Over the past five years, Iowa has resettled 10,000 refugees, mostly from Burma. Now the state legislature is looking to pass a bill that would provide the necessary funding to expand aid to resettled refugees in the state through a partnership between AmeriCorps and Iowan refugee groups.
The partnership is called RefugeeRISE (Rebuild, Integrate, Serve, Empower) and looks to provide refugees with the proper skills to resettle and thrive in their new surroundings. Many of the Burmese refugees in Iowa — a relatively conservative state — have integrated into the local workforce and helped stimulate the state’s economy after finding work at meatpacking and food processing plants.
With the legislation, Iowa sets itself apart from many other states in the country, where local politicians are attempting to disrupt refugee resettlement. In February, Arizona’s House passed a law allowing the state to reject aiding the resettlement of refugees. Florida has also deliberated over a law to use military force to keep out non-Western immigrants, while South Carolina’s state senate passed a law requiring Syrian refugees to register their personal information with the state so it can be posted online for all to see.
The pending bill in Iowa’s state legislature “would provide $350,000 in state money and help RefugeeRISE qualify for $650,000 in federal matching money to keep going,” the Des Moines Register reported. “Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, a sponsor of the bill, said the Iowa Senate approved the funding, but the House has not yet acted on it. She said she and other legislators are trying to find room in the state’s tight budget to keep the legislation alive.”
RefugeeRISE began in September of last year and pairs a refugee with a native English speaker. The English speaker then acts as a guidance counselor to the refugee, providing them with education, self-sufficiency training, and counseling services.
“This is a huge population who are willing to work hard, raise families, build homes and set down roots in Iowa,” Amy Doyle, a supervisor for the program in Des Moines, told the Register. “Why would we not want to give them the assistance they need?”
The Register reported that, “[t]he vast majority [of refugees] — 75 percent — find work within six months. Research shows that those who have access to services are more likely to become self-sufficient sooner.”
Before the current bill, some state lawmakers proposed a statewide program that would see integrated refugees pay forward their newly learned talents by pairing them with fresh refugees. Budget restrictions, however, led Gov. Terry Branstad (R) to decline the legislation that would have provided refugees with more translators for legal proceedings and more English language courses.
Iowa isn’t the only state that regularly puts refugees to work. Utah — another state with conservative leanings — recently took steps to welcome refugees, while many other states leaders’ called to suspend Syrian refugee resettlement.
“Of about 70,000 refugees who arrived in the U.S. annually in recent years, the State Department has sent about 1,100 to Utah a year, the majority from Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia,” the Wall Street journal reported. “Roughly as many relocate to Utah from other states, drawn by a thriving economy — its 3.4% jobless rate is below the national average — and a welcoming environment.”