Switchboard Blog

Switchboard’s blog posts offer a wide range of insights on the newcomer experience, including practical tips for navigating the resettlement process, resource lists tailored to community needs, case studies about relevant programs, engaging stories of successful integration, and more.

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How to Develop and Run a Community Advisory Board (CAB) Meeting

A community advisory board (CAB) is a group of individuals from a specific community who come together to provide guidance, feedback, and support to organizations, projects, or initiatives impacting their community. CABs are often useful in health care, education, research, and community development projects to ensure that the voices of community members are heard and…

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Do you support refugees and newcomers with affordable housing services? This blog post is for you! Switchboard has partnered with Refugee Housing Solutions to share training and promising practices related to housing solutions for newcomers. The tips in this post will get you started in forming positive landlord relationships to help secure housing for clients.…

Do you support refugees and other newcomers with affordable housing services? This blog post is for you! Switchboard has partnered with Refugee Housing Solutions to share training and promising practices related to housing solutions for newcomers. Today, we’re sharing information about the diversity of public housing programs, how newcomers can reach out to the U.S.…

The Problem with Standalone Healthcare Vocational Training Before fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo with her husband and infant son, Veronicah had a decade-long career as a nurse. Like many refugees, Veronicah was forced to leave suddenly, and she did not pack her diploma or transcript, the necessary documentation to verify her professional history. In…

In the last year, over 80,000 Afghan newcomers have arrived in the United States. As with most populations, there is a lot of diversity and complexity among Afghans, and knowledge of these nuances helps us better serve newcomers. Culturally aware communication is especially essential for strong rapport building, which leads to smooth and successful integration…

As we enter the final months of 2022, it’s clear that refugee resettlement in the United States looks different than it did in past years. Refugee Housing Solutions spoke to Christina Bruce-Bennion, Service Coordination Program Manager at the Idaho Office for Refugees, about navigating these shifts as they pertain to housing partnerships. Bruce-Bennion has worked…