Bowling Green, KY “stakeholder” meeting
was informative,
by
Ann Corcoran 12/20/17
“any resettlement agency
that resettles less than 100 (refugees) in principle they are supposed to close
their doors.” - Albert Mbanfu
I sure hope some concerned citizens
were permitted to attend the meeting and hear all this personally!
For new readers, the resettlement
contractor working near you is supposed to hold quarterly consultations in the
community, but often block taxpaying citizens from attending, saying they are
not “stakeholders.”
I say that the taxpayers are the ultimate stakeholders!
As I read this story, in the Bowling
Green Daily News, I wondered if anyone ever mentions that terrible case
a few years ago where two Iraqi refugees were arrested and ultimately sentenced for planning
Islamic terror right there in Bowling Green.
Here is the Bowling Green Daily News (again we hear about resettlement contractor USCRI which I mentioned in my earlier post today.)
At its current rate, the International Center of Kentucky in Bowling
Green doesn’t expect to meet its goal of resettling 300 refugees before the end
of the fiscal year Sept. 30.
“As of today, we have about 36,”
Albert Mbanfu, the center’s executive director, told a group of refugee
resettlement partners Monday during a meeting at the center.
Mbanfu called that amount “by far
the lowest number that we’ve ever resettled in a three-month period.”
During the meeting Monday, representatives
from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s office, the Bowling Green Independent School
District and other resettlement stakeholders reviewed data on the previous
fiscal year’s refugee arrivals. [Glad
to hear that Paul is on it, but where was Mitch McConnell’s office rep?—ed]
Between October 2016 and September
2017, the center saw 287 refugee arrivals. Of those, 194 – or 68 percent –
arrived during the first quarter of fiscal year 2017. Somalis made up the largest group of arrivals
at 114 with
refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo just behind at 75.
The average number of days for refugee
job placement was 112, and the 90-day job retention rate was 92 percent.
The top four employers
were Perdue [BIG CHICKEN!—ed], ARC Automotive, Trace Die Cast and Kroger.
Also at the meeting, Mbanfu brought up an issue with the low number of
refugees the International Center at Owensboro is resettling.
“Basically, any resettlement agency that resettles less than 100
(refugees) in principle they are supposed to close their doors,” he said.
Mbanfu said the International Center is working with the U.S. Committee
for Refugees and Immigrants to raise those numbers.
A scrum to behold? I can see it now—there must be fierce fighting going on among the nine
federal contractors as they bid for bodies—paying refugee clients—in a smaller
pool than they have ever had.
I would love to be a fly on the wall
at one of those US State Department weekly meetings when they divvy-up the
incoming refugee cases!
Mbanfu is obviously putting a lot of
confidence in his contractor USCRI and Lavinia Limon’s skills as she throws her weight around at the DOS.
BG News continues….In a follow-up
interview, Mbanfu said that because the site is the only one in its area, it
has a greater chance of staying open. He said the USCRI supports keeping the
location open and that he’s confident it will help raise the location’s
arrivals. More here.
We have a lot from there because it
too had problems (USCRI had problems!) with refugees being placed in
substandard housing a few years ago.
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