Center for Intercultural Organizing

Letter in opposition to TANF cuts

Andrew — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:17:35 +0000

CIO opposes proposed cuts to TANF refugee services funding

As part of its budget reduction package for the rest of the 2011-13 biennium, the Oregon Department of Human Services has proposed a cut of $450,000 to TANF funding for refugee services, effectively reducing the budget for these services by half over the remainder of the biennium. Because of the vital role this funding plays in helping our communities transition to life in the United States, the Center for Intercultural Organizing strongly opposes the proposed cuts to TANF refugee services, and urges the state to reconsider.

Refugees come to the United States for many reasons: they may be fleeing religious, racial, or ethnic persecution; escaping a dangerous or unstable political environment; or otherwise leaving their home country because of a very real threat of harm to themselves or their families. Refugee resettlement services, as guided by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, are designed to assist these displaced individuals and communities in successfully transitioning to life in the United States.

TANF funding, specifically, is designed to help individuals achieve economic independence as quickly as possible. At the base level, this funding is designed to provide employment training and placement for newly-arrived refugees, as well as opportunities to acquire English language skills. These programs are designed to allow participants to live a wholly self-sufficient life in the United States, and are extremely successful. If we consider recent data on newly-arrived refugees receiving TANF between October 2009 and January 2012, we see that over 55% found unsubsidized employment within two years. Most of these refugees were able to end their TANF assistance after finding stable employment, and many more reduced the benefit level they had been receiving.

We implore the Department of Human Services and the Legislature to reconsider these devastating cuts to Oregon’s safety net program for refugees. Cutting our already-modest investment in these TANF services will irreparably harm the ability of newly-arrived refugees to achieve economic self-sufficiency, and could even lead to the programs’ elimination.

Respectfully submitted,

Kayse Jama, Executive Director
Andrew Riley, Public Policy Director

BOLD application

Andrew — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:17:34 +0000

APPLICATION for the Beaverton Organizing and Leadership Development Training
Deadline: 5:00 PM on Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Send application to Taj Suleyman at taj@interculturalorganizing.org or mail/drop off to:
700 N. Killingsworth Street
Portland, Oregon 97217

APPLY ONLINE!

Or, please answer all of the questions below and email or send answers to the address above.

Name

Address:

City State Zip Code

Email Address:

Phone Numbers: Home ________________________________ Work _______________________________ Mobile ________________________________

Do you live or work in Beaverton: Yes _______ No _______

In order to make the Cultural Community Liaison Training Program inclusive for all participants, we need to know some basic information about you.

Gender: Male / Female Age: __________ Ethnicity: _____________________________________________________________________________

I am a:
____ U.S. Born Citizen
____ Naturalized Citizen
____ Immigrant
____ Refugee
____ Other

Country of Origin: _____________________________________________ Native Language: __________________________________________________

Other Language(s): _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Will you need language interpretation to effectively participate in the Beaverton Cultural Liaisons Training Program? ____Yes ____ No

CIO and the City of Beaverton is looking for as diverse a pool of candidates as possible, including those who have had little formal education.

What is the highest level of education you have completed? (U.S. equivalent)

__Elementary
__Middle school
__High school
__Some college
__Four year degree college
Other: ________________

Have you attended any other leadership training programs in the past? If yes, please tell us about them.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Are affiliated with any community based organization? If so which organization(s)?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please describe your affiliation with the organization (i.e. volunteer, member, board of director, or another capacity):

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In order to get full benefit of the program, we are requiring all participants to commit to participate the entire program. Are you available these dates:

March 27th, 2012 Yes:___ No:___ April 14th, 2012 Yes:__ No:___ April 28th, 2012 Yes:___ No:____

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CIO’s 2012 Legislative Agenda

Andrew — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:32:25 +0000

Legislative agenda: 2012 short session

As we move into the short 2012 legislative session, health care and economic vitality are on the top of everyone’s priority list, and Oregon’s immigrant & refugee communities are no different. The Center for Intercultural Organizing, a statewide community-based advocacy organization, offers the following list of legislation that would impact – positively or negatively – our communities.

We ask legislators to SUPPORT the following legislation with a beneficial impact:

Senate Bills 1509 & 1580 (health care transformation)

The big-ticket item in health care legislation this session is, of course, the enabling legislation for the newly-develop Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs), and the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange. CCOs would, for the first time, integrate physical, dental, and behavioral health services for people enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan, and collect a comprehensive set of statistics about the quality of care people are receiving. These CCOs could be an opportunity to emphasize and promote culturally-competent, culturally-centered health services, and to collect data that tracks health care quality by race, ethnicity, and – key to our communities – native language, to better understand the issues faced by our communities.

Senate Bill 1522 (cultural competency)

As we talk about the critical work of transforming our health care delivery system, health equity need to be one of our main priorities. Over the last few years, report after report has shown the incredible health disparities for immigrants, refugees, and communities of color. By requiring the new CCOs’ budgets and measures of quality to take into account historical barriers to care, we can ensure that our health care system works for ALL of our communities.

We ask legislators to OPPOSE the following legislation with a negative impact:

House Bill 4052 (E-Verify)

E-Verify is a federal system designed to identify undocumented immigrants who are seeking work, to prevent them from obtaining employment. Mandating E-Verify doesn’t change the underlying issue: the broken US immigration system. Only federal, comprehensive immigration reform can do that, not piecemeal state-level legislation. E-Verify is also used, in other states and cities, as a tool to discriminate against and profile immigrants & refugees seeking work. Although this bill limits the use of E-Verify to public employees, any mandate to use this inefficient, expensive, discriminatory system is bad policy, especially in the economic climate we face.

If you have questions or comments, please contact CIO’s Public Policy Director, Andrew Riley, at andrew@interculturalorganizing.org or by calling (503) 287-4117, ext. 106.

Quick Research Notes, Vol. 1

Andrew — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:28:51 +0000

This the first in a new series entitled “Quick Research Notes,” which will focus on new research or data on immigrant & refugee issues. This week we’re looking at a report - “Undocumented Workers are Taxpayers, Too” - just released by the Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP) on undocumented immigrants’ tax burdens. Feel free to send along any questions you might have about the data to our Public Policy Director, Andrew Riley; all the references to other data sources are included in OCPP’s report as footnotes.

Research brief – Oregon Center for Public Policy report on undocumented immigrants’ tax contributions

According to reports from the Pew Hispanic Center (2010) and the USCIS (extrapolated by OCPP based on population growth from 2000 data), Oregon is home to between 110,000 and 220,000 undocumented immigrants.
The average income of these immigrants, based on the Pew Hispanic Center’s analysis of US Census data, is $36,000 per year.
OCPP estimates that the total income of undocumented immigrants in Oregon is between $2.3 and $4.5 billion.
Using models developed by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (adjusted to reflect property taxes paid by undocumented immigrants assuming all rent their homes, and exempting half of their income earned from state income taxes), OCPP estimates that undocumented immigrants contribute between $68 million and $136 million in state and local taxes (income, property, and excise taxes).
Using the same adjusted models, OCPP estimates that undocumented immigrants pay between $70 million and $140 million annually in Social Security taxes, and between $16 million & $33 million in Medicare taxes, despite being ineligible to receive benefits under either of these programs.
Based on the assumptions above, OCPP estimates that undocumented immigrants pay between $35 million and $70 million in unemployment taxes, despite being ineligible to receive unemployment benefits.

CIO Women’s Slumber Party

Andrew — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:05:58 +0000

Title: CIO Women’s Slumber Party
Description: Ladies! Slumber Party Time!!

Remember when we were teenagers and we would spend the night at our best friends’ house and have a ‘slumber party’ staying up all night and doing makeovers, telling stories, eating all night and most of all just laughing and having a great time?!

Well here it is! It’s time to have a slumber party with the awesome ladies of our community! It will be so much fun!

DATE: Saturday, February 18, 2012
TIME: Saturday, 6pm – Sunday, 12pm
PLACE: 700 N Killingsworth
Portland, Oregon

What are we doing?

Bring food! Makeovers
Fashion Show Laughing and more laughing!
Story Telling Karaoke
Games Dancing

And most of all just Community Bonding as Women!

And because of all the fun we will be having we will have blinds in the windows for privacy.

This is also a great time to bond with your mom or daughter!

Any ladies under 18 will need to be in attendance with their mother or female guardian.

What do I bring?
1) Bedding (Sleeping bag, blankets, pillows)
2) Pajamas
3) Your fun-ness!
4) Bring something for the fashion show either from your country of origin or just something glitzy!!
Start Date: 2012-02-18
Start Time: 18:00
End Date: 2012-02-19
End Time: 12:00

CIO’s Party Planning Committee is meeting this Thursday!

Andrew — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:01:09 +0000

Want to put in some volunteer hours in a fun way? Then join us in planning our Annual Party. Expertise needed for this event is far and wide. Volunteer for the day of the event only or work on behind the scenes logistics in making this a successful event!

We’re kicking off the process this Thursday, and we need your help.

CIO’s Annual Party brings together what Portland really looks like! People from all walks of life come together to celebrate our community and the work we do. It is an event you won’t want to miss and being part of the committee is a fun and amazing experience. Check out photos from last year’s party.

Come to our Kickoff Meeting and let us know how you would like to help!

Where: CIO’s office – 700 N Killingsworth St, Portland, OR 97217

When: Thursday, January 26th, 2012, from 7:30pm – 9:00pm

RSVP: Email Carmen Madrid at carmen@interculturalorganizing.org or call us at (503) 287-4117.

Thank you for supporting CIO, for supporting your community!

February First Friday gathering

Andrew — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:09:54 +0000

Title: February First Friday gathering
Description: Join us on our Next First Friday in February as we discuss as a community how we can be prosperous and support each other.

We will have special guest speakers on what it means to bid for city contracts, the value of networking and how we do business as communities of color.

Special food vendor will be Wambui from Spice of Africa.

DATE: Friday, February 3, 2012
TIME: 6pm – 9pm
PLACE: 700 N Killingsworth
Portland, Oregon 97217

Please bring a friend who may be interested in getting involved with CIO!!

Our musical entertainment will be CIO’s very own Olimpia Trusty! Not only is she our bookkeeper, but she is also a professional violinist and will serenade you from classical to other favorite tunes. Truly a treat!
Start Time: 18:30
Date: 2012-02-03
End Time: 21:30

Getting To Health Equity: Participating in Policy Change

Stephanie — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:46:45 +0000

CIO and its partner organizations are working on health equity policy in the Oregon State Legislature. Watch this video produced by Northwest Health Foundation and find out how … and why!