Let the Long Welcome begin: Introducing Canopy’s new Integration Unit!
Y’all…We have some exciting news. We are thrilled to announce that in January 2020, Canopy will be rolling out its brand new Integration Unit! This unit is where all of our Long Welcome activities will take place. Its mission is to help every refugee enrolled become a full, contributing member of our community through case management, education and economic empowerment.
Every refugee who enrolls in services will start by completing an integration assessment to determine where they and their family are on Canopy’s Path to Thriving. They will then work with a case manager to create a service plan that outlines their individual vision of “thriving” and sets measurable short and long-term goals to help them achieve that vision within 5 years of enrollment. Our case manager will then help them access necessary services—either in-house or with a community partner—to address those needs and goals.
This year, we’re excited to offer the following services in-house:
- Youth and Children’s Services (new!)
- Entrepreneurship Support and Asset Building (new!)
- Health Promotion
- Immigration Legal Services
- Career Advancement (new!)
we will also offer services in collaboration with community partners:
- Cultural orientation and health literacy programming
- In-home English language tutoring (thanks to the Ozark Literacy Council!)
- Mentorship and networking support (new!)
- Tax preparation and financial literacy
Once enrolled, our case manager will continue to provide follow up to ensure our families stay on track to meet their goals. Our case manager will be a resource for them as they continue to navigate the adjustment to life in the U.S.
EligibilitY:
All of our Former Refugee clients will be eligible and will have the first access to enroll. The really exciting part is we don’t have to stop there! We will also make these services available to:
- people who have been granted asylum,
- any refugees who have moved to Arkansas from other states,
- victims of trafficking
- Cuban and Haitian entrants.
We estimate that there are 250-300 eligible individuals currently, and we expect that number to continue to rise as new refugees resettle here and move here from other parts of the country—so we have our work cut out for us!
We are aiming to have 135 of eligible participants enrolled in 2020!
Meet the Unit:
The Integration Unit will be our biggest unit at Canopy, composed of 4 full-time staff members!
Joanna Krause, Director of Health and Social Integration— Formerly Canopy’s Director of Refugee Health Promotion, Joanna will be stepping into this new and expanded role! She will coordinate all social support programming within the integration unit, including case management, youth and children’s services, and health promotion.
Khalid Ahmadzai, Director of Economic Advancement— Formerly Canopy’s Director of Employment, Khalid will be turning his attention toward long-term economic advancement for our clients, overseeing our career advancement, and coordinating our entrepreneurship programming!
Ariana Aguilar, Integration Case Manager— Ariana has been involved with Canopy since its beginning, first as a volunteer, then an interpreter, then most recently, as a part-time resettlement case manager. Now, she will guide our clients along their journeys toward full integration from the time their resettlement period ends up until 5 years after arrival.
TBD, Youth and Children’s Services Coordinator —we’ll be hiring for this position in early 2020. Stay tuned!
In addition, two staff from our resettlement team will be spending part of their time in this unit as well, assisting with immigration legal services and career advancement.
After more than a year of planning and researching, our Long Welcome plan is finally becoming a reality!
How are we paying for all this, you may ask? About two thirds of it will come from private and government grants, but Canopy depends on our amazing community to help provide the remaining costs. In total, these programs and services are budgeted to cost $375,000 in the Fiscal Year 2020. That’s around $2,750 per expected client—and we are asking that $900 of that cost will come from y’all, our incredible, generous, welcoming community.
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