User:Aliciageng1/sandbox

= Refugee Transitions = RT is a nonprofit organisation that is based in Oakland, working with refugees from all over the world in many aspects. The main goal is to help families that have just come to America become self-sufficient and settle into the new land.

Area
Immigration to the United States

Since I will be working with children of refugee or immigrant families, immigration to the United States is the area that I will be focusing on. The 'effects of immigration' will be the more specific area that I will be focusing on, as my PE org centres around immigrant families that are working on becoming self-sufficient both economically and socially. As my program is helping women gain learning opportunities by taking care of their young children while they are in adjacent classrooms taking classes.

Third country resettlement

Resettlement is my sector because RT works closely with resettlement programs that help both the children and the adults in newcomer families. There are multiple programs that target different aspects of resettlement that these families may have difficulties with.

Immigration to the United States
This article is a very dense article that contains a plethora of information about the immigration to the US. Although it is long, there are many different subsections that help separate each topic clearly, so it is easy to navigate. The language used within the article is very neutral. The way the editors have made sure that the tone stays very neutral about topics such as demographics, crime, or education is through the use of statistics. Many of the points are backed up with a statistic and doesn't include opinions about the region, but rather lets the reader form their own assumptions based on these statistics. These statistics are also from a huge amount of reliable sources with authoritative publications, meaning it's not likely to be drawn from a platform or medium that is open for opinions such as blogs.

Third country resettlement

This article is not as dense as the first article that I evaluated and most of the article is made up of the large table for 'Resettlement Departures'. The information that is provided for the Resettlement Programs is short and the language or tone used is very neutral. A large portion of the information is made up of statistics that are derived from credible sources. There is a section called 'Biases in the selection process' that uses slightly less neutral language. For example, the sentence that says, "Chairmen can help making up stories or can ignore real security issues." came off as subtly accusatory to me. I also feel as though this section could be edited to use more neutral language rather than just attempting to remove the accusatory tone by using the word 'may' over and over again. Looking at the source that these sentences were derived from, it is a scholarly article that is credible but I feel as though the information was drawn out from this article in a way that makes the refugees seem deceiving and dishonest, rather than desperate for shelter and resettlement due to reasons beyond their control.

Area
Growing Up American: The Challenge Confronting Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants

This article discusses the immigrant experiences of children in the United States. As immigrant children make up 15% of America’s total population of children, research that draw upon their experiences are important. This article discusses the trends in reception that these children encounter; the experience can range from smooth acceptance to traumatic confrontation.

Unraveling the Immigrant Paradox

This article presents data that demonstrates the patterns of academic engagement and achievement of immigrant youth. As education is a huge part of the immigrant experience, this article provides crucial information on the factors that contribute to the levels of engagement. The data suggests that the most significant factor is the supportive relationships that mediate the academic engagement and outcomes of immigrant youth.

The Schooling of Children of Immigrants: Contextual effects on the educational attainment of the second generation

This article discusses the patterns found in levels of academic and achievement of students of immigrant family backgrounds. It shows that Mexican origin students display the most significant levels of disadvantages in academics in their schools. The possible explanation for this is also examined further into the article

This would provide some crucial information about the educational inequalities, especially in the aspect of immigrant families. This article would help me provide information in the specific section about ‘Latino students and college preparedness’.

Sector
Supporting refugee students in schools: what constitutes inclusive education

This study investigates the role of education as an institution and its role in helping refugee children settle into their new host countries through examining the involuntary migration and the inclusion difficulties that refugees face. The case studies of four different schools analyse the different inclusive approaches that were developed at each school to accommodate for the needs of young people from refugee backgrounds. Good practice or ethos of refugee education include 3 main discourses: a welcoming environment (free of racism), need to meet psycho-social needs (especially if there is trauma), and linguistic needs.

Refugee economic self sufficiency: an exploratory study of approaches used in office of refugee resettlement programs

This literature has a lot of information on strategies used to promote employment such as administrative approaches, pre-employment training, job placement and follow ups, English language training, etc. There is also a section that discusses three big programs: Individual Development Account Program, Microenterprise Development Program, and Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program, which helps me find information to use in the non state resettlement program section that I’m planning to add.

A Qualitative Comparison of the Effectiveness of Private and Public Refugee Resettlement Programs: The San Diego Case

This article conducts a qualitative evaluation through interviews of San Deigo’s Country’s Catholic Charities’ Wilson/Fish Demonstration Project (W/F). These refugees has ben resettled by the WF and they were compared to the refugees under San Diego’s Country Department of Social Services’ Refugee Employment Services System (RESS). This information is significant because it compares the efficacy of a public and private program that aids the resettlement of refugees.

Refugee Resettlement in the United States: The Role of the Voluntary Agencies

This article is a useful source because it evaluates some of the programs or organisations that aid refugee resettlement in the United States. There is a section on the partnerships between the federal government and the private agencies that provides useful information on the institutionalised help for the displaced. This article also informs me about the role of the voluntary agencies such as instructing refugees in the naturalisation process, coping with the resettlement problems of adjustment and acculturation, as well as the role of the public sector providing funds for some of the services that are provided for these programs.

Article Selection
Area

I've decided to select 'Immigration to the United States' as my article that I will be working on. This article is relevant to the PE org because I will be working with immigrants, refugees, or other kinds of newcomers to the country. The Immigration to the United States article is an incredibly dense article with a lot of information on these immigrants, but I am especially interested in the immigrant experience. As I have conducted research on the immigrant experience, specifically with the youth migrant population, I will be adding onto the 'Social' element under the 'Effects of immigration' subheading of the article. More specifically, I will be adding to the Education subheading, as there is very little information.

Sector

The program that I am working with is helping women increase their self sufficiency by taking their young children and providing them with classes in an adjacent classroom. My org helps provide multiple classes of literacy, vocational English, job training or interview skills, and others. These programs are part of the private sector, as these are non-governmental organisations, but the article 'Third Country Resettlement' doesn't have much information on the private sectors or voluntary agencies that help refugee resettlement.

Refugee Transitions
Main Goal: to aid newcomers in resettlement, not limited to refugees, applies to immigrants in general

Education Programs

There are multiple programs that have been established all around the Bay Area that help both the youth and adults with educational opportunities that help them become more self-sufficient.

After-School Programs

I am working at the after-school programs that provide the newcomer students with individualised support and mentorship from trained staff. The school I'm going to be working at is the Oakland International School where 100% of the students are not native English speakers. These students are also likely to come from families with low socioeconomic status. This program helps them develop a sense of belonging, provides leadership opportunities, and helps the youth build supportive relationships. Our summer early childhood program is for pre-school aged students and we will be creating activities and playing while their mothers are attending classes in an adjacent classroom. By offering this program, these immigrant mothers are able to attend classes that aid their self-sufficiency in this new country.

Area
From the sources I found, I have gathered a lot of information about the overall experience of immigrants, especially amongst the youth. My scholarly articles were mostly about the experience of immigrant children in regards to their education and academic success. In the article, "Growing up American: The Challenging Confronting Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants", it says that children that have poorly education immigrant parents often reside in neighbourhoods filled with crime and violence, a disruptive social environment. There is a lot of discrimination that comes with a particular skin colour or racial type in the United States that becomes an obstacle in not only their academic careers, but also their daily lives. There is a lot of data that shows the lack of social mobility especially in children of immigrant Latino or African families. Studies have shown that these minority children have suffered from unequal distribution of economic and educational resources that are often concentrated in the isolated ghettos. However, there is a lot of data surrounding the outstanding performance of immigrant children of Asian backgrounds, such as Chinese or Cambodian.

Sector
There are programs in the public sector that provide aid in refugee resettlement such as the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Reading the source published by the ORR was eye-opening, as it delineates some of the key factors that help refugees find employment. I have also learned that successful refugee resettlement is important for future refugee admissions. Nonprofit voluntary agencies (VOLAGS) have become essential to the refugee resettlement programs and have become partnerships with the public sector. From my sources, it shows that the diversity and heterogeneity of the VOLAGS has been a huge advantage to refugee resettlement, building bridges from immigrants to acceptance to successful resettlement.

4.3 Social (change to section 5 for reorganisation purposes)
[ADD] The immigrant children are usually accepting of the American culture and become immersed in their sociocultural environment quickly, generally adjusting faster than immigrant adults. However, the difficulty retaining their ethnic identities can serve as a disadvantage to these children. Middle-class immigrant children are able to acculturate and assimilate during a short transition. Immigrant children of low socioeconomic status may struggle with forces of assimilation that are derived from the underprivileged segments of the ethnic hierarchy of social inequality in the United States. These forces of assimilation may come from the social environment that is full of crime and violence in underprivileged neighbourhoods and by cultivating their own ethnic ties, they may actually be at more advantage. Their ethnic ties to their ethnic communities may propagate behaviours that help them build resilience and resistance to these negative forces of assimilation.

Mexican immigrants have the lowest average levels of education and occupational skills of any sizeable immigrant group in the United States. These immigrants also experience a lot of negative reception by the host society and government. The presence of poor and poorly education Mexicans reinforces strong stereotypes in the society, heightening the negative reception. Mexican-origin students suffer from low achievement levels, and also a higher risk of dropping out of school, as studies show that the just the Mexican ethnic origin raises the probability of dropping out by approximately 5.5%.

4.3.1.3 Education（Under Discrimination)
[ADD] Adolescence experience differs greatly cross-culturally and it is important for the immigrant adolescence to feel valued and accepted in their new community. Often the Western notions of 'normative adolescent behaviour' hinder this sense of belonging, causing damage to their self-esteem. Students are not taught these cultural differences, having to learn the difference between acceptable behaviour in their previous schools in their native countries and their new schools. Teachers and administrators are also not aware of these cross-cultural differences, as they are often not trained thoroughly in these areas. Schools can bridge these cultural gaps by having more cultural awareness days in which these immigrant students can 'tutor' other peers and faculty staff on their language and cultural traditions.

5.2.1 Immigrant Education
[ADD] As immigrant children make up 15% of America’s total population of children, research that draw upon their experiences are important. Along with an increase of immigrant students, the schools in the United States are also faced with a growing number of students needing extra resources to accommodate for English not being their native language, such as English second language classes (ESL). There are characteristics of secondary schools outlined that hinder the success of immigrant students. This includes: fragmented school days and ESL programs where teachers in separate departments lack communication with each other, complex system of courses and graduation requirements for college entrance, the way that schools place students in grades according to age rather than ability, and the inadequate methods used to document academic achievement.

Immigrant adolescents that are not native English speakers face a series of critical transitions whilst attempting to succeed academically. They are not only facing the crucial developmental period from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, they are also facing the transitions from their native country to the United States. Within the schooling system, they are also coping with transitions from ESL classes to content area classes, and transitions from high school to college education or work. Re-conceptualised knowledge about schooling, learning, and teaching must be applied to address these transitions to ensure smooth transitions and promote resettlement success. This includes cultivating organisational relationships, providing access to information, cultivating relationships within the schools, and creating multiple pathways into secondary education and beyond. Another way of preparation for these immigrant students is to have teaching styles that teach both language and academic content and train teachers to know more about second language and literacy development and cross-cultural issues. However, most classroom teachers, counsellors, and administrators do not have thorough training in these areas and have limited opportunities to obtain this knowledge.

2.1 Biases in the selection process
[ADD] The selection process may be hard for children and young adults. According to the Lost Boys of Sudan study, 74% of the 304 surveyed Sudanese refugees in the local refugee foster care programs affiliated with the US Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program reported that they found immigration interviews and processing emotionally difficult.

5.2 United States
[ADD] The United States has an Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) that aids the refugees in resettlement through programs that provide them with critical resources that help them become integrated members of the American society.

In a recent exploratory study of approaches used in ORR Programs, they identified a number of key factors that contributes to successful employment: 1) pre- and post-employment services, 2) individualised goal-oriented approaches with each refugee, 3) culturally diverse staff, 4) refugees that are survivors with high levels of motivation, 5) clear message about the ORR's mission statement in all programs, and 6) proper coordination among refugee providers and between refugee and mainstream services at the system level. The ORR has also identified a number of areas of improvement in these programs such as need for understanding of employment structure of the community by refugee service agencies, more focus on the difficult to employ, increased creativity in identifying job opportunities and overcoming barriers, creating more appropriate levels of subsidy and training for each position, more understanding of cultural issues that influence program design, etc.

[CHANGE] Original Sentence: This year (FY 2018) the number is set at 45,000, which is the lowest it has been in history after the brief period after 9/11.

Updated Sentence: This year (FY 2019) the number dropped from 45,000 to 30,000, which is the lowest it has been in history after the brief period after 9/11.