The ones they have are at the saturation point and so the hunt is on! (Get it Wyoming!)
It’s been on actually for some time, but last summer the State Department (PRM) and the Dept. of Health and Human Services (ORR) began to spell out what they are looking for in a “welcoming” community. They published their ‘guidance’ in a boring-sounding report entitled, ‘Key Indicators for Refugee Placement in FY 2014.’
I had the report, but had filed it away for a slow day, which didn’t come until last week.
Bottomline is that they want to find out where they can get the best goodies for refugees in a welcoming atmosphere! They have compiled state data for “stakeholders:”
…including state-by-state employment rates, health insurance access, average housing costs and state minimum wages.
They have had eleven meetings since 2011, some are conference calls, but others are site visits like one they described in Minnesota:
… ORR and PRM staff conducted a joint site visit to Minnesota and engaged with representatives of a resettlement agency, area service providers and the state and local government to discuss resettlement needs and gauge local support and capacity for new resettlement possibilities. [They love that word capacity!—-ed]
See the full report, we will have more to say about it in coming days.
See our ‘where to find information’ category for more on reports like this one, statistics etc. that you will need to educate your communities.