BRYCS What’s New Updates for July August 2022

ANNOUNCEMENTS   |   EVENTS   |   FUNDING   |   RESOURCES   |   BACK TO TOP

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Raising Children in a New Country: An Illustrated Handbook, from Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS), is now available in Dari and Pashto. Help newcomer parents get the basic information they need about U.S. laws and parenting practices. Although newcomers may find this booklet useful by itself, it is primarily intended for case managers and other service providers to use together with their refugee and immigrant clients. This booklet is targeted to those with low levels of English proficiency and/or low literacy levels. Since the often complex concepts illustrated here are necessarily simplified, the resource section provides easy-to-access information for service providers to supplement the basic points in this booklet.
• Keeping Safe! A Children’s Bilingual Guide, from Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS), is now available in Dari and Pashto. Originally created for unaccompanied children, this simple guide will assist young people in knowing their rights while they are in the United States, and keeping them safe so they can thrive in their life journeys. A teen version is also available.

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EVENTS

• The Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative Conference, co-organized by The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) and Marquette University, will take place September 13-14, 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with virtual access for those unable to attend in person. Since its inception in 2013, CIII has sought to strengthen the individual and collective work of diverse Catholic institutions, programs, and ministries with immigrants and refugees.
• The 19th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, organized by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the Georgetown University Law Center, will take place September 20, 2022. This year’s event will be a hybrid event transmitted online for virtual audiences and open to a select number of in-person attendees in Washington, DC. The conference will feature fresh, thoughtful policy and legal analysis, and discussion of some of the top immigration issues by leading government officials, attorneys, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and other experts.

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FUNDING

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RESOURCES

For Refugee/Immigrant Children & Youth

• Front Desk is the story of Mia Tang, who helps with her immigrant family’s business after school. In addition to minding the front desk at the family motel, Mia dreams of being a writer and worries about the undocumented immigrants her parents hide in the motel rooms. This book earned the 2018 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature.
• My Family Divided draws on the author’s own experience as the daughter of two undocumented immigrants who were deported when Guerrero was just 14 years old.

General Cultural Competency & Migration & Resettlement Awareness

• Fact Sheet: Ukraine Crisis and International Standards, from International Social Service, provides guidance on how to apply international standards when working with children and their families impacted by this crisis.
• Information Sheet: Measures in Response to the Arrival of Displaced People Fleeing the War in Ukraine, from the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), is a non-exhaustive compilation of measures taken by European countries to address the arrival of people fleeing the war in Ukraine (UA). The document provides country-by-country information regarding two main areas of policy and legal developments in response to arrivals from UA: the first part identifies measures adopted on entry/stay requirements, reception-related arrangements, as well as asylum procedures; the second part provides information on national measures implementing the Council implementing decision of the Temporary Protection Directive, or establishing other special statuses for persons fleeing Ukraine.
• Updated Congolese Backgrounder, now available from the Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange (CORE), provides an overview of the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congolese culture, and tips for working with Congolese when delivering Cultural Orientation. The web page also provides links to additional resources. This resource is useful for resettlement staff, community partners and sponsors, or volunteers. CORE is working on a Ukrainian backgrounder for release this Fall.

Cultural Orientation/Integration

• The Workforce System and American Job Centers: Valuable Resources for Refugee Resettlement, a Switchboard blog post, includes information about the American Job Centers (AJCs) and how service providers can support their clients in accessing federal, state, and local employment services.
• An Afghan’s Guide to America, a series of videos in Pashto and Dari from Church of the Servant and the Western Oaks Immigration Center, were produced for the Afghan population on topics such as car insurance, banking, hygiene, etc. Short videos and long videos are both available. English translations can be found below the like/dislike line.
• Personal Finance: Resources to Guide Newcomers on Measuring their Financial Well-being and Managing Money in the United States, from Switchboard, highlights The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and a short, practical tool to help anyone measure their financial well-being and track it over time.
• Accessing Employment and Training Programs, a Switchboard information guide, offers information about programs funded by the Department of Labor that can help clients become self-sufficient and work towards their personal career goals.

Child Welfare/Family Strengthening

• Child, Not Bride: Child Marriage Among Syrian Refugees, from the Harvard International Review, looks at culture and economic insecurity as driving factors of child marriage
• Children Deprived of their Family Environment Due to the Armed Conflict in Ukraine: Cross-Border Protection and Intercountry Adoption, an information note from the Hague Conference on Private International Law, outlines the framework for the protection of children in emergency situations. It provides guidance on protecting children who are internationally displaced from Ukraine as well as intercountry adoption in armed conflict.
• Striving for Equity for Young Children of Immigrants with Disabilities, from the Global Family Research Project, describes what it was like as an immigrant parent to advocate for a child with disabilities. The author discusses her subsequent research into how schools are and are not engaging families to support the learning and success of children with disabilities. She then provides a set of recommendations to guide school, district and community efforts.
• Resource Guide for Supporting Immigrant Families, from the Global Family Research Project, shares research, best practices, and other articles focused on supporting immigrant families, including those with children with disabilities.
• Learning from Youth: Envisioning Freedom for Unaccompanied Children, a report from Vera, summarizes the perspectives and proposals of 32 young adults who were detained as unaccompanied minors by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), and puts them in conversation with other policy recommendations.

Education

• Can Afghan Newcomers Access Title IV, Federal Student Aid? Answering FAQ’s About New Guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, a Switchboard blog post, highlights a Dear Colleague letter released by the U.S. Department of Education to financial aid professionals on June 17, 2022 providing new guidance on the current eligibility requirements for Afghan newcomers.
• The Immigrant Story Lesson Plans, from The Immigrant Story, were designed as a five-week program of education and activities and guide students through the publication process — the same process used by The Immigrant Story’s volunteer staff of professional writers and editors.  Though this curriculum was first developed for high school senior social studies classes, it is versatile and can be adapted to different levels, from middle school to college level.

Health/Mental Health

• Preventing Lead Poisoning, from Switchboard, including resources on the risks of lead poisoning, testing information, and tips on how to stay safe while pregnant.
• Healthcare in the United States, a suite of resources for newcomers created by the Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange (CORE), are available in several languages and now reflect that the eligibility period for Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) has changed from eight to 12 months. CORE also added a new activity to teach newcomers about different types of medical specialists.

Anti-trafficking

• What’s Going On? Your Rights and Who You’ll Meet, a graphic novel from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), focuses on rights, roles, and responsibilities within the justice system.
• “The Public Health Response to Human Trafficking: A Look Back and a Step Forward,” a new OTIP-sponsored supplement published by Public Health Reports (PHR), describes the innovative ways researchers, service providers, and others are building a public health approach to address human trafficking. The authors in this supplement explore the efficacy of individual and communal public health interventions and describe the tools used by professionals and systems of care to respond to human trafficking.

Program Development

• Designing and Implementing Equitable and Inclusive Surveys, an archived webinar from Switchboard, provides additional insights related to inclusive monitoring and evaluation.
• What Can We Do to Protect Clients and Staff? Tips for Getting Started with Safeguarding and Protection, a Switchboard blog post, reviews two key terms, safeguarding and protection, that relate to service providers’ roles in ensuring the safety of clients and staff.