Refugee Family Services 4

Jo’Ane Simpkins

Community Activity 3

The Refugee Family Services

12/06/2013

Refugee Family Services

According to Jennifer Mayerle of CBS Atlanta News, “Metro Atlanta has one of the highest concentrations of refugees in the country.” (Mayerle, 2011)

There are less than 1% of refugee allowed in the United States each year fleeing war and persecution and most chooses to settle in DeKalb County. Here in the Metro Atlanta area there are many organizations that serve the refugee movement.

The Refugee Family Services (RFS) is a community organization that was established to meet the needs of the growing population of refugees and their families in the Atlanta area. More than 20 years ago the RFS started off as an extension to save the children network, but has since become a fore front in providing services for women and children that has settled in the area. RFS’ focus is to help refugees “meet their greatest potential” (www.refugeefamilyservices.org) by providing resources that are not available to refugees in other programs.

The RFS offers programs such as Youth Services, Women’s Programs, and Civic Engagement. The Youth Services includes summer camps, one-on-one tutoring, Youth empowered for success workshops, after school programs, and Pre-K for those children experiencing a hard time adjusting to regular public schools and the new culture. The Women’s Programs offer Family Violence Prevention, Family Literacy, Financial Literacy, Fire and Home Safety workshops, and the Parent as Teachers program. The Women’s Program also offers job training, English as a Second Language classes, and immigration services. These programs facilitate a sense of self-sufficiency and independence for the women whose culture norms limited their activities. The Civic Engagement encompasses the Georgia Refugee Policy Initiative and the Refugee Organizing in Action Network was organized to meet and support other refugee communities in the state of Georgia.

As of today,” the full-scale agency has a diverse funding source with a budget of just over 2 million dollars. Much of the funding is through donations and community partners.”(www.refugeefamilyservices.org)The most influential of the community partners are United Way and The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. In order for immigrants to receive services from the RFS, they must provide verification of status. In the last year or so, Georgia has been working to get a bill passed known as Georgia Illegal Immigration Reform that will ban illegal immigrants from state resources including public welfare and education to states colleges and universities.

The Refugee Family Services is located in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Their address is: 5561 Memorial Dr. Stone Mountain, GA 30083 and they can be reached at 404-299-6217. Email:

As a professional, working toward fair and just immigration and refugee policies is important to the profession and essential to the realization of human rights. In the many roles we will play as both policy advocates and direct service providers, we impact immigrant and refugee populations and policy. Asworkers we may formulate and coordinate community support programs for refugee families both in our community and probably all over the world. As workers, it will be my job to assist newly arrived refugees in resettlement and/ or job training. As a professional, it will be important to become familiar with the dynamics of migration as well as immigration policies on individuals and families in order to effectively support immigrants and refugees. The RFS is a great community resource that has assisted more than 2000 women and children each and every year. With over 500 volunteers, it is evident that the work that is done here is well needed and the fight for equality and human rights are by far more important. This will be a great place to learn about immigration policy and program design. This program offers so much opportunity for professional growth. Working with immigrants will increase my awareness of the different nationalities that will become a part of the U.S. population. I would recommend this organization to clients that I see fit to utilize this program.

References:

Mayerle, Jennifer. (2011). Refugees fleeing far and persecution call Metro-Atlanta home. (www.CBSatlanta.com/story/refugees- fleeing- war- and- persecution- call- Metro-Atlanta- home)