group at LifeSpan was started the spring of this year to specifically target the Bhutanese community. More recently, the Women's Craft Group was started in Northview Heights to reach women in that community. All skill levels are welcome to the group and each of the participants chooses a project of their own. While the attendees are mostly women, a few men occasionally join the Knitting Group. Each of these groups creates a space for the participants to gain or practice skills and show off their craftsmanship.
Knitting Group
Every second Friday of the month, several Bhutanese women meet in the afternoon at LifeSpan in Mount Oliver to practice their knitting skills and create scarves, hats, gloves, blankets and a number of other items. This group has been meeting for a while, and they often plan events together including outdoor days and picnics. The attendance varies, sometimes reaching almost 20, but about eight women make up the core group. The group gives people a chance to build community, hone their skills, and even serve others by knitting items for other refugees. Taylor Hennessee (housing case manager) and Shashi Timsina (service navigator) help facilitate this group alongside LifeSpan.
The Knitting Group's picnic-style meeting in the park.
Women's Craft Group
This September, NAMS started a craft group for refugee women in Northview Heights, meant to specifically target the Somali community. Every first Tuesday of the month, a group of women will be meeting in the Northview Heights Family Center to sew, bead, and create their own projects. The first meeting was attended by 10 women, and with childcare available at future meetings, they hope that the group will grow. Taylor Hennessee and Ariel McKeown (RSS job developer) have worked to help facilitate this group. Ariel has been teaching the women various beading techniques, and they hope to have rotating crafts including sewing and knitting. Ariel explained, "It was a great opportunity for the women to come together, learn a new skill, socialize, and encourage independence. I taught a square knot, a macrame bracelet using some small hemp and pony beads. Some of the women caught on right away and others created their own version." They hope to eventually help the women sell some of their items at the I Made It! Markets to show them how they can make a profit from their skills. Ariel said, "We're hoping this crafting group will help to bring the women together as a community, build confidence in themselves, and encourage independence."
Some of the participants of the Women's Craft Group with Ariel.
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