Focus on Partners

Lutheran Family Services of Colorado:
The Sunlight of a Team Approach
By Phil Gazley, Lutheran Family Services of Colorado Refugee/Asylee Volunteer and Church Relations Coordinator

Feeling Alone?
The Bible tells the story of the prophet Elijah, who having given of his time and energy to God hides in a cave questioning the events of his life and feeling alone.

And a voice said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He replied again, "I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you…I alone am left."

Then the LORD told him, "Go back the way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus…I will preserve seven thousand others in Israel who have never bowed to Baal or kissed him!"

(Excerpted from 1 Kings 9:13-18.)

Whether serving as part of a church or community group or as individuals, it appears that isolation and abandonment have been common feelings for many volunteers. In Elijah's story, God tells him that there are 7,000 others with whom he can identify. A key part of our role in developing and maintaining volunteers is to be able to encourage people to "come out of the cave," broaden the scope of their experiences and share in a relationship with others who are out there doing the same things.

In May 2001 LIRS affiliate Lutheran Family Services of Colorado (LFS/Colorado) was awarded a one-year grant by Lutheran Services of America (LSA) and LIRS to incorporate a team approach to volunteer management. Since then, LFS/Colorado, in partnership with the Birmingham, Ala.-based Care Team Network, has been developing volunteer teams to support refugee resettlement and asylee services. Our participation in the project has reinvigorated the volunteer program and completely changed the way we view volunteer management. In fact, the program has been so successful, that one year later nearly all volunteers are members of a care team.

What Is a Care Team?
A care team is simply a group of volunteers who offer practical, emotional and spiritual support to those in need. Care teams meet monthly for a 59- minute meeting to communicate, educate and coordinate. There are two care team models that relate to refugee resettlement and asylee assistance. The mission model focuses on the common need of several persons. The basic model focuses on one family and meets a variety of needs. LFS/Colorado has implemented both models and has three types of care teams. Cultural mentoring teams assist newcomers with basic daily living skills such as learning English, shopping, socialization, transportation and other cultural adjustment needs. Welcome teams involve churches or civic groups in working with one family to provide limited resettlement services in partnership with us. Co-sponsorship teams involve churches or civic groups in providing more comprehensive resettlement services in collaboration with us. Subgroups of co-sponsorship care teams handle specific tasks such as employment, driving and English as a Second Language.

Advantages of a Team Approach
Care teams are about encouraging people in what they want to do, when they can do it, as a team, with an organized approach. It's important that volunteers have an experience that is fun, fulfilling and flexible. When volunteers work in teams there are clear advantages including flexible scheduling, a built-in support system, a variety of skills and a proven model.

To learn more about developing care teams to support refugees and asylees in your community, please contact the author at 303/980-5400, ext. 25. The Care Team Network also offers technical assistance and training conferences throughout the United States. Visit the Care Team Network's website for more information and upcoming training dates and locations. Additionally, LIRS affiliate Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, is also using the care teams model. For more information, contact Karen Shea, 605/731-2007.

Dixie's Story Dixie Hack is one of our care team leaders. Dixie helps a Sudanese lady named Sarah (not her real name) with English and meets regularly with a group of senior volunteers who also serve as tutors. She reports, "There has never been a care team meeting where I haven't learned something, and they are always an enjoyable time." Dixie describes her relationship with Sarah as a friendship that she values greatly. She loves the opportunities she's had to encourage others to support refugees and has grown in her global awareness as a result of coming alongside refugees in her local community. Dixie feels that this experience would not be the same if she were not in a team environment.

Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest: New Hope Blooms in Arizona Desert
By Craig Thoresen, LIRS Regional Consultant for LSM/Southwest

With its intense summer temperatures, Phoenix might seem a stark and harsh environment in which to establish roots and grow. Yet in the middle of this desert heat lays an oasis to those in need. Since 1986 LIRS affiliate Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest (LSM/Southwest) has been helping refugees and asylum seekers. Over 2,500 refugees from all over the world have been resettled in Phoenix in the past five years by LSM/Southwest. "Sometimes it is a little tough. Our busiest months are often August and September. We are thankful for dedicated staff and volunteers who deliver donated furniture and assist refugees with basic needs—even in this heat!" notes Resources Coordinator Dragan Subotic.

A 15-person staff with the capacity of 16 different languages gives LSM/Southwest the ability to assist people from all corners of the globe, including 24 different countries in just the past three years.

The Phoenix community has been wonderful in its generosity and acceptance of new arrivals, responding very favorably with support. Area churches have been particularly responsive in terms of co-sponsorship and general support of the refugee community.

Employment assistance is also a vital part of the Phoenix office. LSM/Southwest operates one of the largest matching grant programs in the country with over 95 percent of our employable refugees finding work within the first four months. This impressive statistic reflects the tireless teamwork of the on-site employment specialists and case managers. Many of the refugees begin with a starting salary well above minimum wage and with health benefits.

With a slowing economy nationwide, creativity is often needed in job placement. A recent Iranian refugee is one such example. During his sixth year of medical school in Tehran, he converted to Christianity. This choice cost him not only his medical education but also his and his family's personal safety. He and his wife and young daughter fled Iran on foot over the mountains into Turkey. After more than a year of waiting and struggling in Turkey and Greece, they were resettled in Phoenix. While his medical career is on hold for now, he is eagerly beginning a new career as a commercial truck driver, and his wife is working for a local shirt factory. "This is a beginning," he says. "We are all learning English and working hard. I know that there are no limits to what we can accomplish here."

In addition to employment assistance, LSM/Southwest helps refugees build vital English language skills by coordinating all English as a Second Language classes for newcomers throughout Maricopa County. In the last year and a half, the number of classes has almost doubled from 12 to 23. Some classes are targeted to the specialized needs of certain groups. For example, three new classes begun earlier this year in conjunction with the Area Agency on Aging focus on elderly refugees from Cuba and Vietnam. "When we are sensitive to their specific needs, these older students are often the most enthusiastic and hardworking students we have," observes ESL Coordinator Shelley Spucces.

LSM/Southwest has no plans to slow down its efforts to improve the resettlement process in the Phoenix area. In February we formally initiated a full range of legal immigration services such as adjustment of status, travel documents, relative petitions and citizenship. We are exploring new areas of program development to become more holistic and effective. We will always strive to find new ways to ease the adjustment of newcomers to Arizona.

Freedom House: Detroit Shelter Reaches Out to Detained Asylum Seekers
By Benjamin Bankson, Editorial Consultant

Throughout most of its 19-year history, Freedom House in Detroit has sheltered asylum seekers from some 80 countries bound for Canada. What was a Roman Catholic convent is within sight of the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor in Ontario.

Three years ago Freedom House, which has nine full-time and three part-time staff members, looked beyond the shelter to helping persons detained by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with legal services. Once scattered in several jails in the area, most INS detainees are now concentrated in a jail in rural Monroe, Mich., south of Detroit. The legal services are given in regular on-site visits and cover group legal orientation presentations and individual counsel. Recipients of the services numbered 992 last year.

Freedom House was started by what was called the Detroit/Windsor Refugee Coalition in response to refugees from Central America denied asylum in the United States and trying to go to Canada. At LIRS the same refugee flow brought about a Central American concerns program that funded community-based asylum projects, one being the coalition. That funding has continued ever since. In the latest round of grants Freedom House is receiving $10,000. Its current total budget is $719,000. Freedom House is part of the Detention Watch Network administered by LIRS and also the LIRS Forgotten Refugees Campaign, a national public education and advocacy effort focused on detainees.

At the shelter in Detroit, points out Freedom House Executive Director Gloria Rivera, "We can house a maximum of 40 people but try to keep it at 35. We're usually full."

For people going to Canada, a stay at Freedom House lasts from 9 to 15 days. For U.S. claimants, it is six months to two years. The comprehensive hospitality covers room, board and clothing; legal assistance; instruction in culturalization and English; job training; and medical and psychological attention. Everyone is treated with simple respect and dignity.

Most of those staying at Freedom House today are no longer Canada-bound but hope for asylum in the United States. Essentially they have no choice because of two developments. One is a new immigration law in Canada. It is generally more restrictive for refugees and makes their processing more difficult. The other is a pending Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Canada. Although no draft of this document has yet been made public, a version under consideration a few years ago required anyone who transited the United States with the intent of entering Canada to make a refugee claim to first apply for asylum here—and vice versa.

Also driving people to Freedom House is stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws and interdiction along the U.S.-Canada border by the U.S. Department of Justice since last September's terrorist attacks. "The situation in Detroit with respect to asylum seekers and ethnic immigrant groups can be fairly described as fraught with fear and panic," says Rivera.

The Freedom House legal services team consists of an attorney, David Koelsch, and two legal coordinators accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals, Matthew Monroe and Bradley Maze. In addition to their direct legal work, they also supervise cases assigned to two pro bono groups. One is made up of practicing attorneys and the other of attorneys and students from Wayne State University Law School.

The number of beds for INS detainees at Monroe is expected to go from 90 to 170 this year. The hope is also to provide human services to the detainees through the local synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Another hope is that the INS will see the shelter in Detroit as an alternative to detention.

Freedom House has an active 11-member board that meets six times a year. The board has representatives of several denominations and faiths.

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