The information shared in this post is meant to serve as inspiration to other service providers in their fund raising efforts. This event is not only to raise monetary funds for Exodus, but more importantly, to continue spreading the word and educating the public about who refugees are and the issues that they face when coming to this country.

Exodus Refugee Presents: "Welcome to Shelbyville" Film Screening Fundraiser!

Exodus Refugee is pleased to present a film screening of "Welcome to Shelbyville", a documentary capturing the joys and challenges of refugee resettlement in rural America. Join us for this exciting night of film and discussion!

Date: Thursday, July 28th, 7PM, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Also featured before the film will be a collection of artwork created by refugees from our local community.

All proceeds will benefit the work of Exodus Refugee in welcoming and resettling refugees from Burma, Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, Somalia, and other nations. Refugees come to our country with only what they can carry. Exodus arranges housing, furnishings, food and clothing as well as other basic items to ensure that individuals and families have what they require to begin their new lives. Exodus relies on donations from individuals, groups, churches and foundations to provide the items necessary to meet the basic needs of refugee newcomers.

Join us for this exciting event to encounter the realities of refugee resettlement, and raise funds for the work of Exodus Refugee!

Please leave a comment if you have either seen this film or have questions about it. I will post a follow-up piece about how the event went, challenges, and successes! Please also visit our event on Facebook and at www.exodusrefugee.org

Short -Term Training Options

There can be a feeling of urgency to provide refugees with marketable skills in a short amount of time. Refugees have a seemingly small "window of time" in which to reach self-sufficiency. Public benefits are only available for a period of months, and while the resettlement agencies certainly do what they can, the financial assistance they can provide is not indefinite. Refugees unfortunately may find themselves hovering right above or below the poverty line, and without any useful job skills, how are they to support themselves and survive?

This is where short-term training options come into play. Whether it is a refresher course building on skills already acquired or teaching a new skill or trade, preparing refugees to enter the U.S. workforce must mean that service providers are offering real solutions. These trainings certainly do not even need to be extensive in order to be effective. Simple workplace skills such as answering phones and operating a cash register can prove to be more valuable than you may think. Utilizing community resources to provide these necessary skills to clients is critical. A popular training option being accessed by refugees in Indianapolis is CNA certification. With the health-care industry being a constant yet expanding source of employment, clients have more flexibility and options for job placements and career building.

Service providers: what short-term training options are offered to clients through your agencies? How do you go about deciding on topics as well as content? How and where do you refer clients for additional skills training in your communities?

Self-Sufficiency as the Key to Integration

Last Monday I had the opportunity to join a panel of experts from the United States and Europe at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace in Washington DC. Discussions were on a wide range of topics relating to issues around integration of refugees being resettled on both continents. Throughout the conversation, it became abundantly clear that employment is a key factor in integration. As a matter of fact, one senior U.S. official stated, " The United States does not focus on integration, we focus on self-sufficiency." In short, gaining employment leads to assimilation into one's community.

Refugee job developers should see their work as a very important tool in the resettlement process. In the United States, your work is your clients' first step out in their new world and their new beginning. Once employed, learning takes place. These new Americans begin to learn about life in the U.S. and the people who live in their communities. For their native-born co-workers, this is a chance for them to learn about the world and cultures well beyond our shores. Because of the U.S. resettlement program, world peace starts at home for many Americans who may otherwise not have the opportunity to meet people from other countries. When you think about it...your jobs transform communities and change the world for the better!

What are your thoughts about employment leading to integration? Was the U.S. official correct? How can we approve upon this concept?

-Jonathan

Learning from Non-Refugee Employment Programs

My job development efforts target all of Caritas clients, only approximately 1/3 of which are refugees. We help all kinds of people experiencing poverty. The populations face different barriers and sometimes there is overlap. Refugee Works is great, but I often wish for local job development resources with a different perspective. So, I’ve been trying to tap broader Caritas networks for a more localized, in-person support group.

The Texas Workforce Commission includes lots of great resources and I've found several like-minded colleagues in that system. They're different in every State, so you'll have to explore in your area. The social service network for ex-offenders has also been an innovative and active source of information. I recently attended an Offender Employment Specialist certification course that gave me lots of new contacts, resources and ideas. Goodwill Industries (read more below) is also a national leader in putting people to work.

Recently, I’ve encountered two especially useful resources for training and employmetn opportunities from our non-refugee networks that have benefitted my work with refugees, as well, so I wanted to share.

Goodwill Industries: Many of you are probably familiar with Goodwill. They offer so many great services, although they differ by location. Often the eligibility criteria for most of them includes some type of disability that serves as a barrier to employment. We’ve found that definition to be more expansive than you might imagine and some of our refugee clients have qualified to participate. The best resource for refugees has been employment in the retail stores, which do not have the same eligibility criteria. They are very supportive employers that emphasize training and advancement opportunities. All of their openings are listed on the national website http://www.goodwill.org/ We have also met with all of the hiring managers in the individual stores that are on bus lines. Some agreed to receive an email copy of the applications or a heads up that a qualified Caritas client has applied. Several refugees, including some with very low English language proficiency, were already working at Goodwill Stores, so we were able to provide examples of their success and references from other Goodwill store managers.

Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC): This credential is a pilot program of the Maritime Transportation Safety Administration to ensure that anyone who might “pose a threat do not gain unescorted access to secure areas of the nation's maritime transportation system”. It is now required for dock workers, long shore workers, truck drivers and anyone who has unescorted access to secure areas or regulated maritime facilities like ports and vessels. It includes biometrics, digital photographs and an extensive background check. In addition to being required for certain types of jobs, it can give qualified refugees an extra edge. Asylees, refugees and Legal Permanent Residents are all eligible, but there are stringent documentation requirements. For example, a foreign passport AND I-94 are required. The website to find out more is http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/twic/index.shtm. This doesn’t really apply in landlocked Austin, so I can’t provide any first-hand experience.

If anyone gains insight or has good experiences with either of these resources, it would be great to hear from you through this site.

Tell Me About Yourself: The Importance Of A Well-Done Resume!

Let's face it...today's job market is not what it used to be. Competition is still at an all-time high for any and every job. Previously "undesirable" positions and industries are still seeing huge volumes of potential candidates. Don't be surprised if you find yourself competing against a Master's level or Ph.D. for that entry level position that you thought nobody wanted! According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate is hovering right around 9%, but to families who are unable to make ends meet, this number can feel arbitrary and all they really know is that they are struggling. Spending hours on the internet or at job fairs can be a draining process, and it can become harder and harder to present yourself in an upbeat and positive light to potential employers. This is why an organized, professional-looking, and visually sharp resume is so critical. This is the first introduction between yourself and a potential employer, and these first impressions are everything!

If you've ever asked someone else for their help in crafting your resume, you know without a doubt that everyone has opinions on what to include and not to include on a resume. Should you open with some sort of "summary" or "objective" about your skills and experience? Should your resume fit on one page only or is it acceptable to make it 2? Do you need one general resume, and one industry-specific resume with you at all times? How do you write a cover letter? Does anyone read cover letters anymore? The list goes on and on and answers to these questions are still up for debate! The reality is the job seeker needs to make their own worth stand out in a confident way without seeming arrogant or unprofessional. Employers can afford to be extremely choosy so even one small mistake can be the fatal error that earns your resume a one-way trip to the shredder.

"Resume building workshops" are an excellent way to introduce job seekers to the art of resumes. Plus, they are a volunteer opportunity for professionals in the community to give their time. Our next resume workshop is tomorrow, and we have been fortunate enough to have the event sponsored by a local organization as part of their service learning project. This is also an opportunity to gain "match" support as well as cultivating relationships with interested community members who may be able to devote their time on a longer-term basis.

What do you think makes for a great resume that will stand out from the competition??

Yet Another Workshop?

In addition to the intake, enormous amount of case management, and cultural orientation, a resettlement agency should also provide another tool to newly arriving Americans: a job readiness workshop.

A workshop environment, when set up the right way, can be a wonderful learning tool. It can provide a safe and open environment for soon-to-be-working individuals to express their concerns in a safe setting and where they can learn real solutions. It is a chance for participants to learn from one another and to connect and bond as a community.

One topic that always comes up in our Pittsburgh job readiness workshop is transportation. We know why this is a concern: picture yourself lost on the bus without the language or topographical knowledge of the land. Now imagine knowing, even though you do not speak the language, that the bus goes in a circle and will come back to this stop again — or having pictures in your hand of the buildings you need to look for of your stop. This provides empowerment – and security.

All of us strive to empower clients to help them reach self-sufficiency. Job readiness workshops provide a sense of group learning, which furthers them toward that goal. Does your site already provide a job readiness workshop or something like it? If so, please give us an example of something that works well so that we can learn from one another.

Don't Forget About the Basics

After being reminded of a very basic job resource I hadn’t utilized recently, it seemed like a good idea to reiterate the basic sources of job announcements and a couple of tips for using them more effectively. It always pays to keep up with the easy targets. They all have their limitations, but it doesn’t take too long to keep up with them and every little bit helps. It’s also good for clients to understand how they work and how to use them for their own independent job searches in the future.

•Craigslist – This is by far the most widely used source of job postings in Austin now, having surpassed the local newspaper classified ads. We help clients understand the limits of responding to posts, but encourage them to monitor it on their own. Sometimes, I spot an announcement from an employer I have contacts with and have been able to call and secure some attention for qualified clients who have applied. Sometimes I can follow-up in advance when a phone number is listed. Every week, I try to respond to key postings with a general advertisement for our services so they might remember to contact us first the next time they need to hire. I haven’t been able to track any job leads to this approach, but it doesn’t take me long and it can’t hurt.

• Local workforce office – Every State has some kind of workforce support program. Many have resource centers for job seekers. In Texas, they have a very well designed and maintained online job bank. You can input a profile and it generates job leads. All of the organizations that help refugees find jobs here have established their own profile to access entry level jobs we can then share with clients.

• Web-based job search sites – There are tons of these. http://www.Indeed.com compiles announcements from many job lists and has a feature that delivers job updates based on your criteria. I get one just for dishwasher jobs. I have to follow-up to confirm that the opening really does exist, but it’s very helpful. There are also sites specific to certain industries. http://www.Ihire.com offers several, including one for optometry that I recently used to help a pair of Cuban ophthalmic surgeons in their job searches.

• Newspaper classifieds – As I mentioned previously,, this source is much less popular than Craigslist now. But, the Sunday classified often advertise job fairs or large employer casting calls that can be helpful. I have tried to establish contacts found through a classified and it sometimes results in a longer term opportunity even if the advertised position has been filled.

• Employer websites – I regularly check a short list of on-line job sites for employers that we work with or would like to target. Even our strongest partners don’t always have the time to alert us when they post an opening. I always check our hotel partners web-based job sites, as well as large retailers and a few other firms that rely on their on-line presence for hiring purposes. I can then alert Employment Specialists and refresh contact with the employer if necessary.

• Business Journals – Many cities have a newspaper targeting the business community. The Austin Business Journal publishes an annual Book of Lists that I have found very useful for identifying potential new employers. The bi-monthly newspaper has been less useful for concrete leads, but has helped me identify long term trends, new major employers or vibrant industries. Plus, sometimes it gives me talking points for networking.