Immigration Assistance & Citizenship educational
The program addresses particular concerns and problem areas. The clients we assist mostly individuals who are not only indigent and cannot afford attorney fees, but they cannot read and write which is an added disadvantage.
Our assistance touches on the following areas:
Green Card: A very huge percentage of our clients are refugee families. They were brought into the United States from refugee camps in various countries outside the U.S. They arrived here on I-94 (a lawful record of admission into the U.S) and stayed here beyond the time they are expected to apply for change of status to obtain their Green Card or Permanent Residency. They don’t know if they are supposed to change their status to begin with. They are not educated to fill their own forms. Worst still, they do not have money required to pay Immigration attorneys to file their cases. That brings us into the picture. We talk with them, provide general education and provide the resources to file their forms. Most times we ask them to bring anyone who can read and write and who knows how to use the computer.
If they cannot, we help type in the information they provide without suggesting what to put in the form. This program also addresses the problem of travel documents, job and related problems associated with the loss of Green Card.
Citizenship Education: Those who qualify for citizenship and who have filed their citizenship applications, we conduct citizenship education using the USCIS literacy magazine. We ask them questions and read the answer in the booklet. We explain the meaning of the questions and answers, the value and responsibilities of being a United States citizen, as well as assist or refer those who need immigration documentations to available resources. We do it as many times as possible for them to remember since they cannot read and write. For those who can read and write we draw up questionnaires for them to answer and reveal the answer from the booklet. We have assisted many of them by doing that. We intend to continue and put smiles on their faces and to earn their rightful places in the U.S. Same as the Green Card process, we assist with forms, ensuring that stay within the legal frame.
Parent-School Authorities Connections
The two groups of people that share major responsibilities of how the child’s educational needs are met are the parents and the school authorities, the teachers and other staffers. For the parents, they remain a vital part of how lesson taught in school impact their children while at home. That means the parent must ask questions, encourage the student to study his/her lesson, follow up on the student’s attitudes and actions at home and at school, etc. All this should grow the student’s understanding of the world around him, while still nursing his infant mind.
According to the American Immigration Council, at least 24% of immigrants in North Dakota comprise of Liberians, Bhutani and Nepal immigrants or New Americans alone. There are 3,084 children, most them school age children. This number is huge when you look at how they impact teaching, especially when most of these kids cannot measure up to the standard of learning in the school system. Refugees coming from Africa bring with them unique problem of being older than the classes they should be in. That alone discourages the students. But the AAP hopes to rekindle their hopes and is working toward that goal.
These children need monitoring, parents’ active participation in their school activities, and a cordial working relation between the school and the parents. A brief assessment conducted by the AAP has shown that a great of number of these parents, one or the other, do not attend parent-teacher conference, they do not have the education to help their children with their homework, and other very concerning issues. That is where AAP comes in.
We at the AAP will fill the gap and help both the parents and the schools. We endeavor to cement the relationship between the school and the parents by attending teacher conferences on behalf of parents with their permission, while the parents retain their rights 100%. When we do, we bring back valuable information and relay teachers’ concerns to the parents. That way, we all help the student to improve.
Family Support
In our family support program, we look at four key areas that gravely affect the families we have engaged work with. Those areas include:
Employment: New Americans moving into the US most definitely believe there are enough jobs for them. They get the shock of their lives when they cannot get the employment they crave because of their limitations, like age, language, inability to read and write, etc. When they cannot get the job they want, they seek assistance from elsewhere, like government supported financial assistance. Our job is to find them job at all cost, and if that does not happen, we help to find assistance until they can land a job. Ways we find job for them include to find employer that have availability for the kind of jobs they can do and we compile resume that suit their skills and experience. We also practically fill application forms for them. But we also seek rent relief, food support, and other assistance for them. There are some who lose their jobs and are receiving unemployment benefits. We engage with them and encourage them to return to job by helping them to find job opportunities and filling their application forms. We also network with partners to achieve this.
Family management: This kind of activity is not how the parents manage their homes. Our job is to educate our clients on what is the difference between managing families in Africa and managing families in the United States. Some parents still transpose what they did back in Africa, which was controlling the women, not allowing their children to have a say in matters concerning the family, etc.
We educate our clients how they could come in conflict with the laws if they did not abandon some of the practices they learned from Africa, which includes wife battering, children beating that sometimes show physical injuries and bruises. We network with like-minded partners to achieve this.
Economic empowerment: Our economic empowerment initiative is in two-folds: a) to increase our clients’ understanding of English thereby paving the way for them to communicate properly on the job, and b) to ensure that they are able to take the Citizenship test administered by USCIS. Most of them have already failed once and only have one more to pass or they cannot take the citizenship test anymore. We also encourage some of the single women, elders, and youths who cannot read and write to take GED classes. We are breaking grounds in this area and there is a great prospect.
Language improvement: Most refugees coming to the US speak English as their second language, others third language. But they are here. And while they are here, they need money to purchase their basic needs – food, clothes, etc. They must pay rent to live in an apartment and many other hurdles that they face. Our job is to first encourage them to consider attending GED classes. But for those who are older and cannot sit in class, we seek to improve their English. There is no formal classroom. We sit with them, talk with them only in English even though they are often tempted to speak their dialect/vernaculars. We tell them to ask us for the names of items in their homes – microwave, thermostat, etc. It has helped to bring most from “no English” to “little bit English”.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND FAMILY CRISIS
our Domestic Violence program takes the following into consideration: Individuals we work with should gain direct knowledge about what constitutes DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, to include physical, sexual, emotional, psychological abuse.
Victims, especially females, are the center of our education process about how and why to report aggression or abuse. A) Most women in African refugees community do not report abuse for the following reasons: That they do not want to be responsible for their boyfriends or husbands going to jail; That they do not want to be seen as ungrateful to the men; That some do not think battering or abuse is negative because they believe the boyfriend or husband loves them that is why they beat them; That they think the police are looking to destroy the records of the men and therefore reporting domestic violence is an easy way to make the police achieve their plans, etc. Our education drive is intended to set the record straight that all of those perceptions are myths.
We work with male members of our community to understand that beating on or battering their partners does not show love for them, rather it indicates cruelty toward the one you claim to love. Our education process will focus on re-orientating women that THEY DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE WITH ABUSE. THEY CAN REPORT IT!
This program will go a long way to benefit members of our community who have been victimized by abusive and violent men who seek to control these women for selfish ends. Those who participate in our education programs, like workshop, symposiums, etc., will learn how and why to report aggression or abuse, not just to defend themselves, but it is also to save the next woman from the same abuse pattern.
Our target is not just the women. It would also focus on the men. We will educate the men that 1) there is difference living in Africa and living in the US, and 2) battering their partner is simply wicked, uncalled for, and does not exemplify love for the partner.