Catholic Charities of Minnesota drops refugee
program; will take care of poor and homeless already among us
Posted by Ann Corcoran on May 4, 2018
At least one of the major players in
Minnesota’s refugee industry has woken up and smelled the coffee—gobs of
federal money is not going to flow to the resettlement of more refugees to
Minnesota, especially Somalis, in the foreseeable future.
One
of the first questions people ask me when they first hear about the UN/US
Refugee Admissions Program and the imminent arrival of third world poverty to
their home town/city is this: Why are we doing this when we
have so many poor and homeless people right here who need care? It looks like at least Catholic
Charities is getting the message, perhaps from many faithful Catholic
parishioners (like Kate below!)!
The
primary story on the news is at the Star Tribune headlined:
Catholic Charities of St.
Paul and Minneapolis cuts refugee resettlement, adoption programs (hat
tip: Joanne) The
charity will instead focus on fighting homelessness and helping at-risk kids. But, there are many news outlets
including Radio KNSI with the story as well. I had to
laugh when I saw this comment at KNSI:
Kate
Omalley posted: Is Catholic Charities affiliated with the Catholic Church?
Reason I ask is a bad experience with one of their Refugee Resettlement
Department employees, who accused a good friend of mine of being a White
European Racist. My friend simply asked some direct questions about the
program. Since then, many of us have stopped tithing to the Catholic Church.
Here
are the highlights from the Star Tribune: Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis is dropping its refugee
resettlement and adoption programs and diving deeper into its other work,
especially programs combating homelessness and helping at-risk children.
CEO
Tim Marx unveiled the 150-year-old charity’s new priorities this week. The
dramatic pivot comes as Catholic Charities saw the number of people served
through its adoption and refugee resettlement programs dwindle. At the same
time, he said, they’ve seen demand for other services increase.
Catholic CEO Tim Marx says they must
adapt to a changing world! “If we don’t adapt to the changing world, like any
organization, we are going to be left behind,” Marx said.
“This
community needs Catholic Charities. That places a special responsibility on us
to keep up to date, to keep moving and respond to new needs.”
A
big part of that new work will focus on Catholic Charities’ St. Joseph’s Home
for Children, which is often the first stops for at-risk kids removed from
their homes by police and social workers. The charity has a long-standing
contract with Hennepin County to provide emergency shelter for kids and Marx
said it is time to refresh those programs to help the 1,100 kids in their care
each year. The nonprofit would also like to upgrade the century-old St.
Joseph’s facilities that originally operated as an orphanage.
For
new readers, not said here, but Catholic Charities/ USCCB relies on a refugee
per head payment from the US Treasury to place refugees (in case you are
wondering why they need to drop the program) and that funding is drying up.
Meanwhile,
Catholic Charities refugee resettlement program has shrunk amid changes in
federal immigration policy. It plans to shutter the program by late summer.
Last
year, the Trump administration beefed up security screening requirements and
slashed the annual refugee arrival ceiling by more than half, to 45,000
nationally.
The
changes have led to an especially marked refugee arrival slowdown in Minnesota,
traditionally one of the country’s key resettlement destinations.
The government extended a pause on arrivals from 11 countries including
Somalia — a top country for refugees coming to Minnesota — and suspended
indefinitely a family reunification program used by many refugees resettled here
to reunite with spouses and children. Since the start of the federal fiscal
year on Oct. 1, 2017, through February 2018, about 240 refugees arrived in the
state, compared to 1,180 during the same period the previous year. Read it all
here.
By
the way, one of my top posts of all time is this one about how so many Somalis got to Minnesota in the first
place—-Catholic Charities was one of three non-profits that recognized
Minnesota’s welcoming welfare as one important consideration.
For new readers….The contractors (aka VOLAGs) which includes Catholic
Charities as a subcontractor of the USCCB.
I
post the contractor list almost every day because I want new readers to know
exactly who is responsible for driving the US Refugee Admissions Program (in
addition to the UN!).
The
number in parenthesis is the percentage of the nine VOLAGs’ income paid by you (the
taxpayer) to place the refugees, line them up with (low paying) jobs in food
production and cleaning hotel rooms, and get them signed up for their services (welfare)! From
most recent accounting, here.
Ethiopian
Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular) (93%)
International
Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular) (66.5%)
US
Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular) (98%)
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment