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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Challenging Community Conversations: Three Tips to Build Understanding and Support
Across the resettlement network, staff and partners are noticing an uptick in community questions about newcomers. Many people want clarity about who is arriving and how local services support them. These questions usually stem from uncertainty or limited information. When people have few opportunities to interact with newcomers or understand how resettlement works, conversations can…
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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.…
- Sophia Martin
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…
- Lauren Bowden
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…
- Farid Saydee
In support of Afghan pilots who have resettled in the U.S., Upwardly Global published a landscape assessment and proposed program plan earlier this year. The scope of the research included a high-level overview of potential pathways in the U.S., as well as proposed tools for service providers to help these individuals find skill-aligned employment. This…
- Rebecca Fishman
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…
- Sophia Martin
The Question of Compassion People working in refugee resettlement are often motivated by compassion. This is perhaps especially true for those who engage directly with clients—caseworkers, casework assistants, volunteers, interpreters, and the range of housing, education, and employment specialists. Compassion is defined by Trzeciak & Mazzarelli as an “emotional response to another’s pain or suffering,…
- Graeme Rodgers