Transcript Jen Smyers, Associate Director, Immigration & Refugee Policy, Church World Service, [email protected], 202.420.0863 Folabi Olagbaju, National Grassroots Director, Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service,

Jen Smyers, Associate Director, Immigration & Refugee Policy,
Church World Service, [email protected], 202.420.0863
Folabi Olagbaju, National Grassroots Director, Lutheran
Immigration & Refugee Service, [email protected], 202-626-7931
Bill Holston, Executive Director, Human Rights Initiative of North
Texas, [email protected], 214-273-4333
October 15, 2014
The Linking Communities (TLC) Project
Fort Worth, TX
Agenda
Bill: Example of Texas-based advocacy on issues
impacting refugees and vulnerable populations (10 min)
Folabi: Refugees engaging in advocacy (15 min)
Jen: Policy update, building champions & teams (20 min)
Q&A (5 min)
Small Group brainstorming (10 min)
Build Relationships
 Don’t be afraid of Blogs
But don’t read the comments
 Correspond with Journalists
 Tools: Letters to the Editor, Editorials, Commentaries, Sign on
Letters
 Dealing with the Media
 Be Prepared
 Be sure to make your points
 Be Responsive
 Remember sound bites, everything can be quoted out of
context
 Don’t get caught off guard
 Dealing with Politicians

Take the long view
Empowering Refugees in Advocacy
Why do we need former refugees to exercise leadership?
 Build trust with newcomers
 Authentic voice on the issue through power of story telling
 Create greater community understanding
 Create support for resettlement and integration
 Example of successful approaches to fostering leadership
development refugee engagement and grassroots advocacy
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
(LIRS)
LIRS is the nation’s second-largest resettlement agency,
assisting nearly 11,000 refugees each year. Since its
founding in 1939, LIRS in partnership with our local
affiliates has resettled nearly 400,000 refugees from
around the world into communities across the United
States.
Leadership Training and Advocacy
 In recent years, LIRS has celebrated World Refugee
Day by bringing together former refugee leaders for a
3-day training designed to:
 hone their leadership skills
 create opportunity for networking
 advocate for issues of concern to the broader refugee
community
 Our goal: Lift up the voices of all refugees in order to
create welcoming communities around the country
World Refugee Day Academy
 In 2014, 51 former refugee leaders
 from 23 states
 representing 16 countries of origin
 Participants
 engaged in legislative advocacy training
 met with their Members of Congress
 developed a 1-2 point action plans to take back to their
communities
LIRS Refugee Academy
 Key portions of the training sessions were led by
former refugees.
 Highlights include 114 Hill visits, meetings with the
White House and State Department.
 Local action plans with 2-3 specific efforts or activities
that the participants will undertake to address refugee
issues in their local communities.
Taking it Back Home!
Some of the participant’s Strategic Action Plans include:
 Developing a network of immigrant faith leaders
 Providing a training for refugees and allies on cultural
diversity and communication
 Creating a program to provide support for refugee
parents, including
 dispelling myths around Child Protective Services (CPS)
 teaching parents how to be advocates for their own
children in the local school system
 Organizing a food fair in the local community
 Connecting with local elected officials and businesses
Structured Support for Sustained
Engagement
 We have also developed a structure to follow up with
Academy participants. Organized within 4 regional
grouping with a team leader.
 Regular regional and national check-in calls.
 Communication tools including E-Newsletter, listserv
and Facebook page.
Lessons Learned
 No substitute for face-to-face meeting to build a
network of leaders and develop lasting relationships.
 Training is not a one-off experience. Important to
build a structure for sustained engagement.
 Create leadership opportunities for team members and
support network for their efforts.
 Be cognizant of, and respectful of, former refugees’
time and prevailing situation.
Looking Ahead
 LIRS plans to grow and expand the Academy.
 Explore more robust use of current academy
participants to plan and implement future ones.
“My greatest success has been my ability to encourage
and empower fellow refugees to have a voice”
Omar Bah, 2013 Refugee Academy Participant and
Trainer for 2014 Refugee Academy.
We’ve been through a lot together!
PRM housing crisis support in 2009
Doubled R&P grant in 2010, continued increases
Iraqi refugees & SIV program
Floor Funding
Refugee provisions in immigration reform
Stopped cuts to ORR & MRA for 3 years in a row
Unaccompanied children
Reprogrammed funds
Trafficking Victims Protection Act
Anti-refugee sentiment
Three pro-refugee bills
Building a Movement
Celebrate wins
Deepen understanding of long term goals, short
term goals, strategies & tactics
Build sustainable teams
Grow political power
Community education, increasing numbers
Continual team actions, events, meetings
Building relationships w/ policy makers
Civic Engagement
Congressional Update
 Congress is not active now due to the upcoming elections
 This Summer they were working to address the situation
of unaccompanied children
 The Senate failed to pass a bill that would have
increased funding for ORR and other purposes
 The House passed negative legislation that would:
 Increase enforcement but inadequately fund ORR
 Rollback anti-trafficking protections for children to deport
them more quickly
 Ban any renewal or expansion of DACA (Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals)
 The House also introduced legislation that would
negatively impact the asylum system
ORR Funding
 “Refugee and Entrant Assistance” account in the Labor / HHS bill
 Historically underfunded, education needed
 Increases in unaccompanied children, asylum seekers & identified
trafficking survivors necessitate urgent need for increases in account
to keep services at current level
 In June, ORR reprogrammed $94 million from refugee services to care
for the increase in unaccompanied immigrant children. $22.5 million
was later replenished
 The short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) would allow ORR and other
agencies to spend more than their 2014 pro-rated around between
October 1 and December 11 2015
 ORR Announced on September 18th that all funds will be replenished
 Congress will have to pass a longer-term funding bill before December
11. This bill should provide ORR at least $2.18 Billion in FY 2015 to
adequately fund services to meet the needs of unaccompanied
children, refugees, asylees, and all populations in ORR’s care, and
prevent any future cuts.
Unaccompanied Children
 2004-2011: 7,000 and 8,000 annually
 2013: 24,000 children, 2014: 60,000 children
 More girls, younger children arriving, more victims of trauma
 Fewer Mexicans, more from Guatemala, El Salvador & Honduras
 Asylum requests by Guatemalans, Hondurans & Salvadorans in
Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize increased by
712 percent since 2009, even more fleeing internally
 Recent data from Syracuse University shows that 79.5% of
children released to a relative are showing up for court - and
even more - 95.1% are showing up when they have a lawyer.
Trafficking Victims Protection Act
 The TVPRA passed both chambers of Congress by unanimous
consent and was signed into law by President Bush to keep
children from being returned back into the hands of traffickers
and gangs.
 Changes to the TVPRA would mean that children would not
have a meaningful opportunity to have their story heard, apply
for asylum, or be cared for by child welfare personnel, and
would be deported to life-threatening situations.
 More than 300 faith-based organizations and 4,000 people of
faith have urged Congress and the Administration to uphold
these protections, supported by 70% of the public.
Current Asks
 Increase funding for ORR: $2.18 billion
 Reject rollbacks to the Trafficking Victims Protection




Act (TVPRA)
Protect the U.S. asylum system
Support international programs to reduce reasons why
children have to flee
Protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Administratively expand Deferred Action and stop
deportations
Refugee Legislation
Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act, H.R. 651
Rep. Ellison (D-MN-5)
 Admit refugees as LPRs
 Expand MG, R&P, case management
 Domestic resettlement emergency fund
Refugee Protection Act, S. 645 and H.R. 1375
Sen. Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Lofgren (D-CA-14)
 Eliminate one-year filing deadline
 Protect refugee families
 Authority to designate groups for resettlement (“Lautenberg”)
Domestic Refugee Resettlement Reform & Modernization Act
Rep. Peters (D-MI-14), Rep. Stivers (R-OH-15) H.R. 1784,
Sen. Stabenow (D-MI), Sen. Collins (R-ME) S. 883
 Elevates ORR within the HHS bureaucracy
 Allows formula state funding to include projected arrivals
 Helps with data collection & assistance to secondary migrants
Refugee Provisions in CIR
All refugee provisions in the original bill S.744 remained:
 Elimination of the 1-year filing deadline
 Family reunification provisions for refugee
families
 Authority to designate certain groups of
humanitarian concern for resettlement
 Extension of the Afghan and Iraqi SIV programs
 Provisions to help stateless individuals gain LPR
status
 Representation at overseas refugee interviews
and improves “Request for Review” process
Gradually Build Champions
 Assess where each of your policy makers are
 Do they know who refugees are?
 Have they met a refugee?
 What are their misperceptions?
 Determine how to best engage each policy maker
 Who are the best messengers?
 What are the best messages?
 Start with an “easy ask” – meeting a refugee,
attending an event, speaking at a ceremony
 Be ready for a “hard ask” – cosponsoring a bill,
defending against anti-refugee sentiment, funding
 Serve as a resource for staff
 Attend community events
 Build a mutual relationship with staff and member
Photo Op!
What’s more patriotic than a
citizenship ceremony, or a
celebration of refugees in
your community?
Invite policy makers to:
•Conduct citizenship oath
•Teach a civics or ESL class
•Take a photo w/ refugees
•Introduce refugees
•Attend or speak at World
Refugee Day
“SPEECH!”
Empower policymakers to commit to refugees
Every Voice Heard
•Events show community support
•Share photos with policy makers &
encourage them to attend next time!
•Ask staffers and community partners to
attend events
•Make an event announcement for all to:
• Call a policymaker – right now! all
together! – sharing support for refugees
• Sign up for refugee advocacy alerts
• Write or sign letters in support of
refugees or thanking a policy maker
•Start or grow an advocacy team!
Meet with your Reps & Senators
 Meeting with your Representatives and Senators
and their staff is critical to educating them about the
vital role that refugees play in your communities
 The ideal group for such a meeting will include a
refugee who can share a powerful story, the director
of an agency or a case manager who knows the ins
and outs of program work, a faith leader, a business
leader, a volunteer or respected community member
 Who you are. Why you care. What you want.
 Compelling. Concrete. Concise.
Civic Engagement
 Civic engagement is a key component of integration
 Civic engagement is part of our mission to build
welcoming communities
 Non-profit civic engagement work is non-partisan, and
does not endorse any candidate or political party
 Voter registration, Ride coordination, Get Out the Vote
calling & door knocking with partners
 Lifting up political power of refugees for change
 www.rcusa.org/WRD2014
Core Principles of Organizing

What are we changing?
How does our work for welcoming communities and
refugee and immigrant rights win or create concrete
improvements in people’s lives?

What are we building?
How are we creating and sustaining teams of people
who can take action together for change?
Team: What it is...
A group of people that is connected by…..
 Shared Passion
 Love of People
 Vision for Change
 Commitment to work together
to bring that change about
Step 1: Internal Assessment
 What am I passionate about? Why? What in
my life journey has brought about this
passion?
 What policy changes (national and local) would you
and your community like to see?
 How could I see my community working to
be part of bringing that change about?
 What does being an “advocate” mean to you?
Step 2: One on One Relationship
Building
 Face to face
 Intentional conversation, not an
interview
 Listening for passion, vision, stories
 Work together to identify others
 Find a Partner!
 Who is one person who
might most share your
vision and help you
build / energize a Team?
Step 3: Grow your Team!
Domino Effect of 1 on 1 meetings!
 Who else might care / be interested?
 Ask: can you now reach out to 3-5
more people?
 Set a timeline for a Team meeting
Step 4: Bring the team together
 Goal: solid group of 8-10 people
 Create a common vision: One year from now, what are
our hopes and expectations?
 Create an action plan: How do we build toward that?
 Who are natural allies who can be energized into being
advocates?
 Decide on next steps
Sample Advocacy Calendar
Oct – Dec: ORR funding letters, meetings; civic
engagement stories, events
Jan – May: Team building, community education,
expanding base
June: World Refugee Day events, meetings
July – Sept: Meetings with members of congress,
letters, emails, calls
Resources
 Toolkits for congressional visits:
 Refugee Council USA: rcusa.org/wrd2014
 Interfaith Immigration Coalition:
www.interfaithimmigration.org/wp-content/uploads/
2013/01/IIC_NEIGHBOR_to_NEIGHBOR_Toolkit_01.pdf
 Information on Senators, Representatives, Committees:
www.senate.gov and www.house.gov
 We send updates on legislation as part of the Monday
bulletin. Sign up for advocacy alerts:
 cwsglobal.org/speakout
 bit.ly/refugeeadvocacy
 www.interfaithimmigration.org
 Join quarterly National Refugee Advocacy Calls. Next
Call: 12:00 PM EST Friday, November 7th.