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School and Community Liaison Services
Offered By
Refugee and Immigration Services
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Refugee and Immigration Services welcomes the stranger and enables those escaping persecution to begin new lives with dignity through early self-sufficiency. The agency strives to foster a community climate of acceptance for persons of different cultures. In recent years services available to both refugees and immigrants have expanded to include a number of community needs. |
School Liaison ServicesMore than half the world's refugees are children and families make up the majority of those who come to RIS for resettlement. Resettlement goals for parents relate to employment and self-sufficiency. The children have equally challenging tasks--to learn English, catch up academically, find a place socially and fulfill their parents' expectations. Many refugee children have experienced war--they have seen horrors we cannot imagine and most have emerged ready to move on. School was interrupted--some are below grade level and need to catch up to their peers. Schools are perplexed about how to deal with these special needs children and their non-English speaking parents.
Acculturation & Cultural Orientation ProgramRIS orients new refugees to the American educational system, the role of parents, and general expectations. Schools are oriented to the refugee experience and the cultures of recent arrivals. Children are assisted to engage in extracurricular activities so they may develop social contacts beyond their own refugee community. In Richmond, School Liaison services to refugees are provided by RIS through the Virginia Refugee Student Achievement Project (VRSAP) of the Virginia Office of Newcomer Services. Family and Children's ServicesRefugee and Immigration Services School Liaison Program provides many different services to refugee families. A few of our many services to parents, families, and children would include:
Volunteers are important to this effort as refugee children need tutors and teachers and appreciate assistance. Please call your local office if you can help. Volunteer Opportunities for Young People
Community Liaison ServicesWho are our neighbors, how did they get here, what have they endured, what are their traditions? A recent census revealed that the population of Virginia has changed and that we are living and working with people from different cultures, ethnic and racial groups, language use, and traditions. 
Helping Families Access ServicesOur Community Liaison staff receive referrals from health care providers, police, schools, and property managers on families who are having difficulties. Our staff works one on one with individuals and their families, immigrant community organizations, and networks with service providers. We will help immigrant families to both understand and access services. And, will refer them to appropriate community service providers, as well as advocate on behalf of immigrant families. Community OutreachOur Community Liaison staff outreachs to churches, schools, and apartment complexes. RIS has helped to pull together diverse organizations to address the needs of the immigrant populations in Virginia. For example, in Chesterfield County, immigrant population interventions were conducted by RIS 15 years ago to prevent gang incursions into the Cambodian community. Today the Health Department, the Department of Social Services, school personnel, the Cooperative Extension Service, parks and recreation, police, churches, libraries, ethnic leaders and several others still meet on a regular basis to discuss needs and creative mechanisms to provide meaningful services to the newcomer populations. Community EducationRIS will provide speakers on refugee and immigrant issues for any community group interested in learning more about our immigrant populations. Call the office nearest you to arrange for a speaker. These presentations are designed to increase understanding of different perspectives to prevent miscommunication and misunderstanding by stressing how much we have to gain from our community's diversity. Our speakers will discuss with your organization who the refugees in our area are, why they came to our neighborhood and the ethnic differences in our community. Speakers may be scheduled by calling the RIS office closest to you.
Multicultural Training
We are living and working with people from different cultures, ethnic and racial groups, language use, and traditions. Increasing our understanding of different cultural perspectives prevents miscommunication and misunderstanding. We have much to gain from our community's diversity. A few years ago Refugee and Immigration Services developed a training program on Southeast Asian Cultures and on Hispanic Cultures. This was used to train police and court trainers throughout the state. With new populations coming to our communities RIS has broadened training to include these other cultures. Staff sensitize participants to generic issues of difference and are alert to the needs and interests of adult learners. RIS provides training based on an organization's needs and desires. Let us work with you to identify desired outcomes and design a program to improve productivity and collegiality. RIS is especially well suited for this endeavor because we have worked for over 25 years with refugees and immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Russia, Poland, Haiti, Cuba, South and Central America, Bosnia, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, China, India, and other parts of the world. We can call upon speakers from these countries should that be requested. RIS fees are reasonable. The agency brings 10 years of training experience and staff of many ethnic backgrounds to this effort.
Who we have trained:
You may schedule training sessions through our offices near your location by calling one of the following numbers:
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