Celebrating Your Independence

As you celebrate Independence Day this weekend, take a moment to remember those Iraqis still in the region waiting to be resettled to the U.S. With the recent withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq’s cities, many Iraqis face the threat of renewed violence.

Please help the List Project raise awareness of the plight of our Iraqi allies this July 4th. Learn more about the crisis and about how you can help.

RefugeeWorks National Recertification Conference

The List Project attended and presented at the RefugeeWorks National Conference on Refugee Professional Recertification in Lansing, Michigan last week. The National Conference focused on the issues related to professional retraining, job seeking and recertification for refugees in the U.S. Refugee resettlement personnel, educators, refugees, employment specialists and others worked together to come up with solutions to the challenges of recertification. The List Project's presentations focused not only on the issues that our Iraqi allies are facing here in the U.S., but also on the importance of partnerships for small organizations and on the benefits of new technology. Netroots was showcased throughout the two-day conference to demonstrate the power of online social networking. The conclusions and presentations of participating organizations will be published shortly on the RefugeeWorks website.

Advocacy in Austin

June 20th, was World Refugee Day. Many cities around the country held special events in order to bring increased awareness to the plight of refugees around the world. A World Refugee Day celebration was held in Austin, Texas that was organized by the local resettlement agencies and other organizations in Austin that work with refugees.

The List Project was fortunate enough to secure a table at this event, so I came with a stack of List Project fliers, the recently published IRC report, a handful of business cards, and my laptop. I was joined by Austin resident Esther Diaz, who is a trainer for translators and interpreters that provide services to resettlement agencies. She is also a new volunteer for the List Project.

While I’ve participated in several meetings with both Iraqis and Americans who were already aware of the List Project, this was the first forum where I’ve really gotten the chance to explain the organization to Americans who had never heard of The List Project before.

I also met some Iraqis who have recently resettled in the Austin area. In contrast with the Americans I met, many of the Iraqis had actually heard of the List Project, and were very excited to meet us. Like most resettled Iraqis around the country, they are struggling to make ends meet in the current economy.

With all of the challenges our Iraqi friends are facing, it's easy to get discouraged. The needs of the community are so great, and we're trying to meet them with limited resources. After this event, however, I feel a renewed hope that many Americans can and will help out. They just need to know what's happening. They need to be reminded that life in Iraq is not "back to normal". They need someone to give a voice to the challenges that Iraqis are facing here in the United States.

Will you be that voice?

*Jeff Brown is head of the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter and the Outreach and Web Development Intern for the List Project

World Refugee Day is Saturday

This coming Saturday, June 20th, is World Refugee Day.



Organizations in many cities will be hosting events for World Refugee Day, and these events could be a great opportunity to talk to people about The List Project. I will personally be attending an event in Austin with one of our new volunteers and hopefully some TLP Iraqis from both Austin and San Antonio.

While there is no centralized location for all of the World Refugee Day events in the United States, a good place to start asking questions would be with your local resettlement agency. Many of the resettlement agencies either coordinate or sponsor some type of annual event. The IRC currently had events scheduled in Baltimore, Boise, Charlottesville, Phoenix, San Diego, San Jose, Washington DC and Tucson.

For a directory of resettlement agencies, please click here. Also, don't forget that you can go to Netroots and download List Project handouts under the "Toolkit" tab. I always like to carry a few in my vehicle, because I never know when I might get an opportunity to share the TLP story with somebody!

IRC Report on Iraqi Refugees in the U.S.

The International Rescue Committee released "Iraqi Refugees in the United States: In Dire Straits" yesterday; a follow-up on the IRC Commission's report in March 2008, "Five Years Later, A Hidden Crisis", which evaluates how resettled Iraqis are adjusting to their new lives in America.

The IRC stated that the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is "outdated and under-funded". The IRC Commission delegations traveled to Atlanta and Phoenix and found that while many Iraqi refugees expressed "deep gratitude for their safety and freedom in the U.S.," they were anxious about their future and many have been unable to find work.

The report concluded that the U.S. resettlement program is "dangerously" underfunded and that the current economic climate has highlighted the faults in the system. The U.S. goverment and Congress should take immediate action, according to the IRC Commission, by providing urgent supplemental funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration to address needs like emergency rent payments and flexibility in repayments of loans to refugees and travel expenses. Please read the IRC's report in full to learn more.

While the economic downturn has made job seeking difficult for Americans and Iraqis alike, many of the recently resettled Iraqis from our List have found meaningful, long-term employment. The List Project works with Upwardly Global to help Iraqis in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago and New York City find work. Please join us on Netroots to help our Iraqi allies settle into life in the U.S.

TLP and TLK: Raising Money For Our EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUND

The List Project is building an "Emergency Support Fund" on GLOBALGIVING!  GlobalGiving is an online marketplace that connects donors and causes around the world.  Through GlobalGiving, TLP will raise funds that will be used to help individual Iraqi families here in the U.S.

In partnering with GlobalGiving, we are furthering our philosophy of one-on-one assistance.  By raising funds for our "Emergency Support Fund", we are building on our groundbreaking pro bono project where hundreds of lawyers have given direct assistance to thousands of our Iraqi allies.  Our Fund will help recent Iraqi arrivals get a start in their new lives here in the U.S.

"IF I LOOK AT THE MASS I WILL NEVER ACT.  

IF I LOOK AT THE ONE, I WILL"    -MOTHER TERESA

We are working with The List Kids to raise at least $4,000 from 50 different donors by June 30,2009.  Once we have hit this mark, we will be given a permanent spot on GlobalGiving to spread the word and raise money for our Iraqi allies!  By donating on GlobalGiving, you can provide Iraqi children with basic school supplies, donate groceries and immediate supplies to recent arrivals, help repay Iraqis for their visa fees, and more!

Please join us today and donate on GlobalGiving.

Displaced Iraqis Are Slow to Return Home

Despite the recent decline in violence and the UNHCR recommendation that refugee status for Iraqis be individually assessed rather than granted en masse, displaced Iraqis do not feel safe enough to return home, according to a Reuters article published Tuesday.  The UNHCR had recommended that all Iraqis from the 'central and southern governorates' should receive refugee status until this May (see this Reuters article), when the Office revised their recommendation due to the decline in violence in Iraq.  The Office still advocates that those who are currently benefiting from international protection retain their status and that all returns must be on an individual and voluntary basis, however, there have been recent reports of deportation (see this BBC article).

According to the Reuters article published Tuesday, many Iraqis feel that violence will increase and security will worsen as soon as the U.S. pulls out of the cities in June.  Recent suicide bombing attacks in Iraq have brought the monthly civilian death toll up to nearly 300, the highest since November 2008.  Resettling displaced Iraqis is key to achieving peace and necessary for the future security of the country.  Leaders in Washington and Iraq must work together to find a sustainable solution in order to promote peaceful returns.

Despite the decline in violence, the List Project has not seen a decline in the number of Iraqis applying for our help.  Please see these recent reports for more information on the U.S. response to the Iraqi refugee crisis and the plight of our Iraqi Allies:

GAO Iraqi Refugee Assistance Report

Human Rights First 'Promises to the Persecuted'

Human Rights First reports on Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act

Human Rights First has issued a report detailing the progress, and in some cases, lack thereof regarding The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act which was passed in January of last year.

The report points out that "the infrastructures are established, and more than 20,000 U.S. affiliated Iraqis have made applications to the SIV (Special Immigrant Visas) and U.S. refugee resettlement programs.  However, the information we have been able to obtain indicates that processing times are long, and the number of Iraqis who have actually made it to the United States remains quite low."

The report specifically finds that of the 15,627 Iraqis that have been verified (which itself is a low number) as being affiliated in some way with the United States, only around 9 % or less than 1400 people have been resettled.  Additionally, only 960 applications to the Special SIV program have been submitted, a startling number, given that many more thousands qualify.  

The reasons behind these figures again point to the fact that Iraqis, as well as the administrators of these programs have to trudge through the bureaucracy of these historically underfunded and understaffed programs.  Furthermore, the amount of security checks and and delays related to verifying a candidates application can take in some instances years to process.  This is time which these refugees in many cases do not have.  

These lags are also complicated by the fact that in-country processing (i.e. from within Iraq) is taking longer due to the fact that the United States Embassy in Baghdad is understaffed.

There is also the fact that in states such a Syria, which has received the largest number of Iraqi refugees, there is no such mechanism for which to be granted refugee of SIV status.  Of the million plus that fled to Syria, those with hopes of making it to the United States are severely limited by the fact that relations between the two countries have been strained by the Iraq War, as well as the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

These and other observations, as well as a number of recommendations can be found in the report:

Promises to the Persecuted: The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2008

Netroots News

April has been a busy month on Netroots!  We wanted to celebrate National Volunteer Week by thanking all of our volunteers for their dedication and support and by giving you a few updates on Netroots.

Chapter News: One of our most active volunteers, Liz V., head of the Houston Chapter, was written up in the Houston Chronicle last week.  We wanted to thank Liz and the Houston Chapter for all of their wonderful work.  Liz has just left for work in Afghanistan, but another wonderful volunteer will head the group in her absence.  Please learn more about the wonderful work of the Houston Chapter in our latest e-brief and on the Chapter's website.

There to help: TLP has many active volunteers on Netroots who work hard, online and in their communities, to help Iraqis settle in.  The TLP Troubleshooters is a group of volunteers dedicated to helping Americans and Iraqis with questions and problems.   Please visit the group page!

New to Netroots: TLP and our volunteers worked on our new 'Resources' tab, which is filled with tips on how you and your community can help Iraqis in your area.  Please check out our new pages to find more information on how you can get involved!

Sky Choi and the List Kids Make the Headlines!

Sky Choi, founder of the List Kids, will be graduating high school in May, at only 12 years old, and he is already making the headlines!  Not only has Sky been dedicated to sending packages each month to recently resettled Iraqi children, but he has also earned a black belt in Tawkwondo and will be a full-time student at Florida International University in the fall.  Check out FIU's recent article  and watch a video on Sky.

Learn more about Sky's amazing work with the List Kids and about how you can help.  Donate to the List Kids today!