BRYCS What’s New Updates for January 2020

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

• National Migration Week takes place January 5-11, 2020! This year’s theme, “Promoting a Church and a World for All” draws attention to the fact that each of our families have a migration story, some recent and others in the distant past. Regardless of where we are and where we came from, we remain part of the human family and are called to live in solidarity with one another. JFI’s #NMW2020 Toolkit will look at the important role that foster care plays in the lives of unaccompanied immigrants and refugees, highlight MRS’ Parishes Organized to Welcome Refugees, and examine local initiatives that are making important contributions in this regard.
• January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and this year it marks the beginning of the Justice for Immigrants coalition including Anti-Trafficking advocacy as part of its direct advocacy and policy work. Check out JFI’s National Human Trafficking Prevention Month toolkit for many exciting and important ways for you to work to end human trafficking in your community and help fight modern slavery in your parish and also with your elected lawmaker. Please join our Become a SHEPHERD community and add human trafficking to your ministries and activities.
• January is National Mentoring Month! This month takes aim at expanding quality mentoring opportunities to connect young people with caring adults. MENTOR’s new video kicks off National Mentoring Month with a look at the power of relationships to help young people find and follow their passion, strive in school, and thrive wherever they are.

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EVENTS/CALL FOR PAPERS

• Trauma-Informed Care: Movement Towards Practice, a Switchboard webinar, will take place January 15, 2020 from 1-2:15PM ET. This introductory webinar is aimed at refugee service providers delivering programs that support refugees in their adjustment and integration. It is applicable to those who provide case management services and clinical support and to those considering adding more trauma-informed programming to their current array of services. 
• Inroads to Entrepreneurship: Local Strategies to Support Immigrant Business and Local Prosperity, a Cities of Migration webinar, will take place January 23, 2020 at PM EST. With retirement rates outpacing workforce growth in communities across regional and rural Canada, smaller cities and towns are looking for new ways to bolster the local economy. For many, that means investing in strategies for the reception and integration of immigrant entrepreneurs. This event will discuss what smaller cities do to support aspiring immigrant entrepreneurs and ensure they lay down the roots for a successful business and new life in the community.
• Employment Services for Refugees: Leveraging Mainstream U.S. Systems and Funding, a Migration Policy Institute (MPI) webinar, will take place January 23, 2020 at 2PM ET. Speakers will discuss the possibilities for collaboration between refugee resettlement and mainstream workforce services, and funding streams such as Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs, SNAP Employment and Training funds, Pell grants, and more to help refugees find better jobs. State leaders in Michigan and Washington State will also share how they have leveraged such funding to support their refugee employment services.
• 2020 Annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering, sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), will take place January 25-28 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. This year’s theme, “Bearing Witness: Life and Justice for All”, will bring together those working on issues impacting life and human dignity across the spectrum such as the death penalty, human trafficking, restorative justice, and issues impacting families like migration, violence, and poverty.

• Preventing Crises in Resettlement: De-escalation with a Trauma Awareness, a Switchboard webinar, will take place January 29, 2020 from 1-2:15PM ET. This webinar is aimed at refugee service providers with a basic knowledge of trauma-informed care who are looking to learn more about preventing crises and resolving issues that have become escalated. It is applicable to those who provide case management services, clinical support, or similar services.

• Essential Communication Skills for Nonprofit Leaders will take place January 27- February 16, 2020. This self-paced course presents time-tested communications strategies that have helped thousands of executives become highly-successful leaders.
• Safe Housing for Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence, an Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV) webinar, will take place January 28, 2020 at 1PM ET. Attendees of this webinar will learn how to identify and help immigrant survivors navigate challenges when seeking services and safety, as well as focus on strengths-based and trauma-informed advocacy for immigrant survivors. Additionally, presenters will discuss the impact of potential policy changes, such as the HUD mixed status rule or the public charge rule, and provide additional resources and information.
• Designing Nonprofit Programs for Long-term Sustainability, will take place February 10- March 16, 2020. This self-paced course will cover needs assessments, asset identification and other research findings that identify authentic community need, mission-driven program design and outcomes, how to adequately allocate and advocate for resources, the basics of effective program design, including program logistics; program marketing, paid and volunteer staffing, volunteer roles and evaluation, and designing inclusive programming.
• Save the date!  The 2020 Annual Research Symposium on “Torture Treatment: Clinical, Community, Policy Interventions, and Outcome Evaluations” will take place March 2, 2020 at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
• 2020 FNUSA Conference, Holding Space: Innovation and Values in Anti-Trafficking Work, will take place March 18-19, 2020 in Miami, Florida. This year’s event will explore how anti-trafficking work has grown and evolved since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000.
• The 36^th International Symposium on Child Abuse (Symposium), hosted by The National Children’s Advocacy Center (NCAC), will take place March 23-26, 2020 in Huntsville, Alabama. The NCAC seeks workshops that are relevant to an audience of both new and experienced child maltreatment professionals from a variety of disciplines and organizations. There are 12 tracks currently being offered including human trafficking/sexual exploitation.

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FUNDING

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RESOURCES

General Cultural Competency & Migration & Resettlement Awareness

• Why Do People Migrate? Theories, an online course from the European University Institute (EUI), explores theories about migration in greater depth and examines how migration is a constant phenomenon throughout human history.
• Childhood Interrupted: Children’s Voices from the Rohingya Refugee Crisis, presents findings from World Vision International, Save the Children and Plan International children’s consultation. Part one includes a fictional account written from children’s perspectives and takes the reader through a day in the life of children in the camps, touching on their day-to-day activities and experiences. This narrative is based on the children’s testimonies and key findings that form Part two of the report, which presents the consolidated analysis of the children’s consultation exercise. (Description from source)

For Refugee/Immigrant Children & Youth

• Inside Out and Back Again was inspired by the author’s childhood experience as a refugee—fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama—this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child’s-eye view of family and immigration. The paperback edition also includes an interview with the author, an activity you can do with your family, tips on writing poetry, and discussion questions. Recommended for grades 3-7. (Description from source)
• Coming to America: The Story of Immigration offers an introduction to the history of immigration to the United States offers young readers a perspective on the heritage that all Americans share. Recommended for grades PreK-3. (Description from source)
• Stone Soup Magazine is currently working towards publishing a special issue of poetry and artwork by young refugees and asylum seekers. Submissions can be in any language and will be translated for the special issue.

Cultural Orientation/Integration

• Overcoming Barriers to Adult Education, an information guide from Switchboard, shares strategies to support refugees in accessing adult education programming including English Language Proficiency (ELP), academic learning, vocational/career education, cultural orientation, and financial and digital literacy. A supplemental webinar is also available.
• “Predictors of Employment Status: A Study of Former Refugee Communities in Australia”, from Australian Psychologist, investigated the relationship between a range of independent variables such as, demographic factors, acculturation, acculturative stress, and resilience and the dependent variable that is the employment status of former refugees. (Description from source)

Child Welfare/Families

• Determinants of Health and Well-Being for Children of Immigrants: Moving From Evidence to Action, a research summary from the Foundation for Child Development, uses a social determinants of health framework to illuminate how social, economic, and sociopolitical conditions directly influence immigrant children’s development and overall well-being.
• “Migrant Children Separated from Their Parents: Where does the Real Risk to Children’s Safety Lie?”, from South African Journal of Psychology, discusses the ways in which changes in migration policy making has created these risks for children and families – even in instances where the intention is to protect them.

Education

• Building Bridges with Bilingual Books and Multicultural Resources: A Practical Manual of Lesson Plans, Literacy Games, and Fun Activities from Around the World to Celebrate Diversity in the Classroom and at Home, helps teachers and homeschoolers incorporate cultural diversity into their teaching with numerous ready-to-use lessons and activities.
• Community- and Culturally-Based Approaches to Trauma, a blog post from Immigrant Connections, provides an overseas and domestic example of a community and culturally-based approach to managing trauma, stresses that various understanding of mental illness and distress exist, and provides recommendations for teachers, school counselors, psychologists and social workers.
• Between Families and Schools: Building Meaningful Relationships, from Teaching for Change, helps schools better partner with families. Based on the findings of an action research project on family engagement, our guide comes complete with stories, suggested actions, and questions to investigate within school communities.

Youth

• “Conversation Club: A Group Mentoring Model for Immigrant Youth”, from Youth and Society, evaluates Conversation Club (CC), a Canadian after-school group mentoring intervention for newcomer youth. The study’s main objectives are to examine the effects of CC on newcomer youth’s experiences of belonging, connectedness, hopefulness, and integration into Canadian society. (Description from source)

Health/Mental Health

• “Children on the Move in Europe: A Narrative Review of the Evidence on the Health Risks, Health Needs and Health Policy for Asylum Seeking, Refugee and Undocumented Children”, from BMJ Paediatrics Open, summarises the literature and identifies the major knowledge gaps on the health risks and needs of asylum seeking, refugee and undocumented children in Europe in the early period after arrival, and the ways in which European health policies respond to these risks and needs. (Description from source)
• Understanding Female Genital Cutting in the Dawood Bohra Community: An Exploratory Survey, from Sahiyo, attempts to understand the views, beliefs and rationales of the practice held by women belonging to the Dawoodi Bohra community to enable policymakers, donors, program developers, health professionals, and other key stakeholders to have a clearer insight into ending this human rights violation. (Description from source)

Anti-Trafficking

• Webinars on Survivor-Centered, Trauma-Informed Advocacy for Trafficking Survivors, from the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-based Violence (APIGBV), include topics on the culture of family-controlled trafficking, supporting domestic trafficking survivors, and advocacy and services for survivors.
• Smuggling of Migrants, Trafficking in Persons and Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Including Appropriate Identification, Protection and Assistance to Migrants and Trafficking Victims, from RISE Learning Network, discusses the importance of properly defining these crimes.

Program Development

• Leveraging Feedback in Community Engagement, from Switchboard, suggests three ways to integrate basic community feedback structures in your programs: implementing a community consultation working group, conducting an annual volunteer survey, and providing training to staff on responding to community concerns and compliments. (Description from source)
• Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Program Implementation: A Tool for Community Reflection, a step-by-step guide from the Forum for Youth Investment, is meant for assessing programmatic barriers affecting youth, gaps in services, and funding restrictions that prevent communities from achieving cross-sector goals.