Now you step off the elevator and some empty tables and chairs are what you see. One of the elevator cars opens and a family steps out into a vast unknown. He grins, extends a hand and escorts them to what used to be a conference room. Around the room interpreters are gathering basic information like names and ages in Arabic, Nepalese, Burmese and Kunama. One young girl clad in an Iowa Hawkeye hoodie sits patiently next to her mother, answering questions.
They arrived in America three days ago from Burma. The Welcome Center is equipped to help families new to the district. But when you add the layer of being new to the country, in many cases from refugee camps, the need has grown for more specialized services.
And the Center for New Americans has risen to meet it. Julianna Dubin is the liaison between the U. The kind of work that is being done here is a wonderful thing to be part of.
In another former conference space down the hall, an unusual class is underway that Nguyen reluctantly calls adult kindergarten. We need to teach them as well as their children. That is part of the challenge the district tackles on behalf of a community trying to absorb a refugee population.
The resettlement agencies sponsor families for three months. After that, they are on their own. Besides English her other fluency is in her native Spanish. But she is well-versed in all of the universal body languages that put newcomers at ease. How do you gauge feedback? Think about it. They could have called it any one of a number of things. The Refugee Center, for instance, or the Resettlement Center perhaps. But they chose to call it the Center for New Americans. It has a nice ring to it.
