Cleveland Health and Human Services to be challenged this next year with more refugees

It looks like Cleveland, Ohio will join the Triad of North Carolina and get some of the thousands of Syrian refugees the UN has chosen for America.

Is it because Welcoming America came to town (to soften them up!)?

From Cleveland.com (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

City Councilman Joe Cimperman: “Why can’t Cleveland be that welcoming place.”

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Lead poisoning, women’s reproductive health issues and the hardships of immigrant refugees top the priorities of Cleveland City Council’s Health and Human Services Committee this legislative session.

In an interview Wednesday, city councilman Joe Cimperman said that the committee he chairs is “both perspirational and aspirational,” and while it must oversee the function of the city’s Health Department, it must also set the agenda to meet the needs of Cleveland’s changing social landscape.

This year, Cimperman said, that means anticipating a flood of refugees from Iraq, Syria and other war-torn countries, helping them settle in their new environment and connecting them with healthcare and social services.

“In the next 24 months, we are going to feel the effects of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq for sure,” Cimperman said. “I’m sad that they’re forced to flee their countries, but why can’t Cleveland be that welcoming place?”

Cimperman said the city will hold a Refugee Summit and luncheon on Oct. 30 in the City Hall Rotunda, where city leaders will explore ways to attract and accommodate an immigrant population.

Readers in the Cleveland area should plan to attend the “Refugee Summit.”

There are three preferred communities in Ohio—Cleveland, Columbus and Akron.  To see who is running the refugee program for the federal government in Cleveland go here.

See all of our posts on Syrian refugees by clicking here.

Business publication beats up on Israel (again) over refugees

….and reveals more about UN/Obama Administration plans for thousands of Syrians to arrive in the US soon!

Our “refugee” alerts are full and overflowing with Syrian news.  Here is an article from the Business Insider which shows which countries are taking Syrian refugees (something we have reported many times).

Business Insider / Oxford University Refugee Studies Centre

But, what caught my eye was the criticism toward Israel for not taking in Syrians.

Readers, Israel is one of only a few countries in the world trying to save itself from being overwhelmed by the third world on the move.  Everyone in their right mind can see that Israel would be committing suicide if it opened its tiny country to the mostly Muslim migrants on the move around the world.

Business Insider:

Israeli Intransigence

Israel, which shares its northern border with Syria, has steadfastly refused to receive refugees.

Yuval Ben-Ami, an Israeli journalist and author based in Jaffa, told Business Insider, “at this point in its history, Israel seems determined to barricade itself, primarily of its immediate neighborhood.”

Ben-Ami says the idea of Israel accepting Syrian refugees is “extremely foreign” to Israelis, and that even refugee advocates speak little about the Syrian issue because it seems fruitless.

But near the end is another important part of this story. Once again we are being alerted to expect thousands of Syrians to arrive in the US soon.

We are going to be up there with Germany!  20,000?

While the United States is the largest donor to Syrian relief efforts, it has accepted only 63 Syrian refugees this year.

However, the UNHCR told Business Insider it expects the U.S. to rank up with Germany as one of the top two receivers of Syrians in 2015.

The U.N. said the U.S. accepted a request to load its resettlement intake toward the end of this year, with the organization already submitting 2,500 applications for consideration over the coming months.

Click here for our extensive archive on Syrian refugees.

More on those Syrian refugees going to North Carolina

Update:  First Syrian family to arrive in Greensboro living in hotel, here.

This is follow-up story to our post of a few days ago where we learned that Syrians are arriving in the Triad area of North Carolina.  Resettlement contractor World Relief/Evangelicals expects 30-100 this next year (the fiscal year begins October 1).

The Triad area of North Carolina—a major resettlement site.

Our top post for the last six days is this one about the State Department spokesperson’s comment that thousands of Syrians had been selected by the UN for resettlement to the US.  The largest percentage will be Sunni Muslims.

Refugees are not self-sufficient in 90 days as World Relief says below, but have been connected to “services.”  See our fact sheet for the list of social services (aka welfare) available to refugees.  They will be deemed self-sufficient even as they remain on most forms of welfare.

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

Organizations such as World Relief and Church World Service work with the U.S. State Department to resettle refugees from around the world.  [Both “church” organizations are actually federal contractors.–ed]

Timbie said World Relief High Point typically resettles 400 to 450 refugees in the High Point and Winston-Salem area each year. He expects to assist anywhere from 30 to 100 refugees from Syria in the next year.

The government provides money to help these families make it through their first few months in the United States. World Relief employees provide job skill and language training and help the refugees find jobs with local companies and connect to services.

“Our job is to make them self-sufficient within 90 days,” Timbie said.

That does not mean that they are on their own, Timbie said. It just means they are not relying on that upfront money.