New ECBO funding list posted at Office of Refugee Resettlement

10/19/2009 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just now I was working on a story and went back to the ORR link for Ethnic Community Based Organizations (ECBOs) funded by you and found there is a more up-to-date list posted, here.* If you don’t know about ECBOs, we’ve got a whole cateory on them, here.

It’s my opinion that many of these “ethnic” groups do not foster assimilation and that they are basically politically active community organizing groups following the ACORN model.

I note the Nashville Somali Community Center (aka Center for Refugees and Immigrants of Tennessee) is getting $195,608 right now from ORR (Department of Health and Human Services) and this organization has a still unresolved issue of federal grant fraud, here. And, on top of that the Director is now believed to be missing and possibly out of the country!

*Here is the whole list (I don’t know why there are some grant cases missing):

Grant # Ethnic Community Self-Help Program
Active Grantees City State Projected End Date Annual
Award
90RE0154 ISED Solutions Washington DC 9/29/2010 $121,764
90RE0155 Sauti Yetu Center for African Women, Inc. New York NY 9/29/2010 $107,590
90RE0157 US Together, Inc. Columbus OH 9/29/2010 $141,572
90RE0158 Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment, Inc. St. Paul MN 9/29/2010 $168,370
90RE0159 Somali Bantu Association of San Antonio San Antonio TX 9/29/2010 $171,345
90RE0160 The Montagnard Human Rights Organization Raleigh NC 9/29/2010 $181,391
90RE0161 State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services Portland ME 9/29/2010 $168,059
90RE0162 Merced Lao Family Community, Inc. Merced CA 9/29/2010 $180,891

90RE0164 Merced Lao Family Community, Inc. Merced CA 9/29/2011 $183,831
90RE0165 Somali Bantu Community of Greater Houston Houston TX 9/29/2011 $125,695
90RE0166 Minnesota African Women’s Association, Inc. Minneapolis MN 9/29/2011 $123,758
90RE0167 Refugee Family Services, Inc Stone Mtn GA 9/29/2011 $154,430

90RE0169 Colorado African Organization Denver CO 9/29/2012 $197,308
90RE0170 Center for Refugees and Immigrants of Tennessee Nashville TN 9/29/2012 $195,608
90RE0171 Horn of Africa Community in North America San Diego CA 9/29/2012 $135,000
90RE0172 The Southern Sudanese American Association Anchorage AK 9/29/2012 $100,000
90RE0173 Asian Community & Cultural Center, Inc. Lincoln NE 9/29/2012 $125,000
90RE0174 Catholic Charities of Louisville, Inc Louisville KY 9/29/2012 $196,267
90RE0175 Pan-African Association Chicago IL 9/29/2012 $177,555
90RE0176 The International Rescue Committee (DC-MD) New York NY 9/29/2012 $199,962
90RE0177 IRCO-Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization Portland OR 9/29/2012 $200,000
90RE0178 Pan-African Community Association Milwaukee WI 9/29/2012 $166,824
90RE0179 Southern New Hampshire Services Manchester NH 9/29/2012 $118,420
90RE0180 Association of Africans Living in Vermont, Inc Burlington VT 9/29/2012 $165,531
90RE0181 Karen Community of Minnesota St Paul MN 9/29/2012 $169,000
90RE0182 Soamli Bantu Association of Tucson Arizona Tucson AZ 9/29/2012 $197,688
90RE0183 Boat People SOS Bayou LaBattre AL 9/29/2012 $100,000
90RE0184 Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence Portland ME 9/29/2012 $184,719
90RE0185 California Health Collaborative (Butte County) Fresno CA 9/29/2012 $141,682
90RE0186 Lao Family Community Development Inc Oakland CA 9/29/2012 $198,154
90RE0187 Sauti Yetu Center for African Women, Inc. New York NY 9/29/2012 $152,056
90RE0188 Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, Inc Utica NY 9/29/2012 $79,226

Jihadist pipeline is still flowing despite earlier claims that it had dried up

10/15/2009 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

National Public Radio reported on Tuesday that there has been another arrest in the Somali missing youth case that began with the discovery last year that young Somali, former refugees (who received all the benefits of life in America), have returned to Africa to join the terrorist group Al Shabaab. This NPR story gives us a few bits of important new information.

The FBI has made another arrest in its yearlong investigation into a rash of disappearances from the Somali community in Minnesota.

A 26-year-old medical technician from St. Paul was arrested on Friday and charged with making false statements to FBI officials. His arrest had been under seal until Tuesday, when he appeared in a St. Paul federal court. He was indicted Wednesday on the charges.

An FBI spokesman said that Abdow Abdow’s arrest was related to the ongoing investigation into the two dozen Somali youths who have left the United States and traveled to Somalia to join a militia there called al-Shabab.

The criminal complaint against Abdow says he lied about driving a handful of Somali-Americans from Minneapolis across the country on Oct. 6. One of the young men in the car had his passport and $4,000 in cash. Two other young men who were passengers in Abdow’s car tried to leave the United States through Mexico two days later.

[….]

U.S. intelligence officials have been following the case out of concern that the Somalis leaving Minneapolis are being funneled to al-Shabab through what might be America’s first jihadi pipeline. Think of the potential pipeline as an underground railroad for jihadists — an intricate but informal network of militants who help their brothers in arms not only travel to terrorist training camps but also return home. The return trip to America is what worries U.S. intelligence. They envision a raft of young men training for jihad and slipping back into the U.S. to launch an attack.

What’s new here? This is the first time we have learned that some Jihadist wannabes may leave through Mexico; so will they return through Mexico?

Then the other thing that jumped out at me, is the report that the incident spurring the arrest occured on October 6th—9 days ago!

I thought we were told by leaders in the Muslim community in Minnesota back in August that the “pipeline” had shut down? Was this wishful thinking by the spokesman or an effort to divert attention? From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

A prominent Minneapolis Somali community leader said Tuesday that he believes the recruitment of young Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities to fight jihad in their homeland has slowed or stopped.

Speaking at a workshop to address the issue, Saeed Fahia, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Communities of Minnesota,* said the radicalization of Somali youth here is “over.” The combination of worldwide media and law enforcement scrutiny, coupled with greater vigilance by parents, has caused the recruiting pipeline here to dry up, he said.

“It’s come to a halt. People felt this has gone too far,” Fahia said. “And the thing is, parents are really alert. Many parents are saying, ‘Where are my children? Who do they talk to?’ You don’t trust anybody.”

Fahia’s comments come as federal investigators bear down on those believed to have recruited up to 20 Twin Cities men over the past two years to fight for Al-Shabaab, a Somali Islamic group that the State Department defines as a terrorist organization affiliated with Al-Qaida. Counterterrorism officials point to the ongoing risk that local Somalis, many of whom are U.S. citizens, could return to this country as trained terrorists.

* See my earlier report on the political activities of the Confederation of Somali Communities of MN, a taxpayer supported group known as an Ethnic Community Based Organization (ECBO). Think of ECBOs as mini-ACORNs!

For new readers:

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.

Seattle Somali Ethnic Community Based Organizations, are they mini-ACORNS?

09/29/2009 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I said I would say more about the article from Seattle a couple of days ago,here. I don’t know if the FBI has managed to make a DNA match between the Somali parents of a man believed to have killed himself (and twenty-some peacekeepers) in a suicide bombing in Africa yet or not. As a matter of fact, the authorities are making a huge assumption that these people are his parents.

Unless the dead Al-Shabaab jihadist was born in the US, no one will know for sure without DNA testing if he is the biological child of the Seattle parents. I remind readers that the entire family reunification program has been suspended for much of Africa because the US State Department discovered widespread fraud through random DNA testing more than a year ago. Somalis in particular were bringing in “relatives” who turned out not to be who they said they were. So, if they find a match we will let you know.

More reporting on this at NPR, here.

Back to what I wanted to mention this morning—Ethnic Community Based Organizations (ECBOS). Notice that in this article from the Seattle Times there are representatives of two Somali organizations quoted. They are the Somali Community Services of Seattle and the Somali Community Services Coalition. These are two of eight Somali ECBO’s in the state of Washington, see this directory. Only Minnesota equals Washington State in the large number of Somali ECBO’s.

I’ve looked into financial documents for a few of these organizations and like the others I’ve reported on in other states (in our ECBO category here) they follow a similar pattern. They collect funds from various government agencies at all levels of government and from Leftwing church and other charitable groups, and unions too! They promote Somali culture and they are called upon for media comments anytime anything goes wrong in the ‘Somali community.’

Now that the ACORN scandal has given us a fuller picture of how “community organizing” works, I see that these ECBO’s follow the same pattern. I’m betting ACORN and the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) have provided the model and the training as well. They (Somali ECBOs in this case) teach people how to get their government benefits, they get taxpayer funding to do it, and they then serve as political organizations for their ethnic community promoting the needs of ‘their people,’ or defending them as they do in the Seattle Times.

Note to FBI: I have a reader telling me that something is fishy at Sea-Tac Airport where I am told Somalis control the auto rental businesses and the airport shuttle services.

Minneapolis Somalis: give us a $48 million youth center and we will stay out of trouble

09/02/2009 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A Minneapolis youth “communty organization” is proposing a Muslim’s only recreation center claiming it will keep restless youths from seeking gangs or dashing off to Africa for Jihad. How many times in every city and small town in America have you heard this lament (well the first part anyway, not the Jihad part) as groups pressure local goverments to spend money on them. Of course in this case, this facility could not be built with taxpayer dollars as it will be only for the use of one religious group.

From the Star-Tribune:

A plan to create what could become the first recreation center in the country designed to comply with Muslim religious beliefs is gaining steam in the Twin Cities.

The proposal for a $48 million Muslim Youth and Recreation Center comes from Somali Youth Action of Minnesota, a new nonprofit organization working to reduce youth violence.

Early sketches of the project reveal separate swimming pools for men and women, separate exercise rooms, an indoor soccer field and a large multi-purpose room for weddings and other events.

By the way, Somali Youth Action(SYA) of MN was one of the Somali groups to back CAIR when CAIR-MN came under fire from Somali family members of some of the missing youths. CAIR had been accused of blocking an FBI investigation into the case.

SYA representatives say they will serve 150,000 Muslims living in the Minneapolis area and might have to go outside the country to find funding. Saudi Arabia maybe?

“We’re going to go after it … and we’re going to hope that the local community and donors and foundations respond,” said Matthew Palombo, secretary of Somali Youth Action (SYA). “If they do, then it will move forward.”

Creating a safe place for Somali youth to meet has been at the forefront of community discussions on preventing youth violence.

This is just more of the on-going Somali effort to set themselves off from Americans of other ethnic backgrounds and faiths. This is the stealth jihad before your very eyes.

LOL! Can you imagine the uproar if a group of ethnic Swedes in Minnesota wanted to have a recreation facility for Swedes only claiming they needed to be separate because they wanted to worship their Norse gods of old.

Update September 6th: I just received documents from the Minnesota Secretary of States office. The Somali Youth Action of Minnesota was incorporated on October 28, 2008 by Abdifatah M. Abdi (also the agent) and Sacudo F. Shaie at the same address, 2101 Washington St., Apt. 313, Minneapolis, MN 55418. Although above note that they claim a Matthew Palombo as Secretary of the organization there is only a simple one page Articles of Incorporation for SYA and no board of directors listed.

Only in America can a couple of immigrants create a non-profit group from someone’s apartment and then be out trying to raise $48 million the following year. This incorporation follows the pattern of other Ethnic Community Based Organizations (ECBO) I have been following in our special category on the subject.

Grand Island, NE: CAIR (with handmaiden EEOC) wins another one

08/31/2009 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

AND! Surprise (not)! Another Somali Ethnic Community Based Organization is born!

We reported extensively last year about the demands of Somali Muslim workers for religious accommodations at the JBS Swift & Co plant in Grand Island. You can visit our category that includes the controversy at the Swift plant in Greeley as well, here.

The gist of what happened is this, from the Washington Examiner a couple of weeks ago.

Hundreds of Muslim workers walked off the job and picketed in protest last September, saying they wanted time to pray at sunset and break a daylong fast. Plant management responded the next day by adjusting the work schedule to accommodate them. That fueled a counterprotest in which other workers walked off the job, arguing Muslim workers were given preferential treatment. Management then ended the accommodations, which sent Muslim workers back to the picket lines.

The company fired 86 workers for walking off the job. It eventually hired back about a dozen.

“I think a lot of people went in last year sort of flying a little blind,” said JBS spokesman Chandler Keys. “Everyone got their eyes opened.”

They had their eyes further opened this past week when it was learned that the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) gloatingly reported that the federal EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) had ruled that the Muslims were “unlawfully harassed” last year. Jerry Gordon writing at New English Review has more on the story.

Nevermind that the Somalis in Grande Island harassed and intimidated the mayor of that city last year here. Everyone knows harassment only goes one way right! Somalis don’t harass white women, of course not! See also Mohamed Rage, the community organizer from Omaha, and his ECBO and its involvement with CAIR here.

Enter a new ECBO

Looks like the Somalis of Grand Island don’t need Rage’s agitation services anymore! They have their own brand new Ethnic Community Based Organization as of June 2nd of this year. It is called the Nebraska Somali Community Association and they are already weighing in on the CAIR/EEOC/Swift issue here where the reporter quoted as the authority Yasin Ali .

Ali is the 17-year-old co-founder of the Nebraska Somali Community Association. See staff and Board of Directors here (see below also*). No sign of who is paying for this ECBO but when you look over the site you will see they are using all the right verbage to make a case for grants at the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement to help refugees find “resources” (aka taxpayer supported programs).

More from the Grand Island Independent in June.

Yasin Ali, a 17-year-old senior at Grand Island Senior High School, filed the incorporation paperwork with the Secretary of State’s Office Wednesday in Lincoln. He’s also working on a non-profit filing for the association.

Teenager Ali is helped by another Somali who is looking for work in Grand Island.

Ali will be staffing the office over the summer, but once school starts again in August, he will rely more on assistance from his co-incorporator, Samatar Ali, who is not related to Yasin Ali. Samatar Ali was a doctor in Somali and is currently looking for work in Grand Island.

Now, I thought this was kind of curious, when you go to their papers on file with the Secretary of State of Nebraska someone named Abdullahi Abdulle is listed as agent at 210 N. Piper St. #10, Grand Island, NE 68803 and coincidentally so are Yasin Ali and Samatar Ali at that same address. We learned previously that Samatar Ali is not related to Yasin. It must be a busy household at 210 N. Piper St!

Interesting, don’t you think, that Somali ECBOs are popping up wherever there are meatpacking plant controversies. As I said, who is paying for this one? We know in Greeley their new Somali “community organizing” outfit is mostly supported by taxpayers, Lutherans and a union.

Learn all about ECBOs at our new category, here.

*I decided to post the staff and board of directors names here too in case we need them in the future.

Staff

Yasin Ali- Founder and President
Guled Ismail- Vice President
Liiban- Community Liasion

Board of Directors

Paul Warshauer (Grande Venues)- Board Chairman
Alisa Grim (GIPS Teacher)- Secretary
Ali Samatar (Former Doctor)- Treasurer
Yasin Ali ( Student)
Guled Ismail ( JBS Swift)
Karen Natchigal (BBBS)
Amanda Levos (GIPS Teacher)

Note to new readers: