Agency’s refugee director resigns
GREENSBORO — The state director of refugee services resigned at Lutheran Family Services this week as the agency struggles with resettlement problems for recent Iraqi arrivals.
LFS, one of four local nonprofits that contract with the State Department to resettle political refugees from war zones, will review the number of new arrivals for 2010, agency spokeswoman Sabrina Goins said.
The nonprofit has been the subject of ongoing complaints of substandard housing and lack of services for Iraqi refugees brought to Greensboro in late 2009. But Goins said the resignation of state refugee director Kristen Lovett was voluntary and unrelated to complaints from the community. Lovett said she will be working in Ethiopia. Beginning in February, LFS CEO Suzanne Gibson Wise will spend two days each week in Greensboro.
Until a replacement for Lovett is found, the agency’s executive director, Laura Benson, will fill in.
Goins called the review of the resettlement numbers routine. “What’s going to be happening is we’re going to be revisiting the numbers to see what can be handled.”
State Refugee Coordinator Marlene Myers, who monitors the refugee picture for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said she is seeking talks with the State Department and national nonprofits on this issue. This comes after a November meeting with local volunteers who expressed misgivings about the resettlement process.
“If a community is being negatively impacted, we will plan to have conversations,” Myers said of comments she heard at the Refugee Information Network of Guilford meeting in November at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
“I took it as people being concerned about capacity. Do we have the capacity for jobs and self-sufficiency?”
About 40 percent of the state’s incoming refugees will resettle through the four local agencies, according to current projections for this fiscal year. The other local agencies include N.C. African Services Coalition, Church World Services and World Relief of High Point.
That is as many as 800 refugees, some with large families, some coming directly from the war zone. Given the Piedmont’s continuing unemployment and pressure on charities and community foundations, refugee sponsors said they felt overwhelmed by the influx.
Sponsors are still trying to assist Congo and Burmese arrivals who found themselves owing back rent and utilities last winter because they lacked jobs and financial support from sponsors. Meanwhile, the community is attempting to respond to the plight of the Iraqis at Hunters Glen Apartments.
“A pastor stood up at our very first meeting and said, 'Is there anything we can do to slow down or halt a little until we can take care of the people and absorb what we already have?’” said the Rev. Virginia Herring, assistant rector at Holy Trinity, one of the churches involved in refugee sponsorship.
“The agencies said, 'There are so many refugees. Our job is to resettle them.’ We get that. So we just kind of backed off.”
Myers said the Triangle experienced a temporary slowing of refugee arrivals last year to allow the area to catch up. The drawback is for the resettlement agencies themselves, if the slowdown lasts.
“If they don’t bring in refugees, they lose their jobs,” Herring said. “Of course, the victims in all this are the refugees.”
Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com
Want to know more?
What: Primer on the resettlement process, how and why refugees come here, and how you can help.
When: 7 p.m. Thursday.
Where: Irving Park United Methodist Church, 1510 W. Cone Blvd., Greensboro.
What: A talk on Iraqi refugees by Dr. Raleigh Bailey of the N.C. Center for New North Carolinians.
When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 26.
Where: J. Edward Kitchen Operations Center, Lake Townsend Room, 2602 S. Elm-Eugene St., Greensboro.
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