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Quarterly Program Progress Report

Ethnic Community Self Help Initiative (ECSHI)

Submitted by the MAA Coalition for Fiscal Year 2003, Third Quarter

1. GRANT NUMBER: 90RE0035

2. PERIOD COVERED BY REPORT: April 1, 2003 to June 30, 2003

3. MAJOR ACTIVITIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The following highlight key accomplishments of the Massachusetts MAA Coalition ECSHI Project this quarter:

  • 297 refugees received education about health, mental health, and other human services.
  • Outreach through community forums and handing out flyers reached more than 800 refugees, while native language radio reached more than 15,000 refugees.
  • 140 refugees received direct services through the eight MAAs in Boston and the North Shore. This includes 44 Somalis, 12 Bosnians, 10 Sudanese, 10 Haitian, 13 Ethiopians, 9 Congolese, 6 Liberians, 3 Croatians, and 2 Sierra Leonians.
  • The MAA Coalition hired a Resource Development Coordinator. This Coordinator is responsible for facilitating Coalition activities, including the sharing of technical assistance and grantwriting.
  • The MAA Coalition elected a new Chair and Vice-chair. Working with the Resource Development Coordinator, the Chair and Vice-Chair proposed a new structure for the coalition that will help clarify its goals and strategies.
  • The MAA Coalition sponsored "Refugee Communities Day at the State House." More than a dozen community leaders spoke, as well as a dozen members of the State Legislature. The event was attended by more than 250 people.
  • The Refugee and Immigrants Assistance Center (RIAC) ran its third Somali National week (June 26 - July 1, 2003), including the conference "Refugees Rebuilding Their Lives" (June 27). ------ attended the conference.

General Coalition Activities
The MAA Coalition held ESCHI project meetings and full coalition meetings on April 24 at the New American Center in Lynn, May 29 at Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC), and June 26 at the Haitian American Public Health Initiative (HAPHI). At the meetings all participating agencies gave updates on their activities, and shared information about technical assistance. Voting for the new Chair and Vice-Chair took place during the May meeting, and proposals for new committee structures were introduced in June. These will be taken up in July.
In April the Coalition hired a Resource Development Coordinator. This Coordinator functions as a liaison between the MAA Coalition and ORI, and works to maintain interagency communication as well. The Coordinator's other responsibilities include addressing the technical assistance needs of member agencies, and working with the Coalition to develop capacity.

On June 4th the MAA Coalition sponsored "Refugee Community Day at the State House" to educate communities about Massachusetts government, legislative process, and educate legislative leaders about refugee populations in Massachusetts. A demographically mixed crowd of over 250 came to the event. The event included presentations by refugee community members and leaders, each of which provided insight into the strengths and needs of their populations. The day also featured short addresses by Secretary of State William Galvin and the following members of the Massachusetts State Legislature, who confirmed their commitment to the refugee communities.

Representatives from the following communities attended: Allston/Brighton, Brookline, Boston/Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, Lynn, Springfield, Shirley.

Outreach
Native language media (radio and local access television) continues to a be an important part of outreach efforts. HAPHI has two weekly radio shows, and HAPHI staff members are also connected to other Haitian Kreyol media (including local television). The Ethiopian Community Mutual Assistance Association (ECMAA) estimates that it's weekly radio show (30 minutes long) reaches more than 7000 Ethiopians. The Somali Development Center (SDC) also has a weekly television show for the Somali community.

More personal, one-on-one outreach was conducted at important community places. For example, SDC made announcements in mosques, while the Southern Sudan Solidarity Organization (SSSO) and Universal Human Rights International (UHRI) conducted outreach in churches. This type of personalized outreach was also conducted at community events. For example, African Initiative for Community Development (AICD) was involved in outreach on Congolese Independence Day and SSSO focused its energies on Southern Sudanese Celebration Day in Chelsea. SSSO also held meetings with community elders and

MAA Coalition agencies continue to use flyers to do outreach, and they estimate to have reached over 800 refugees through this method.

Dissemination of Education and Information
Nearly 300 clients received education and information about issues affecting their communities. MAAs serving Ethiopian, Haitian, Sudanese and others offered workshops on the following topics:

  • ECMAA, in conjunction with the Institute for Community Inclusion, sponsored an Ethiopian Community Forum on May 4th. This forum dealt with health, culture and adjustment. It featured a talk by Dr. Tedla Wolde Giorgis, a clinical psychologist who was director of multicultural services for the Washington, DC Department of Mental Health. Dr. Giorgis has worked with Ethiopians in DC for 20 years, is a researcher and author of "Understanding and Surviving Depression, Alcohol and Drugs: A personal guide for Ethiopians."
  • RIAC held 6 health workshops (twice a month for three months), covering HIV and AIDS, diabetes, domestic violence, and issues of disciplining children. On May 14th RIAC held a community forum, which featured life and health education. One part of the training involved how to use ATM machines and open a bank account.
  • HAPHI held workshops on domestic violence and cervical cancer.
  • SSSO, working with African Community Health Initiative (ACHI), organized an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, which included workshops. Interpretation into Southern Sudanese dialects and the Arabic Sudanese national language was provided.

Direct Services and Referrals
The following MAAs are participating in the direct service component of the ECSHI project:

- African Initiative for Community Development (AICD)
- Bosnian Community Center for Resource Development (BCCRD)
- Ethiopian Mutual Assistance Association (ECMAA)
- Haitian American Public Health Initiative (HAPHI)
- Somali Development Center (SDC)
- Southern Sudan Solidarity Organization (SSSO)
- Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC)
- Universal Human Rights International (UHRI)

During this quarter, a total of 140 refugees received direct services from these eight MAAs. This includes 44 Somalis, 12 Bosnians, 10 Sudanese, 10 Haitian, 13 Ethiopians, 9 Congolese, 6 Liberians, 3 Croatians, and 2 Sierra Leonians. Direct service usually takes the form of helping clients understand the health and human service system, and helping them access resources that they need. This includes interpreting at meetings, help with filling out applications, and fielding questions over the phone. Examples of this quarter's activities are listed below:

  • AICD: Advocated on behalf of a family in a shelter who were threatened with eviction because of a misbehaving youth. AICD also provided referrals for employment, medical care, and dental care.
  • RIAC: Provided referrals to the MRRP Employment Services, DSS, Boston Housing Authority (BHA), WIC, and SSA. RIAC also enrolled clients in a sewing class held at another agency.
  • ECMAA: Helped 3 families to secure housing. Helped get a lawyer for a teen in trouble for selling drugs.
  • SDC: Provided help in securing housing, transitional assistance, and fuel assistance. SDC also assisted clients in completing applications for changes in immigration status. SDC also provided assistance to a women who was being abused, and connected her to Department of Transitional Assistance.
  • UHRI: Helped 10 families with the refugee resettlement process. Provided translation, and helped clients in applying for affordable housing. Supported clients job search, provided resume preparations and job readiness orientation. Held youth group discussions, which dealt with issues such as drug abuse and
  • SSSO: Provided case management and referrals. SSSO also worked with clients on housing, school and day care placements. Counseling sessions were provided for Sudanese "Lost Boys."


Use of Community Volunteers
Coalition MAAs has 11 active volunteers who support ECSHI activities at individual agencies.

  • BCCRD volunteers provided the outreach activities and participated in the MAA Coalition meetings with Department of Education and ORI.
  • UHRI volunteers to help plan community forums for refugees from multiple African countries, as well as to cover phones at the office, participate in meetings on the organization's behalf and provide logistical support to the director.
  • SDC
  • RIAC

Coordination with Mainstream Service Providers
One of the goals of the ESCHI MAA Coalition is for members of the ethnic communities to improve their access to already existing services by coordinating with mainstream services. This quarter, these coordination activities included:

  • SDC worked with the Boston Housing Authority to provide interpretation/translation and logistical coordination between the Department of Transitional Assistance and Somali clients.
  • SSSO worked with the Department of Public Health on a Hepatitis B awareness Project.

Organizational/Capacity Building
The Vietnamese American Civic Association (VACA), the Haitian American Public Health Initiative (HAPHI), and Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC) provided technical assistance support to newly established MAAs this quarter.

  • VACA is providing assistance on an on-going basis to the New American Center in Lynn, which houses two newly organized agencies - SSSO and BCCRD. This quarter VACA worked with BCCRD on their 501c3 status. VACA also worked with SSSO on setting up billing systems and creating budgets
  • The Haitian American Public Health Initiative (HAPHI) provided BCCRD with assistance in how to go about delivering services as a new agency. This includes creating a budget, and learning how to produce invoices. HAPHI provided similar assistance to SSSO, especially about the invoicing system and attaching budget to proposals.
  • Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC) worked with SSSO to put on an HIV/AIDS workshop. RIAC provided a subject matter specialist who had a broad knowledge of Southern Sudanese culture.

Coalition Projects
Through ESCHI, the MAA Coalition made progress on the three Year 1 Coalition Projects described below.

A. Multi-Cultural Model for Diverse Geographic Community Service Delivery

Lynn is a city of 80,000 residents located 10 miles from Boston on the North Shore. In the last five years, Lynn has become the largest refugee resettlement site in Greater Boston, due to relative affordability of housing. Many other small cities in Eastern Massachusetts-including Brockton, Framingham, Lowell, Worcester-are experiencing similar booms of newcomers, but to a slightly lesser extent. Like most of these communities, Lynn is outside the reach of the metropolitan Boston subway and bus lines but minimally served by a commuter rail line, so it is somewhat challenging for refugees in Lynn to access services in Boston proper. MAAs had become acutely aware of the need for their services in Lynn, yet were hard-pressed to support satellite offices when their Boston headquarters are already resource-strapped. Coalition members had been exploring the viability of establishing a collaborative multi-cultural service site in Lynn, sharing space and resources, in order to begin to address the need. With the availability of ECSHI funding, some start-up MAAs, whose communities are concentrated around Lynn (Bosnians and Sudanese), along with other coalition members such as VACA, UHRI and RCAM will have now established offices at a joint site in Lynn, called the New American Center.
In order to facilitate the coordination necessary for success as this pilot grows, the Vietnamese American Civic Association (VACA) has taken on the responsibility for providing oversight and guidance for ESCHI at the Lynn site. During the second quarter, the VACA:

  • Worked with RIAC, JF&CS and RCAM to coordinate center and MRRP program.
  • Finalized space for UHRI at the New American Center.
  • Facilitated a meeting with agencies providing service at Lynn that helped identify issues that needed to be addressed.

B. Enhanced Communication Systems: Development of Coalition Website

An increasing priority of the coalition over the last year, both as economic times have gotten tougher locally and nationally and as post-9/11 anti-immigrant sentiment has continued to thrive, are strategies to promote and develop the positive visibility of the Coalition. To this end, the Russian Community Association of Massachusetts (RCAM) has begun to work with its coalition peers to develop a coalition website. During the second quarter, RCAM:

  • Continued working on the website. It is basically ready, and RCAM is waiting for comments and materials from each agency to be included in the site.

C. Access to Services: Interpretation and Translation

Interpretation and translation are part of the Coalition's ongoing initiative to improve access to mainstream services for their constituents and to become official "vendors" to the health and human services systems for whom MAAs currently intermediate for free. The Somali Development Center (SDC) has taken the lead on an interpretation and translation project during the first year of ECSHI. By documenting and organizing the networks of interpreters and translators that are known and used by each MAA, the coalition can improve its capacity to be recognized as a reimbursable language interpretation resource for mainstream providers, who currently often require clients to provide their own interpreter without compensation. During this quarter, SDC:

4. PROBLEMS

Several agencies reported that finding jobs for their clients was increasingly hard in the current weak job market. All of them reported that affordable housing was a serious problem. In addition, many reported having to deal with bad landlords. Agencies also reported these specific problems in providing ECSHI related services.


5. SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS AND EVENTS

Two areas of changing policy continue to be of pressing concern to MAA Coalition clients during the third quarter-health insurance and immigration.

MassHealth (the state's Medicaid vehicle) underwent changes that communities had difficulty understanding. Many clients sought information from MAAs about how their coverage was affected. Those whose coverage was affected needed help in negotiating the still-developing new system of health coverage. In September 2003, MAA Coalition will participate in two trainings provided by Division of Medical Assistance to Massachusetts Refugee Services providers to receive information on eligibility.

Changes in federal immigration policies also caused widespread fear. The MAA Coalition is working with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) organizing the Volunteer Assistance Task Force to provide bilingual referral services at the BCIS. MAA Coalition members will be trained on the new policies and regulations by Boston BCIS and will be able to bring the knowledge back to the communities.

6. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES

As discussed above, ethnic media was used in Haitian, Ethiopian and Somali (SDC) communities to disseminate project information, while flyers were used extensively this quarter by the Bosnian and Somali (RIAC) communities. Several other communities disseminated information through forums and events.

7. OTHER ACTIVITIES

  • BCCRD staff made a presentation at Fleet Bank.
  • HAPHI ESCHI staff received training dealing with immigrants and public benefits at the Massachusetts Law Institute. Staff also received training about domestic violence from the Haitian Women's Association of Boston.
  • SDC added a day of civics education to their adult basic education program. During the third quarter 5 students from the civics class passed their citizenship test, and are waiting to get sworn in as naturalized citizens. The Executive Director of SDC gave a talk at the Third Annual Conference for Somali National Week
  • UHRI ESCHI staff received training about case management and referrals for HIV/AIDS clients. Staff also took a week long training program at Suffolk University on grantsmanship to help diversify funding. UHRI and Amnesty International sponsored a one day program to increase awareness of Liberian refugees trapped in the Ivoirian civil war. UHRI also worked on developing community forums and a youth group.
  • SSSO sponsored an event where Professor Kenneth Okeny of Salem State University and Sudanese elders spoke to the community about the situation in Southern Sudan and Sudan in general.

8. PLANNED ACTIVITIES

In addition to ongoing direct service, sharing of technical assistance and work in special projects, MAA activities planned for the next quarter include:

  • AICD is supporting the start of a new women's group. AICD is also planning a weekly TV show in Malden about health issues facing the African community.
  • ECMAA will hold another forum on health.
  • HAPHI will begin a twice a week literacy class in collaboration with Church of Holy Spirit.
  • UHRI will continue to provide employment orientation and follow-up. As part of UHRI's youth programming, there will be soccer matches and a youth camp.
  • SSSO Hepatitis B project will continue. SSSO is also starting a crime prevention program targeting the "Lost Boys."

9. AUTHOR'S NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Carol Chandler, Director of Community Building
MA Office for Refugees and Immigrants
Telephone: 617-727-7888 x315
E-mail: carol.chandler@state.ma.us

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