School and Community Liaison Services
Offered By
Refugee and Immigration Services
Refugee and Immigration Services welcomes the stranger and enables those escaping
persecution to begin new lives with dignity through early self-sufficiency. The agency
strives to foster a community climate of acceptance for persons of different cultures.
In recent years services available to both refugees and immigrants have expanded to include
a number of community needs.
School Liaison Services
More than half the world's refugees are children and families make up the majority of those
who come to RIS for resettlement. Resettlement goals for parents relate to employment and
self-sufficiency. The children have equally challenging tasks--to learn English, catch up
academically, find a place socially and fulfill their parents' expectations. Many refugee
children have experienced war--they have seen horrors we cannot imagine and most have
emerged ready to move on. School was interrupted--some are below grade level and need to
catch up to their peers. Schools are perplexed about how to deal with these special needs
children and their non-English speaking parents.
Acculturation & Cultural Orientation Program
RIS orients new refugees to the American educational system, the role of parents, and
general expectations. Schools are oriented to the refugee experience and the cultures of
recent arrivals. Children are assisted to engage in extracurricular activities so they may
develop social contacts beyond their own refugee community. In Richmond, School Liaison
services to refugees are provided by RIS through the Virginia Refugee Student Achievement
Project (VRSAP) of the Virginia Office of Newcomer Services.
Family and Children's Services
Refugee and Immigration Services School Liaison Program provides many different services
to refugee families. A few of our many services to parents, families, and children would
include:
- Orientation of newly arrived families to Virginia's public schools.
- Assist refugee parents with the enrollment of their children in school.
- Encourage refugee parents to meet with their children's teachers.
- Pair newly arrived refugee students with peer tutors wherever possible.
- Advocate for the special needs of the children of refugees.
- Encourage refugee children to participate in our tutoring
programs and to participate in extracurricular activities at their schools.
Volunteers are important to this effort as refugee children need tutors and teachers
and appreciate assistance. Please call your local office if you can help.
Volunteer Opportunities for Young People
Top
Community Liaison Services
Who are our neighbors, how did they get here, what have they endured, what are their
traditions?
A recent census revealed that the population of Virginia has changed and that we are
living and working with people from different cultures, ethnic and racial groups, language
use, and traditions.
Helping Families Access Services
Our Community Liaison staff receive referrals from health care providers, police, schools,
and property managers on families who are having difficulties.
Our staff works one on one with individuals and their families, immigrant community
organizations, and networks with service providers. We will help immigrant families to both
understand and access services. And, will refer them to appropriate community service
providers, as well as advocate on behalf of immigrant families.
Community Outreach
Our Community Liaison staff outreachs to churches, schools, and apartment complexes. RIS
has helped to pull together diverse organizations to address the needs of the immigrant
populations in Virginia.
For example, in Chesterfield County, immigrant population interventions were conducted
by RIS 15 years ago to prevent gang incursions into the Cambodian community. Today the
Health Department, the Department of Social Services, school personnel, the Cooperative
Extension Service, parks and recreation, police, churches, libraries, ethnic leaders and
several others still meet on a regular basis to discuss needs and creative mechanisms to
provide meaningful services to the newcomer populations.
Community Education
RIS will provide speakers on refugee and immigrant issues for any community group
interested in learning more about our immigrant populations. Call the office nearest
you to arrange for a speaker. These presentations are designed to increase understanding
of different perspectives to prevent miscommunication and misunderstanding by stressing
how much we have to gain from our community's diversity.
Our speakers will discuss with your organization who the refugees in our area are,
why they came to our neighborhood and the ethnic differences in our community.
Speakers may be scheduled by calling the RIS office closest to you.
- Richmond - (804) 355-4559
- Roanoke - (540) 342-7561
- Hampton - (757) 247-3600
Top
Multicultural Training
We are living and working with people from different cultures, ethnic and racial groups,
language use, and traditions. Increasing our understanding of different cultural perspectives
prevents miscommunication and misunderstanding. We have much to gain from our community's
diversity. A few years ago Refugee and Immigration Services developed a training program on
Southeast Asian Cultures and on Hispanic Cultures. This was used to train police and court
trainers throughout the state. With new populations coming to our communities RIS has
broadened training to include these other cultures. Staff sensitize participants to generic
issues of difference and are alert to the needs and interests of adult learners.
RIS provides training based on an organization's needs and desires. Let us work with you
to identify desired outcomes and design a program to improve productivity and collegiality.
RIS is especially well suited for this endeavor because we have worked for over 25 years with
refugees and immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Russia, Poland, Haiti, Cuba, South and
Central America, Bosnia, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, China, India, and other parts of the
world. We can call upon speakers from these countries should that be requested. RIS fees
are reasonable. The agency brings 10 years of training experience and staff of many ethnic
backgrounds to this effort.
"It's not often I can say I enjoyed an entire presentation, but I really did today.
It was informative, eye-opening and real. We (people) are more alike than we (they) are
different. Thanks for empowering me today in this area."
- Participant in multicultural training
for TAP Head Start Staff in Roanoke.
Who we have trained:
- Richmond, Henrico, Roanoke, and Hampton schools
- Staff of Total Action Against Poverty - Head Start
- Roanoke City Police Department
- City of Roanoke Department of Social Services
- Virginia Court Services
- Richmond Police
You may schedule training sessions through our offices near your location by calling
one of the following numbers:
- Richmond - (804) 355-4559
- Roanoke - (540) 342-7561
- Hampton - (757) 247-3600
|
