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What's New
- Planning for the 2008 Refugee Summit is Underway!
The 2008 Refugee Summit Planning Committee is working hard to create a program that will provide participants with the latest in refugee resettlement strategies, training and resources. The Summit will be held on September 3-5, 2008, at the Manhattan Beach Marriott in Manhattan Beach, California. This year's theme is "Overcoming New Challenges: Finding Opportunities in Our Changing World". The "Save the Date" flyer will be e-mailed shortly. More information will be available on this web site as details are finalized. If you have any questions, please contact KJ Evans at (916) 654-7250 or KJ.Evans@dss.ca.gov. - USCIS Community Relations Program - National Stakeholders Meetings:
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Community Relations program develops and maintains collaborative relationships with immigrant-serving organizations, such as community-based organizations, English as a Second Language instructors, Civics instructors, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders who interact with immigrants. The Community Relations program handles the National Stakeholders Meetings to address the concerns of national Community-Based Organizations (CBOs). To review meeting minutes, visit USCIS' Community Relations webpage. Next meeting will take place on April 29, 2008 and the minutes will be posted following the meeting. - HHS Announces Rescue & Restore Regional Grantees:
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has awarded grants to five organizations to expand efforts to identify and serve victims of human trafficking. These new grantees are part of the Rescue & Restore regional program which concentrates local efforts to increase public awareness and identify victims. See a special report for more information. - Immigration Cases Could Benefit from Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008:
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it would immediately place certain cases on hold while individuals and groups are considered for exemptions under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 (CAA). See USCIS' document for details. - New Iraqi Refugee Arrivals Training:
The National Partnership for Community Training (NPCT), a technical assistance program of Gulf Coast Jewish Community Service, in collaboration with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is developing a track specific to the new Iraqi arrivals being resettled in the United States. The NPCT’s training and technical assistance is aimed at helping mainstream providers working with refugee and immigrant populations where no torture treatment center exists, to better identify and serve Iraqis who may have experienced torture or trauma. The NPCT will deliver 8 trainings in fiscal year 2007-2008 - see information sheet. Also, visit ORR's web site for information and links to Iraqi resources as well as a web page with questions and answers on Iraqi refugee resettlement. - Refugee Backgrounders:
The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) has recently published a series of Refugee Backgrounders -- The Kunama, The 1972 Burundians, and The Banyamulenge Tutsi on the Cultural Orientation Resource (COR) Center Web site. The COR Center backgrounders provide key information about new refugee groups for U.S. resettlement workers. Backgrounders include sections on the need for resettlement of the group to the United States, cultural attributes of the group, resettlement considerations, as well as a one page statistical summary.
NOTE: Some links above are to documents in Adobe Acrobat portable document format (pdf) that can only be viewed and printed using the free Adobe Reader.