Kentucky refugee contractor: I think it’s time that all those Arabs we are bringing to Kentucky have their own newspaper!
Unless you have been living in a cave over the last few months, you know that the US State Department is bringing about 10,000 Syrian, mostly Muslim, refugees (chosen by the UN) to the US in this fiscal year (2015 started on October 1, 2014).
Here are three news stories sent from several readers about where they will be going.
North Dakota from the Jamestown Sun:
Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota and its community partners, which include schools, medical facilities, law enforcement, county and volunteer agencies and churches, are anticipating a shift in the ongoing resettling of refugees here. [They are slowing the Bhutanese (Hindu) flow and switching to the Middle Easterners—ed]
[….]
The agency has recently resettled a number of people from Afghanistan, and is planning for refugees in the coming months from Syria and Iraq, who are escaping the terrorism threat of ISIS.
[….]
Lutheran Social Services (LSS) is projecting to place a total of about 400 refugees in North Dakota in fiscal year 2015, which began in October.
Laetitia Mizero, program director and state refugee coordinator at LSS, said 260 will settle in the Fargo area, about 95 in Grand Forks and 45 in Bismarck.
In fiscal year 2014, LSS placed 500 refugees statewide, a larger number than usual.
This next bit is really informative, and is something every community “welcoming” refugees should be paying attention to. Once they get a “seed community” started, they (the Lutherans in this case) then are paid to process in the family members.
“Ninety-eight percent of individuals who’ve arrived over the past 12 months are joining family who are already here,” she said.
Nebraska from McCook Gazette:
LINCOLN, Neb. — At least four Nebraska agencies have pledged to help some of the thousands of refugees expected to come to America as a result of persecution and genocide in Syria.
[….]
Nebraska agencies pledging to help deal with the refugees include Lutheran Refugee Services of Lincoln, Lutheran Family Services, Catholic Social Services and the Southern Sudan Community Association.
Such refugees are eligible for a full range of public assistance programs swell as refugee assistance programs.
***Here is the contact information for the 4 contractors who will bring Syrians to Nebraska:
CWS (Church World Service)
NE-CWS-01: Lutheran Refugee Services
Address: 2900 O Street, Suite 200
Lincoln, NE 68510
Phone: 402-435-2954
USCCB (US Conference of Catholic Bishops)
NE-USCCB-02: Catholic Social Services
Address: 2241 O Street
Lincoln, NE 68510-1133
Phone: 402-474-1600
CWS (Church World Service)
NE-CWS-02: Lutheran Family Services
Address: 1941 South 42nd Street, Suite 402
Omaha, NE 68105-1401
Phone: 402-346-6100
ECDC (Ethiopian Community Development Council)
NE-ECDC-01: Southern Sudan Community Association
Address: 3610 Dodge Street, Suite 100
Omaha, NE 68131
Phone: 402-554-0759
Kentucky from the Courier Journal (article about a new start-up Arab language newspaper):
Kentucky Refugee Ministries Executive Director John Koehlinger said Botan’s venture comes as Louisville agencies continue to resettle a large number of refugees from Iraq — a trend that started around 2008 — and prepare to aid the first refugees from Syria some time next year.
“Refugees have been coming from Iraq in large numbers for five years,” he said. “I think that the time is right for a newspaper for that community.”
About the photo and Kentucky Refugees Ministries. In its most recent Form 990 KRM took in $4,703,422 from government contracts as part of a total revenue stream of $5,287,956 which means they are 89% funded by taxpayer dollars in a Wilson Fish state where the resettlement program is run by the federal government’s contractors (with no say by elected representatives of the state government of Kentucky).
When you visit that Form 990 be sure to check out the costs of running this ‘non-profit’ for salaries, office expenses, travel etc.
***Contact information for all of the resettlement contractors in the nation may be found at this handy list.