1. Poster Design & Printing by Genigraphics ® - 800.790.4001 One City’s Approach to Housing Refugees: The Case of Greensboro, NC Holly C. Sienkiewicz, MA 1 ; Stephanie R. Baldwin, MSW 2 ; 1 University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2 Center for New North Carolinians METHODS FUTURE RESEARCH DISCUSSION RESULTS REFERENCES Figure 1. Unity parade at Avalon. Figure 2. Health fair at Glen Haven. INTRODUCTION Settlement houses are designed to address the needs of new immigrants and assist them with integration into the host society. Greensboro, NC implemented two modern-day settlement houses in effort to enhance service provision to refugee clients: Glen Haven (est. 2004) Avalon Trace (est. 2009) Programming Offered: English as a second language Health education After school tutoring Women’s groups Festivals and cultural events Community gardens Information referral Center Features: Within walking distance of residents homes Taught by AmeriCorps members and volunteers Apartment Accommodations: Donated vacant units for community development centers Refugees will continuously be placed there due to the presence of the centers Security deposits for refugee residents waived This analysis seeks to explore positive and negative aspects of such housing arrangements. Themes such as social support, safety, presence of the center, living conditions, and segregation emerged from the data. --I really like the community here. I am really grateful for all the people that come to help here—especially for the kids. --It just doesn’t add up…some of the other rooms are really over full, over flooding…for the number of people we have living here at the house it’s just not enough. --I thought…that it would be everyone for himself…I didn’t really think that there would be a network of relationships. --Our purpose was to live with American people, to know the cultures, to know everything, to know the U.S. --The center helped us a lot…to have them here we learned a lot of things about American culture. --It was like Africa, like the refugee camp because they’re all there, they’re 99% from Africa and they are refugee like me. So we was talking the same languages, the same African languages, it was no different. So we was thinking we was still in Africa. Not all problems cited by residents are results of housing model Segregated from mainstream society, BUT community centers provide a safe environment for residents to meet all types of people that they would not get to know otherwise Model houses refugees of all ethnicities Not promoting ethnic enclaves Encourage cross-ethnic social networks Housing alone is not enough Community center completes the model Funding shortages do not allow all apartment complexes housing refugees to utilize this model Refugees in these areas must rely on resettlement agency for information referral and service provision. Include refugees of other ethnicities in study Compare integration and social support of those that utilize centers and those that do not Compare integration and social support of settlement house neighborhoods and apartment complexes lacking this model Evaluate effectiveness of programs offered Glen Haven and Avalon Trace apartment complexes are home to large populations of recently resettled refugees. Avalon Trace was the primary data collection site for this study. Data Collection Procedures: Direct observation Semi-structured interviews Purposive sample of refugee residents ( n = 10; 77% participation rate) Inclusion criteria French-speaking African refugee Older than 21 years of age Lived in the U.S. for less than 3 years Interviews were audio-recorded and interpreted in real time Interviews transcribed verbatim Refugee residents were asked to describe their housing conditions and neighborhood. Analysis revealed both positive and negative aspects of this type of housing arrangement. Procedures were approved by UNCG’s IRB. 1.McLeroy, K.R., Bibeau, D.L., Steckler, A., & Glanz, K. (1988). An ecological perspective on health promotion programs. Health Education Quarterly, 15(4), 351-377. 2.Yan, M.C., & Lauer, S. (2008). Social capital and ethno- cultural diverse immigrants: A Canadian study on settlement house and social integration. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 17(3), 229-250. Table 1. Perceived effects of the housing model. Positive AspectsNegative Aspects Intrapersonal Less isolation Direct service provision Decrease barriers to service Hinder integration of individual Hinder English language acquisition Interpersonal Increase social support Ease of sharing resources Inter-ethnic exposure & interaction Hinder integration of families Inter-ethnic conflict Concentration of unique smells Organizational Ease of working w/ management Cultural brokering b/t agencies Stronger school support of kids Maintenance problems manifest due to communication challenges Exist in low-income neighborhoods Community Violent crime down due to increased activity Increase community awareness Segregated from mainstream society Vulnerable to petty crime Refugees on display for community