Refugee Family Services

Youth/ school Services the Refugee Family Services pre-k and afterschool program provides free academic, cultural, and social support to Refugee children in pre-k - 5th grade, many of who have histories of interrupted schooling, exposure to trauma in Refugee camps, and little formal english language education. Together, the programs benefited more than 153 students. Students receive academic support in a well-supervised atmosphere and access american culture while maintaining a strong relationship to their own heritage. Parents receive assistance in supporting their children's development and education. Rfs provided pre-k instruction to 22 students from october 1, 2013 through september 30, 2014. The afterschool program served 115 k-5 students during the school year and 39 through the summer literacy camp. In addition, the young women's leadership program served 16 high school Refugee girls. 200 parents received direct Services to help them support their children's education, including 88 orientation sessions, 327 case management and transportation Services, and 19 school based workshops. Additionally, 7 in-service cultural orientations were delivered to educator's and school administrators who work with refugees.

Policy and community organizing this program is a public policy and education initiative aimed at educating the public, legislators and government officials about Refugee resettlement and assimilation. The program includes an ethnic organizing component, and subgrants to two local refugee-led organizations. In 2013 our community- organizing program provided 722 Services to 659 clients. Roa's subgrantee, somali american community center, provided 286 Services to 320 clients through its grant. Our activities included collaborative leadership meetings, community resource and education events, direct technical assistance and consultations, partnership-based Services, and worked with a subcontracted service provider.

Refugee women this program offers health and safety workshops (such as nutrition, food safety, maternal/child health, immunization), employment referrals, support groups for various ethnic groups, english language classes (with child care provided for Refugee mothers), and orientation in urban american living (such as public transportation, shopping, bank accounts, and driving a car.). Multilingual staff also offer extensive assistance accessing Services through casework involving interpretation and translation. In fy 2014, more than 735 clients received over 2500 Services including social adjustment, information and referral, and job preparation, referrals, placements, and follow up Services. In fire and home safety, 11 community leaders were trained to deliver instruction to their community members and 110 families received in-home instruction on fire and home safety. Financial literacy training was provided to 65 clients, who received group and/or individual counseling about banking, money management, and credit building.

Strengthening families the strengthening families program consists of several components; parents as teachers, a program to ensure success in early learning for Refugee and immigrant children, which served 76 families in 2014; and Family literacy, which matches community volunteers to teach english to Refugee families. Parents receive education on how to become their child's first best teacher. Parent home educators who are culturally and linguistically aligned with Refugee parents help them learn about child development, early childhood education, and the benefits of head start programs and other structured learning opportunities. The program is operated based on a nationally developed curriculum, with extensive training for staff. Participating families and their children six and under have strong results. In 2013, 50 clients were matched with tutors and 74 women were enrolled in the Family literacy program. Of these matches, 74% completed three months of tutoring. Post-testing showed 88% of clients improved their english literacy skills, with average individual improvement of 21% on the esol oral assessment, and 95% of clients were satisfied with their experience. Many women continue in the program beyond three months in order to achieve individual literacy goals. Sustainable growing sustainable growing engages refugees and other community members in urban growing opportunities to develop livelihoods, skills, and the future potential of urban gardening as a sustainable enterprise. The program creates new opportunities for refugees using a whole-systems approach to producing good food. These activities are conducted by global growers network, which is an independent organization incorporated in Georgia with pending nonprofit status. Refugee Family Services serves as its fiscal agent. This program was discontinued as of december 31, 2013. Domestic violence this program addresses issues of domestic violence in Refugee communities through community education about domestic violence and Services available to domestic violence victims, crisis intervention Services for battered Refugee women and their children, securing Refugee women's access to existing mainstream Services, and facilitating shelter placement for battered women in the metropolitan atlanta area. Refugee women suffering domestic abuse receive support in finding a safe haven for themselves and their children and also making a safety plan to put the economic, housing, and transportation elements in place they need to escape violence. Caseworkers from the Refugee community provide support. More than 55 primary and over 80 secondary victims/survivors of domestic violence received crisis intervention and other support Services