the u.s. refugee resettlement system is
a vast network of private public
organizations working together across
the globe the office of refugee
resettlement also known as the Orr is
the federal agency responsible to serve
resettled refugees within the United
States the all our partners with
nonprofits and cities of America to
deliver services to resettled refugees
in the early 1980s the Orr started
shifting its approach and strategy of
integration to a more short-term focused
approach many things happen many
programs change but the most profound
change that was set in motion in the
1980s was the reduction of the period of
financial assistance at its peak
resettled refugees would get assistance
for up to 36 months today the average is
3 to 6 months the average assistance has
gone from three years to one quarter of
one year the focus and funding formulas
have also evolved a lot of the
programmatic funding today for the
resettlement program is based on the
number of individuals in the family
which doesn’t take into account special
situations so it is very missed
to see a single mother with three young
kids getting the same amount of
assistance as a mother and father with
two teenagers the focus that entire
focus of the u.s. refugee resettlement
program operated by the Orr is rapid
employment there is emphasis on get them
to work right away and the claim is that
when these individuals arrive they’ve
been through a lot
the idea is when they get to work the
world up their self-esteem their
self-worth and it will assist with the
integration process this sounds
wonderful on paper but it’s come with
many costs and many challenges the first
cost of a rapid employment program that
encourages immediate employment is there
is no opportunity and no incentive to
further one’s education so assumed to be
released report by the kinder Institute
at Rice University which was actually
authored by Yann de la in Yiddish RM
documents this issue nominee in
testimony and data resettled refugees
have very low rates of furthering their
education because of this focus on
employment there is no funding for this
there are no resources the goal is you
get a job right away through debt
investing in your future
the second challenge of the program is
Pooler English acquisition rates the or
does provide funding so resettlement
agencies across the country to provide
ESL programs though these programs are
usually
[Music]
led and poorly attended many men and
women that arrived here to the
resettlement program never complete or
attended such a program because of the
focus unemployment and language
acquisition also takes a backseat in
addition to the furthering one’s
education and the third unintended
consequence or challenge of this program
is the concentration of power in a few
large employers and let me explain in
large city like Houston resentment
agencies work with a few large employers
such as factories because they’re the
ones capable of employee on such a mass
level almost eighty to ninety percent of
all the employment is among these few
companies and like I said mostly
factories now when you think about it it
makes sense
the factory needs cheap unskilled labor
to employ on a mass level we supplement
agency of how cheap unskilled labor that
they need to employ on a mass level it
works out wonderfully
alright in theory but it’s a revolving
door and the power is with the employer
resentment agencies have to report back
employment rates and the funding depends
on those so the employers happily send
resettle refugees to the factories so
the in check the box I got them a job
and the factory gets employees it’s
wonderful but many times these factories
are long distances away from where
refugees live themselves they’re low
wages harsh working conditions and they
don’t last very long so it’s like a
revolving door the employer knows that
when the net when the refugee employed
here leaves tomorrow there’s another one
waiting to come back so they have no
incentive to increase their wages
because they know there’s a whole supply
waiting for them and we saw that
agencies don’t want to disturb the
status quo not because they’re magnets
because if their funding is tied to
these to these issues the bottom line is
that the this focus on short-term quick
employment is actually undermining the
long term indicators of success such as
language acquisition and education now I
was doing some research in other public
reports and I found some staggering
statistics the report said that 70 80
sometimes even 90% of resettle refugees
were being classified as substitution in
the first six months as a service
provider on the ground I wasn’t right
like something was not right when I
looked into it this seems to be released
report of the from the killer Institute
also touches upon this and it explains
in with a great example a family of five
that is earning $1,200 a month which is
not enough to cover their bills they’re
receiving public assistance they have
transportation challenges they have
language challenges on paper they’re
classified as self-sufficient
why because self-sufficiency according
to the aura are means you have a job it
could be a seasonal job it could be a
minimum-wage job that doesn’t
success is defined that we got you a job
we can check the box why am I telling
you this
why am i bringing out the dirty laundry
of the refugee resettlement system it is
because I believe in it I’ve been
involved in this work for over a decade
and I wholeheartedly feel a bit on the
financial benefits it’s a moral and
societal responsibility but if we the
people the advocates of this program
will be driving them to the major flaws
of this program those who oppose it will
use it against us the system hasn’t
changed much in in 60 years but they’re
well documented programs that work that
were actually try it out with lost
funding a great example was in 2005 the
horror this is a public document funded
a program called the employment subsidy
program the federal government paid
private businesses from nine months to
fully employ someone with skill
these are categorized as hard to employ
people people with skills they may not
necessarily have the language but the
government paid these private businesses
that hire these individuals with the
Commission that they provide employment
continuity or help them find another job
if this doesn’t work out over 900
individuals that were categorized as
difficult to employ skilled or employed
in the program it had one of the best
outcomes for any employment program and
one of the lowest costs of any
employment program but it lost funding
what next we cannot depend on the
government we operate
change that what happened – he would not
trickle-down for years even though I
believe that citizens like you and me
can reach out to resettlement agencies
and provide help and invest in
organizations that are providing long
term support that’s not the solution I
believe the solution is in front of us
in the form of carbon employers with
goodwill and the best example is the
founder of Shivani the other companies
founded by a Turkish refugee mr. Hamdi
founded a he started a Nordic company in
New York and he had a factory and after
his company was gone he reached out to
the resulting agencies and since I will
hire some some individuals but they were
having a difficult time so he went and
said what’s the problem and they said
they don’t have many they don’t have the
language skills they don’t have
transportation there’s a go problem he
provided them transportation at his
company he set up training for these
individuals so he came they not trained
and it became part of the workforce and
his in his own words he says these are
the most loyal employees that I have and
today 30% of his workforce is made up of
resettled refugees who who initially
arrived as refugees and the model was so
successful that he transplanted this
across the country a small town in Idaho
our hosts a largest rubber company in
the world
– gotcha Bonnie it employs thousands of
people they used the same model here in
work for the resettled refugees they
invested in their training they invested
in transportation they invested in these
people to bring them up and you can
imagine I’m a very conservative town
initially wasn’t pleased with this but –
find the impact that this company was
making two billion dollars annually in
the local economy even the mayor comes
and speaks in support of Jelani now and
mr. Hamdi says that I didn’t do this to
financially benefit my company I didn’t
do this to get Fame I did this because
it’s the right thing to do and today
employers have the same opportunity we
have an opportunity to invest and train
a workforce that will say they’ll invest
in our local economies invest in our
companies while doing the right thing I
believe that the solution for a
sustainable employment 3:7 refugees in
this companies lies we’re businessmen
who have art thank you
you
a vast network of private public
organizations working together across
the globe the office of refugee
resettlement also known as the Orr is
the federal agency responsible to serve
resettled refugees within the United
States the all our partners with
nonprofits and cities of America to
deliver services to resettled refugees
in the early 1980s the Orr started
shifting its approach and strategy of
integration to a more short-term focused
approach many things happen many
programs change but the most profound
change that was set in motion in the
1980s was the reduction of the period of
financial assistance at its peak
resettled refugees would get assistance
for up to 36 months today the average is
3 to 6 months the average assistance has
gone from three years to one quarter of
one year the focus and funding formulas
have also evolved a lot of the
programmatic funding today for the
resettlement program is based on the
number of individuals in the family
which doesn’t take into account special
situations so it is very missed
to see a single mother with three young
kids getting the same amount of
assistance as a mother and father with
two teenagers the focus that entire
focus of the u.s. refugee resettlement
program operated by the Orr is rapid
employment there is emphasis on get them
to work right away and the claim is that
when these individuals arrive they’ve
been through a lot
the idea is when they get to work the
world up their self-esteem their
self-worth and it will assist with the
integration process this sounds
wonderful on paper but it’s come with
many costs and many challenges the first
cost of a rapid employment program that
encourages immediate employment is there
is no opportunity and no incentive to
further one’s education so assumed to be
released report by the kinder Institute
at Rice University which was actually
authored by Yann de la in Yiddish RM
documents this issue nominee in
testimony and data resettled refugees
have very low rates of furthering their
education because of this focus on
employment there is no funding for this
there are no resources the goal is you
get a job right away through debt
investing in your future
the second challenge of the program is
Pooler English acquisition rates the or
does provide funding so resettlement
agencies across the country to provide
ESL programs though these programs are
usually
[Music]
led and poorly attended many men and
women that arrived here to the
resettlement program never complete or
attended such a program because of the
focus unemployment and language
acquisition also takes a backseat in
addition to the furthering one’s
education and the third unintended
consequence or challenge of this program
is the concentration of power in a few
large employers and let me explain in
large city like Houston resentment
agencies work with a few large employers
such as factories because they’re the
ones capable of employee on such a mass
level almost eighty to ninety percent of
all the employment is among these few
companies and like I said mostly
factories now when you think about it it
makes sense
the factory needs cheap unskilled labor
to employ on a mass level we supplement
agency of how cheap unskilled labor that
they need to employ on a mass level it
works out wonderfully
alright in theory but it’s a revolving
door and the power is with the employer
resentment agencies have to report back
employment rates and the funding depends
on those so the employers happily send
resettle refugees to the factories so
the in check the box I got them a job
and the factory gets employees it’s
wonderful but many times these factories
are long distances away from where
refugees live themselves they’re low
wages harsh working conditions and they
don’t last very long so it’s like a
revolving door the employer knows that
when the net when the refugee employed
here leaves tomorrow there’s another one
waiting to come back so they have no
incentive to increase their wages
because they know there’s a whole supply
waiting for them and we saw that
agencies don’t want to disturb the
status quo not because they’re magnets
because if their funding is tied to
these to these issues the bottom line is
that the this focus on short-term quick
employment is actually undermining the
long term indicators of success such as
language acquisition and education now I
was doing some research in other public
reports and I found some staggering
statistics the report said that 70 80
sometimes even 90% of resettle refugees
were being classified as substitution in
the first six months as a service
provider on the ground I wasn’t right
like something was not right when I
looked into it this seems to be released
report of the from the killer Institute
also touches upon this and it explains
in with a great example a family of five
that is earning $1,200 a month which is
not enough to cover their bills they’re
receiving public assistance they have
transportation challenges they have
language challenges on paper they’re
classified as self-sufficient
why because self-sufficiency according
to the aura are means you have a job it
could be a seasonal job it could be a
minimum-wage job that doesn’t
success is defined that we got you a job
we can check the box why am I telling
you this
why am i bringing out the dirty laundry
of the refugee resettlement system it is
because I believe in it I’ve been
involved in this work for over a decade
and I wholeheartedly feel a bit on the
financial benefits it’s a moral and
societal responsibility but if we the
people the advocates of this program
will be driving them to the major flaws
of this program those who oppose it will
use it against us the system hasn’t
changed much in in 60 years but they’re
well documented programs that work that
were actually try it out with lost
funding a great example was in 2005 the
horror this is a public document funded
a program called the employment subsidy
program the federal government paid
private businesses from nine months to
fully employ someone with skill
these are categorized as hard to employ
people people with skills they may not
necessarily have the language but the
government paid these private businesses
that hire these individuals with the
Commission that they provide employment
continuity or help them find another job
if this doesn’t work out over 900
individuals that were categorized as
difficult to employ skilled or employed
in the program it had one of the best
outcomes for any employment program and
one of the lowest costs of any
employment program but it lost funding
what next we cannot depend on the
government we operate
change that what happened – he would not
trickle-down for years even though I
believe that citizens like you and me
can reach out to resettlement agencies
and provide help and invest in
organizations that are providing long
term support that’s not the solution I
believe the solution is in front of us
in the form of carbon employers with
goodwill and the best example is the
founder of Shivani the other companies
founded by a Turkish refugee mr. Hamdi
founded a he started a Nordic company in
New York and he had a factory and after
his company was gone he reached out to
the resulting agencies and since I will
hire some some individuals but they were
having a difficult time so he went and
said what’s the problem and they said
they don’t have many they don’t have the
language skills they don’t have
transportation there’s a go problem he
provided them transportation at his
company he set up training for these
individuals so he came they not trained
and it became part of the workforce and
his in his own words he says these are
the most loyal employees that I have and
today 30% of his workforce is made up of
resettled refugees who who initially
arrived as refugees and the model was so
successful that he transplanted this
across the country a small town in Idaho
our hosts a largest rubber company in
the world
– gotcha Bonnie it employs thousands of
people they used the same model here in
work for the resettled refugees they
invested in their training they invested
in transportation they invested in these
people to bring them up and you can
imagine I’m a very conservative town
initially wasn’t pleased with this but –
find the impact that this company was
making two billion dollars annually in
the local economy even the mayor comes
and speaks in support of Jelani now and
mr. Hamdi says that I didn’t do this to
financially benefit my company I didn’t
do this to get Fame I did this because
it’s the right thing to do and today
employers have the same opportunity we
have an opportunity to invest and train
a workforce that will say they’ll invest
in our local economies invest in our
companies while doing the right thing I
believe that the solution for a
sustainable employment 3:7 refugees in
this companies lies we’re businessmen
who have art thank you
you
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