Category: Ethnic Community Based Organizations

Lewiston, ME: Professor implies that refugees financially benefit Lewiston

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars

Yes, that is correct.  Professor Catherine Besteman (with Ishmail Ahmed) says in a report (seeking to dispel rumors, she says) that federal grant money flowing into the Lewiston/Auburn area has positively benefited the community and offsets any expense the Somali refugee influx has cost Maine.  Hat tip:  Susan  [ The report is a pdf file so let me know if you would like a copy, or if someone finds a link, please send it.]

Besteman:

In other words, to date the refugee demographic has been economically beneficial to the Lewiston/Auburn area.

Professor Besteman, grant money does not grow on trees.  Any money flowing to Maine from the federal government comes from taxpayers in other states, so while it may not cost Lewiston, it costs the country!

I note that the professor is on the Board of advisors for the local Somali ECBO (Ethnic Community Based Organization).  ECBO’s as I have reported on many occasions are basically mini-ACORNs.  They are run with tax dollars, teach immigrants how to access ‘resources’ (welfare benefits), and then act as a political voice for their respective ethnic group.  See our whole category on ECBO’s here.

By the way, it is my observation that ECBO’s do not foster assimilation but act as divisive forces in communities.

I can’t find any record at Guidestar that this Somali ECBO exists.  I suspect their money is coming through the State of Maine Dept. of Health and Human Services (among other government sources) that gets federal ECBO funding here.  

It is my suggestion that folks concerned about tax dollars in Maine do some serious investigative digging into the documents and learn who is and who is not benefiting from the refugee influx to Maine.

New readers might want to visit this older post to understand how the secondary migration of Somalis to Maine began and why.

More on meatpackers changing the face of Kansas and ECBOs in their wake

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is yet another story about meatpackers and immigrant labor and how those big companies are changing Garden City, Kansas and other small cities in Southwest Kansas.   There is a lot in this article, so I encourage all of you to read it.

Also, here is a story from 2009 that tells us that whites are now in the minority in Finney County, KS.

The Garden City Telegram reporter (Shajia Ahmed) has built this glowing frontpage story around the new Somali Community Center of Southwest Kansas described as follows in the opening paragraphs of the article:

Large images of Somali men and women in their brightly-colored garb and camels walking on dust-red ground, and a painting of the Kaaba, the holy Meccan edifice where Muslims across the world turn their heads in prayer five times a day, hang on the charcoal-colored walls inside the community center. Next to the photographs, an American flag lies juxtaposed to a light blue banner with a single white star in the center.

Beside both flags, a neon green poster with words carefully stenciled in marker, reads “Finney County: Many cultures, One community.” For $850 a month, members of the Somali community in Garden City have pooled together their funds to open a new community development center on North John Street, next to the local Department of Motor Vehicles.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about Ethnic Community Based Organizations (ECBOs) often largely funded by taxpayer money at the local, state and even federal level (here is a recent federal grant list).   I call them mini-ACORNS and we have a whole category on the subject.  Basically, they are ‘community organizers’ and provide help for their specific ethnic group to find public benefits (like welfare).  Then when a political issue arises they act as the spokesmen and demand their rights for their group.  That is what the Somali Community of Southwest Kansas is—it is an ECBO.

By the way, Somalis love these ECBOs.  Here is a directory of some in the US, but new ones, like this one in our story, haven’t made the directory yet.

Back to the article.  I always wonder when someone says the local refugees/immigrants pooled their money to set up what amounts to a major business—a non-profit organization.  I’ve had experience setting up non-profits and it takes a lot of work and wherewithal.  So, I decided to start my research with the Kansas Secretary of State Office to see when this new ECBO was incorporated.

It was formed on March 27th of this year.  Its registered agent is something called US Corporation Agents, Inc. located at 4701 College Blvd, Suite 110, Leawood, KS 66211 which is also the address for the ‘community center.’  O.k. so who are they?   Well it turns out they were only incorporated in Kansas on January the 26th of this year but were originally formed in Nevada.   As for business type, they are listed as ‘Foreign for profit.’ So what is up with that?  Did the money for the Somali Community Center of Southwest Kansas really come from a bunch of poor immigrants pooling their pennies?  Or, did the seed money come from some foreign entity?

Generally here is how it goes:  ECBO formed with seed money from where?  Once established they tap into taxpayer money from all levels of government by getting grants for such things as English lessons, and other programs meant to ostensibly help them assimilate.*

Unfortunately the organization is so new we won’t figure out where their funding is coming from until they file a Form 990 next year and even with that the IRS has now changed the forms so its even harder to figure out how much taxpayer money goes into these “non-profit” organizations.  Local people are going to have to keep a real close eye on this “community center” and try to track its funding sources.

For new readers, more Somalis are on the way:

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US (this linked post continues to be one of the most widely read posts we have ever written) in the last 25 years and then in 2008 had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.  That specific program has not yet been reopened (that we know of), but will be soon.

Nevertheless, thousands of Somali Muslims continue to be resettled by the State Department as I write this. We recently learned that we will be taking 6000 Somalis this year from one camp in Uganda and as many as 11,000-13,000 total from around the world.

Through the Refugee Resettlement program alone 2657 legal Somalis have already arrived in this fiscal year (2010) as of May 31st with an unknown number arriving through other legal programs and  illegally across both our borders.

* Be sure also to read this Comment Worth Noting from a Somali woman who refers to the Somali influx as an “invasion” and says they have no plans to assimilate.

Somalis disturbingly call their immigration to certain countries or cities as “invasions” and they call cities with no or little Somali populations as “Tuulas” or “villages”….

Are Garden City and Dodge City, KS  in the Tuula stage?  Or beyond?

Somali non-profits struggle to stay afloat

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have more stories to post today on Somalis in America.  I know some critics of RRW think I single out Somali refugees, but honestly they make the news more often than other groups of immigrants.   Two days ago it was Lewiston, ME, and I just a few minutes ago posted on Somali family reunification in Utah, here.  Later I’ll post on safety complaints by Somalis in a Seattle public housing complex and I have an update from the school (supposed) harassment saga involving CAIR in St. Cloud, MN.

This story is a little surprising because the federal government hasn’t run out of money and they are the deep pockets that usually keep ethnic mini-ACORNs afloat.

The dire economy has dealt a big drive to the twin cities Somali nonprofits, many of which have been forced to slice hours, diminish services and some are consider closing.

From ESL centers, refugee services, to housing and employment programs, organizations that have served the Somali and other East African community for decades are now struggling to stay afloat.

“The Somali nonprofit division is taking a triple whammy with the loss of funding from foundations, government and corporations,” said Dr. ,Abdiwahab Arale, A board member from The Center For Somali Solutions Of Minnesota in the twin cities.

“Somali nonprofits in particular [are struggling] because they are always operating on very slim limits,” he added. “There were unmet needs before — now the services are diminishing.”

Surely Obama’s stash is not yet depleted!

Ft. Wayne update: Burmese advocates won’t let laundromat sign incident go

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here we have a lawyer, Patrick Proctor, for the Burmese Advocacy Center writing an opinion piece in the Journal Gazette in which he says anyone who mentions the reason why (spitting and urinating in the laundromat) the sign was placed in the first place is just as bad as the original sign maker.  (original post on this incident is here)

More troubling, however, has been the media coverage of the incident. Much of the coverage has focused on why the sign was put up. One prime example was Indiana’s NewsCenter’s report March 12 (currently on the station’s Web site) titled, “Sources Say Some Burmese People Spit and Uriniate (sic) In a Ricker’s Store.”

By focusing on why the sign was posted, the report implies that it was somehow justifiable for the business to discriminate because of the egregiousness of the conduct of a few individuals. This is not true.

[…..]

But in the Burmese situation, there seems to be a presumption that the conduct leading up to the sign somehow ameliorates, if not justifies, the posting of the sign. Furthermore, the focus on the alleged spitting and urination is almost as offensive as the original sign because it leaves the false impression that Burmese people in general commonly spit and urinate in public. This is simply not true.

Mr. Proctor, just as it is not true that all Ft. Wayne citizens who oppose more immigration to Ft. Wayne can be equated with the sign maker!  And, you know what would make a big impression on unhappy citizens of Ft. Wayne, if  your group the Burmese Advocacy Center took some responsibility and  announced that you would be working very hard to teach the Burmese our customs—like we frown on anyone spitting and urinating in public.   YOU  should take some of the responsibility on YOU!

The Burmese population is unfamiliar to most native-born Americans. Many Burmese refugees do not speak English. Because of financial and educational limitations, the Burmese tend to live in the same places, work in the same places and travel together in groups. Consequently, it is easier, perhaps, for us to think of them as homogeneous. The truth is, however, that the Burmese population is diverse and complex.

The federal refugee resettlement contractors who initially brought thousands of refugees to Ft. Wayne placed them in the same neighborhoods and found them jobs in the same places!  They are supposed to encourage them to learn English (indeed the Burmese Advocacy Center says it teaches English) and they should be responsible along with Ethnic Community Based Organizations like Mr. Procotor’s that receive federal grants to teach them about our culture.

In my opinion Ethnic Community Based Organizations (we have a whole category on them) are simply mini-ACORNS.  They teach their people (their ethnic group) how to get signed up for all sorts of public assistance and then when a political problem arises they are right there speaking for the so-called “community.”   

By the way, the Burmese of Ft. Wayne are not one big happy family either.  I’ve heard that  many Karen Christians are unhappy living in neighborhoods with Muslim Burmese.  What makes the do-gooders of Ft. Wayne think that just being in America is going to magically erase hundreds of years of hatred among the Burmese clans?

One more thing, Mr. Proctor likens the incident in Ft. Wayne to a news story from NJ where it turns out a customer got on the PA system in a Walmart and announced that all black people should leave the store.  Mr. Proctor argues that all Burmese should not be painted with the same brush, but it sure sounds like he is painting all people in NJ (and Walmart) with one brush.

Endnote:   Identified by the Journal Gazette as a board member of the Burmese Advocacy Center (Patrick Proctor is a local attorney and board member of the Burmese Advocacy Center), it seems that Mr. Proctor must be a very new Board member because he is not listed as one on their website, here.   Nor is he listed on the only IRS Form 990 they have submitted here.  And, he even failed to mention it at his law firm bio, here. [Let’s see how  many days it takes for his name to appear on the Advocacy Center’s website!]   I’m betting he is the immigration lawyer equivalent of an ambulance chaser!   Is there a lawsuit against the laundromat owner coming soon?

Oh, I see here he is a labor union lawyer, now the picture gets clearer.

He probably helped draft the letter of thanks to the Mayor, here, too.  I’m posting this in our ‘community destabilization’ category as well because it is a good example of how the Far Left/Union people help stir up a crisis in immigrant communities and use the immigrants to bring about change—crisis begets “change” ala Saul Alinsky.  Citizens of Ft. Wayne need to start focusing the spotlight on the agitators!

An Afterthought!  You know what would be very funny is if the laundromat owner (or any business owner) in Ft. Wayne put up signs that said:  “no smoking, no loitering, no spitting, no urinating by anyone of any race, color, religion or creed on these premises.”   But, they won’t, and that is too bad!

Comment worth noting: Why don’t you tell about the good side of refugee resettlement?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a comment from Mr. Ralph Parker writing from the Atlanta area.  He asks a question that we have answered but it’s been a long time ago, so for new readers I’ll answer again.

This is what Mr. Parker said in a comment to my post about Ethnic Community Based Organizations, here.

Why dont you look atthe web site of Refugee Family Services of stone Mountain, Georgia to see thw wondeful work they do for families. One of the grants they have is to organize ethnic comunity groups. i will be working with them to help th ehuge Bhutanese community in Atlanta organize a self help organization.

It might be more fair if you profile the great succeses refugees have had and the good things that EBCOs can do,.

Not everyone who is Muslim is a possible terrorist. I have been visiting refugees weekly for 12 years and while there are issues, you need to be more empathetic with the refugees and agencies. Faith based efforts do not work-there is just not enough to go around Agencies would prefer better and safer housing, but what can you get for the small subsidy. By the way refugee cash assistance in our state is $378. for a family of 5.Agencies are scrambling to come up with rent balances. We have an agency here doing yard sales to raise rent money. Our Indian community has paid over $20,000 to prevent evictions of Bhutanese refugees. The problem is lack of federal funding. I have spend several hundred dollas myself just for food and supplies for families.

Have you gone and visited any families?

How about telling the good side of refugee resettlement?

Mr. Parker, the “good side” of refugee resettlement is told every day across the country in mainstream publications, in pro-immigration websites, in the myriad websites created by every ethnic group, in government websites, in lectures to community groups and on and on.   Someone has to balance that news!  We are the only website I know of specifically criticizing aspects of the refugee resettlement program.

You yourself indicate and have in the past indicated that the program needs to be reformed on many levels.  Will reform ever happen if no one points out the trouble spots?  And, why do virtually none of those media and other groups promoting more refugees ever mention problems (except in passing)—because it is politically incorrect to do so and they are scared of being called names.   We aren’t afraid of people calling us names (and many have!).  

As for Muslim refugees, I think the US is making a huge mistake in resettling large numbers of Muslims, many of whom have no intention of assimilating.

Then on the ECBO (mini-ACORNs) issue.  I am a conservative and I fundamentally disapprove of taxpayer money going to set up any non-profit group.  It is an expansion of government over which taxpayers have no control and in this case is primarily a mechanism to foster separation of ethnic groups, not foster assimilation.  Why on earth does every city need a government-supported Bhutanese group, a Somali group, a Hmong group and so forth?   Each of these groups are and will demand political accommodations and will demand rights for THEIR people.  What happened to becoming Americans!

And, why should the taxpayer be expected to pay for the “charitable” work that you care about?  Should every charitable function in America be government supported?  LOL!  As I write this, I guess that is already happening as we march to socialism. 

Let me give you a ludicrous example.  I know something about animal welfare and rescue and a year or so ago an article appeared, I think it was in the Wall Street Journal, that reported on a woman who had gotten in over her head with too many horses.  She was proposing in all seriousness that the government set up a program to financially help such horseowners.  So, when does it stop?  Who is going to decide whose charity is more valuable than anothers.  People who love their horses, love them more than they love refugees—so who will be deciding what is “fair” when there is only so much taxpayer money to go around?  You might argue that it was silly of her to collect so many horses and she might argue that you have resettled too many refugees.

I won’t even touch the topic here of the fraud in these ECBO’s, I have been doing that elsewhere on these pages.

When all the pro-open borders media and groups are “fair” in their reporting, then our job will be done!