Lynn aid agency aims to make refugees self-sufficient

LYNN – It?s possible newly arrived refugees could become financial drains on the social safety net, but not if the folks at the New American Center can help it.?Our most important goal is to help people become self-sufficient,” said Natasha Soolkin, the director of the center, a local agency assisting some of the 2,500 refugees who come to Massachusetts each year after fleeing their homelands.Iraqi and African refugees are among the most recent to ride the elevator to the J.B. Blood building?s fourth floor, where workers and volunteers teach English classes and provide job training and child care.?We have success stories,” said Soolkin.Founded in 2002, the center is – in Soolkin?s words – a “multi-service, multi-ethnic site” where workers and clients speak 21 languages and organizations representing nations around the world share office space.The center and other refugee organizations and agencies across the state helping the Office for Refugees and Immigrants (ORI) assist 2,500 refugees annually as well as another 2,500 people who hold federally approved “green cards” granting them legal permanent resident status in this country.ORI workforce director Jennifer Schamel said the journey from a refugee camp to the United States spans several years and includes a United Nations review process that considers, among other factors, whether or not people seeking refugee status can safely return to their homelands.Refugee resettlement agencies initially help refugees settle in the United States, but Soolkin said the New American Center and other agencies help them live independently and support themselves.Some of that work involves helping refugees understand the citizenship application process, and it is done by AmeriCorps volunteers like Naomi Ingram. The Bedford resident joined AmeriCorps, a national network of organizations created to fight poverty, in 2012 and initially worked with Nepalese refugees resettled in Burlington, Vt., before coming to the New American Center.Ingram taught English as a second language classes and worked with older Iraqi refugees.?It was eye-opening; they are so thankful,” she said.Soolkin said AmeriCorps volunteers “play a vital role in all of our programs” and Office for Refugees and Immigrants Director Josiane Martinez said $389,000 will be spent on hiring 30 new AmeriCorps volunteers to assist refugee organizations.Martinez?s boss, state Executive Office of Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz, said state refugee workers and assisting organizations helped resettle 10,000 refugees in the last eight years.Martinez said 85 percent of refugees assisted by the state find work.?Immigration is not just important for Massachusetts economic growth, it is essential: We?re first in the nation in getting refugees employed,” she said.