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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The Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) is a scientific study that collects information about how recently resettled refugees are adapting to life in the U.S. It is funded by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement and is being conducted by the Urban Institute and SSRS. ORR has conducted this survey since 1993 to gather information…
- Urban Institute
This post follows an earlier blog, Refugees and Asylees Have the Right to Work: Busting Three Myths about Social Security Delays & Work Authorization. To learn more on this topic, stream the webinar recording Refugees and Asylees Have the Right to Work, hosted in December 2020. Service providers often encounter difficulties when communicating with employers…
- Daniel Wilkinson
Content in this post was informed by conversations with Senior Trial Attorney Liza Zamd from the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section. Click here to access the second post in this series, Overcoming Two Key Challenges when Communicating with Employers about Work Authorization. To learn more on this topic,…
- Daniel Wilkinson
This post includes contributions from Saba Imran. We recently published a blog post on Remote Job Readiness Resources for Clients With Online Access. But how are agencies continuing job readiness training when participants don’t have access to technology or lack digital literacy skills? This post includes job readiness resources for supporting clients without online access…
- Carrie Thiele
Photo Credit: A. Oberstadt/IRC The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound disruption across the globe, including in the U.S. As a result of the crisis, resettlement agencies are seeing a sharp rise in food insecurity due to loss of income, breakdown of social support systems, shortages of food, and complications in accessing existing or additional food…
- Eugenia Gusev
For many providers continuing to serve non-English-speaking clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, language access is a significant challenge. Videoconferencing technology, although far from perfect, can help us provide services without losing all of the human-to-human contact that typically facilitates communication. Below are a few tips for getting started with video remote interpreting (VRI). Choosing the…
- Tamber Hilton