Yes, thanks in large part to taxpayer-funded grants to this new entrepreneurial “business.”
Your tax dollars at work!
The “non-profit” organization touted in this piece is the Community Action of Southern Kentucky(CASOKY). It’s kind of like ACORN—help the poor connect with “services,” which of course means welfare and other taxpayer funded programs, and then it serves as a political voice as well. Now they are expanding into the refugee industry….
Before you read the story, get this: CASOKY is a $22 million a year outfit that gets $18 million from government grants (recent Form 990 is here).
Maybe instead of pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens, a certain US Senator from Kentucky (Senator Rand Paul!) concerned with government spending should do something really challenging—-begin questioning the need for federal and state taxpayers to pay for this type of mini-ACORN organization.
Here from the Daily News is the story from the “welcoming” city of Bowling Green:*
…. the network of employers and agencies attempting to connect with the city’s immigrants and refugees has crystallized and nearly become an industry in itself.
[…..]
Community Action of Southern Kentucky has increased its presence this year among Bowling Green’s international community.
The nonprofit agency, which provides programs and services to people dealing with poverty, began offering refugee-specific services this year.
Specialized job search training for special people—refugees (to compete with American unemployed)—yippee!
Being a job development specialist in the Refugee Employment Program at Community Action means acclimating refugees to the American job culture, and that entails familiarizing refugees with the job interviewing process, how to market themselves and how to make the best impression with potential employers.
“We help new arrivals integrate into the community and get them connected with local resources, we work on them with interviewing, doing job applications, putting together the resumes that they need,” Ray [Heath Ray] said. “We’re open-ended as to what we can do. Whatever the need is, we try to work with them.”
Employment specialists screen all refugee clients for employers and refer the most qualified job candidates to an employer with a particular need, and the program can provide services to support new employees after they are placed in jobs. [What sort of services?—ed]
Currently, a team of three people in the employment program are assisting an estimated 80 clients, Ray said.
Only available to refugees who have lived in the US for less than five years—and you pay for it with grant money!
The program, which began in March thanks to grant funding, is limited to refugees who have lived in the U.S. for less than five years.
Refugees served in the program come from many countries torn by war and ethnic, political or religious strife, particularly Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Burma and Cuba.
For new readers we have written a lot about the “preferred community” of Bowling Green. Type ‘Bowling Green’ into our search function and you will see what I mean (ahhh! for fun I just counted all the posts in which Bowling Green, KY is mentioned and it’s over 75!).
Bowling Green also made national news in June 2011, when two Iraqi refugees were arrested there on terrorism charges, they have subsequently been found guilty and sentenced to prison.
One of the earliest posts I wrote about Bowling Green was this story where a homeowner shot and killed a Bosnian teen breaking into his home. The homeowner was ultimately exonerated because he was protecting his property!
Update: I see Friends of Refugees has another report on how the federal refugee contractors are not doing their jobs in Bowling Green.