Rich International Rescue Committee gets richer
with grants for refugee gardens, by Ann Corcoran 4/24/18
It
is that time of year when homeowners and hobby gardeners are out with high
hopes for their small crops of spinach, beans and tomatoes.
It
is also the time of the year we can expect warm and fuzzy stories about how
refugees are gardening with the help of their federal
resettlement contractors and your tax dollars!
Refugee gardeners in Tucson.
This
story from
Baltimore reminded me that I haven’t mentioned this additional source of payola
for refugee contractors—-Refugee
Agricultural Partnership grants—lately.
In
addition to the per head refugee payment the contractors receive to place
refugees, there are myriad grant programs available for the nine contractors
and their subcontractors to keep their coffers full.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement actually
gives out hundreds of thousands of dollars (about $1.5 million in the latest
allotment) to the contractors (the VOLAGs) to help refugees plant gardens.
In
Baltimore we learn that gardens run by the International Rescue Committee connect
refugees to the earth, their cultures and their neighbors (or so we are told).
Keep
reading to learn exactly how much this all costs you, and who is raking in the
big bucks!
Here
is the ‘news’ at something called Resilience:
One
of the first points of contact for refugees entering the U.S. is often
the International Rescue
Committee (IRC), a nonprofit that resettles nearly 10,000 refugee cases
annually [this year they aren’t placing 10,000-ed] and
helps them with everything from navigating new kitchen appliances to finding
jobs and learning English. This work gives refugees a good start, but from
there, they still face perhaps one of the most difficult parts of the process:
becoming a part of their new community.
The
IRC began its New Roots program about 10 years ago in the hopes of using
agriculture and community gardening to support refugees in rebuilding their
lives and livelihoods.
The
program works in shared gardens in cities across the United States, giving
refugees the opportunity to strengthen existing skills in gardening, to
preserve their culinary identity by growing
culturally relevant foods, and, in some cases, to participate
in farmers markets.
One
participating city was Baltimore, where the IRC started up a small network of
shared refugee-focused gardens by working with local churches and the Goodnow
Community Center. The gardens, in churchyards and on the lawns surrounding
active community hubs, quickly became busy with refugees looking to connect
with nature, grow their own crops, and plug into the local food system.
But the spaces soon transcended these uses — in addition to the crops
the refugees were planting, Baltimore’s gardens began to nurture a sense of
social cohesion among residents.
Reading
between the lines at Resilience gives
us a hint that something wasn’t going smoothly, but that isn’t my purpose in
writing this post. We are never going to be told about the failures and waste
of money.
I
want readers to know (because ‘Resilience’ won’t
say it) that they are very expensive veggies these refugees are growing, and
contractors, like the IRC, manage the hundreds of thousands of federal dollars
to grow some culturally relevant food!
Read
about the IRC’s Growing New Roots where
we learn that….“…. refugees are able to reconnect with their
agrarian roots. By participating in community gardening, they have a safe space
to hone their agricultural skills, grow their own food and engage with the
local community.”
Imagine
what kind of gardening you could do with this kind of money! And, it looks like
the IRC (“Moneybags” Miliband) has a corner on this grant
program! IRC gobbled up 4 of the available grants that expire next year.
Sure
hope the Trump people are advising the contractors that refugee gardening is a sweet idea to be
carried out by PRIVATE CHARITY!
15
Refuge Agencies got $100,000 grants for gardens. These grants end 9/29/19.
See past posts on refugee
gardening on
your dime!
Comments
Federal grants for gardens is crazy.
We have a $21 trillion National Debt. Cities either need to assume
responsibility for community gardens or relax their HOA-type ordinances that
prohibit gardens in yards and vacant lots. This is another move by the UN
meddling in communities through UN Agenda 21. I saw these community gardens in
Germany in 1993.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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