2 AGENCIES ARE ACTIVE IN RESETTLING

New grant designed to help new arrivals become self-sufficient.

Given the relatively small number of refugees arriving in Indiana -- fewer than 4,000 in the past decade in a state of more than 6 million -- it is difficult to identify refugees' influence on the state.

Exodus and Catholic Social Services are the only two Indianapolis agencies resettling refugees. Both help new arrivals find jobs and housing, enroll children in school and find language classes. Jobs and housing are fairly easy to find, but most programs in English as a Second Language have waiting lists.

Joyce Overton, director of refugee programs for Catholic Social Services, said her agency recently received a Preferred Communities/Placement Program grant from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.

The grant program encourages agencies to help refugees become self-sufficient. Overton said the grant would enable the agency to train and recruit more volunteers, who can help with cultural adjustment and handle a larger influx of refugees.

"What we've been told is that the people that will be coming soon will require more specific and hands-on assistance and for a longer period," said Overton, who has worked with refugees since 1978.

"What we're hoping with our new preferred communities grant is that we have more individuals and churches and community groups involved so that they'll be able to assist families more and stay with them for a longer period of time," she said.

Sylvia Robles, executive director of Exodus, the Indianapolis affiliate of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program, spoke about refugees in Indianapolis.

"We have a large Burmese refugee resettlement here. We have a lot of Bosnians. We have a small group of Iranian Bahais, and then we have African cases -- I think this year we've had Sudanese, Liberians (and) Congolese," she said.

"We had a manufacturing company that was looking for employees, and they went together with a church . . . but mostly it's church organizations that are willing to help them."

The two agencies have small staffs and rely on sponsoring groups -- usually churches -- to help.

Catholic Social Services gets 90 percent of its funding from the federal government; Exodus gets 80 percent. The rest comes from churches, private foundations and individuals.

Both agencies also receive discretionary federal grants, Robles said. The money "helps them get resettled for the first 30 days, and then we have an employment contract, which helps them for an additional three months."

Despite the desire to make the city more accommodating to refugees, the numbers are down and aren't likely to increase soon.

Due to new security measures since Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a sharp drop in new arrivals. Exodus has resettled 135 individuals this year, compared with almost 400 last year, while Catholic Social Services has resettled 11 in the Indianapolis archdiocese.

Robles fears that America is losing its tradition of accepting refugees.

"It looks like a very grim year coming up -- 2003 does not look any better than 2001 or 2002, and I hate to think it but maybe this part of our history has just disappeared."

On a brighter note, Robles shared one success story.

"We have a case here of a Liberian family that fled in 1992 and sat in a camp in Ghana for eight years and were denied refugee status . . . three different times. The fourth time they applied, they were processed and came to us. This Thanksgiving, they are going to close on their Habitat House that was just built."

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Refugee populations

The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement looks at several issues in designating preferred communities for resettlement. Among those issues are housing availability, unemployment rates and cost of living.

Vancouver, British Columbia

Provincial population: 3,858,730

Humanitarian cases in 2001: 4,898

Unemployment rate: 7.7%

Lincoln, Neb.

State population: 1,711,263

State refugee arrivals 1991-2000: 3,764

State unemployment rate: 3.2%

Minneapolis-St. Paul

State population: 4,919,479

State refugee arrivals 1991-2000: 25,632

State unemployment rate: 3.9%

Indianapolis

State population: 6,080,485

State refugee arrivals 1991-2000: 3,788

State unemployment rate: 5%

Staff graphic

Sources: 2002 INS Statistical Yearbook; 2001 Statistical Overview; 2000 American Factfinder; U.S. Dept. of Labor

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Melissa Tuckman, 16. REPORTERS: Chris Reissaus, 13, Zach Tuchman, 14, and Andrea Phillips, 14.