Homework Help for Burmese Children

Homework Help for Burmese Children

RIAC has settled over 50 Burmese refugees in Worcester over the past few years. Many of these families came during the summer of 2009. During the fall season, we established a Homework Help Project for Burmese children ranging in ages from seven to fourteen. Taking place once a week, on Saturday mornings for two hours, Holy Cross students volunteered their time to practice English with the children, help them with homework, teach them about American culture, play games and help them build friendship amongst one another. This program was a great success!! The same children, and others, returned each week to learn from the Holy Cross students, who were learning about Burmese culture in return. We hope to resume this program next semester and also make the opportunity available to families from other countries.

DOHERTY HIGH SCHOOL HELPS RIAC

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DOHERTY HIGH SCHOOL HELPS RIAC

One of our most recent initiatives engaged the Worcester community in RIAC’s Refugee Resettlement Program while simultaneously spreading the word of RIAC’s good work as non-profit organization in the city. Thanks to the efforts of a Holy Cross work-study student who works part time in RIAC’s office, students and faculty from Doherty High School generously donated some basic necessities for new families. Items such as winter clothing, sheets and kitchen ware -- 20 boxes of items -- will be distributed amongst the refugee families in time for the winter season. This enormous support allows RIAC staff to focus on all the other tasks needed in the resettlement process and the combined efforts of our volunteers and employees provides for a smoother transition for the refugees. Many thanks to Doherty High School and the Holy Cross student, an alum of Doherty High School, who organized this great effort!!

2009 SUMMER LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR SOMALI GIRLS

RIAC was one of 50 organizations in Boston funded by the Boston Foundation to run a Streetsafe Boston summer program. Teen age girls gathered each week in the Jamaica Plain office. They participated in leadership training, listened to guest speakers and organized three different summer events. The final event was a big success! The program ended with a beautiful Somali fashion show, music and dancing which thoroughly entertained the program participants, their friends and family.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT PROGRAM HELPS SOMALIS LIVING IN LYNN AND SURROUNDING TOWNS

COMMUNITY SUPPORT PROGRAM HELPS SOMALIS LIVING IN LYNN AND SURROUNDING TOWNS

The Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center and Family Continuity in Peabody have come together to provide families with a Community Support Program (CSP). The program helps Somalis and other refugees and immigrants who live in the North Shore access needed health care. Bilingual/bicultural staff assist health care providers better understand the cultural, psychological and social circumstances that impact these patients. They assist with interpretation and offer on-going support to the family.

Many of the individuals and families that have benefited from this program are Somali Bantu who came to Lynn under the U.S. Department of State’s Refugee Resettlement Program. Lynn is now home to some 150 Somali Bantu families.

Many refugees coming to the United States have endured war, hardships and struggles before arriving. Once they are here, there are new challenges. Adjusting to a new culture and a new life can be overwhelming. The CSP helps to ease this transition. Clients who need this assistance are referred into RIAC’s Community Support Program from local health centers. All clients must be receiving Mass Health.

For more information about the program contact:

Nimo Egal
781-593-0100 extension 14
20 Wheeler Street, 4th floor
Lynn, MA 01902

Women Gather for Sewing and ESL

In the Fall of 2008 RIAC began a 12-week sewing and ESL class for Somali women who live in the Jamaica Plain area. The program’s sewing component meets on Monday and Tuesday mornings. Students learn and practice basic sewing on a machine. On Wednesday mornings the women convene for ESL classes. In the ESL class they practice conversation, reading and writing – often on sewing related topics. This program helps Somali refugee women gather, develop new and useful skills while improving their English. This program has been made possible through a generous grant from the Clowes Fund.

RIAC as a Site for Community Service

During the Fall 2008 semester, as part of the Urban Sociology course, four Holy Cross students helped us to develop a Drop-in Center for our refugee clients in Worcester. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the Holy Cross students met with clients, many who had only just arrived in the United States, for two hours of ESL and computer tutoring.

The students covered a wide range of material based on the clients' needs and knowledge of the English language, but the drop-in center aimed primarily to provide a cultural orientation to make clients as comfortable and independent as possible in their new homes. This cultural education ranged from teaching clients to write their names and addresses, to helping them fill out job applications, to explaining Halloween traditions, which could potentially be disconcerting for families unfamiliar with the spooky customs.

The Drop-in Center was very successful for the Holy Cross students who gained a better understanding of refugee resettlement and the RIAC clients who enthusiastically practiced English and were introduced to computers, many for the first time. Everyone involved was able both to teach about their native cultures and languages, and to learn about those of others. Although the sociologycourse that facilitated the start of this initiative has ended, members of the class will continue to volunteer at the Drop-in Center. We hope to develop a continuing relationship between RIAC and Holy Cross for years to come.

Cradles to Crayons

We recently were registered as a partner with a very exciting organization in Quincy, Massachusetts. Their organizational structure seemed simple and extremely effective.

On their website, they describe their vision as follows:

By connecting communities that have plenty with communities that need. The immediate result is that tens of thousands of children living in low-income families get great everyday supplies such as clothing, shoes, books, school supplies, or toys. We have built a platform for a better community by being a year ‘round avenue for neighbors of all ages to "do something", to get involved and give back and in the "doing" create change. We call it “tangible philanthropy”. Get ready to roll up your sleeves!

We hope to connect this resource to our clients, to provide them with necessities we could never provide before. Thank you Cradles to Crayons!