►
Description
The City of Minneapolis Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs hosts a presentation on Afghan resettlement to Minnesota. Community-led and refugee resettlement organization partners and State and City employees involved in welcoming efforts provide an overview of the unprecedented resettlement effort to relocate over 1200 Afghan evacuees to Minnesota, share how they’re involved in helping Afghan community members begin a new chapter of their lives in our state and city, and identify critical areas where support is needed and how to be involved.
A
This
office
is
committed
to
making
minneapolis
a
place
where
all
feel
a
sense
of
belonging
and
welcome,
including
our
immigrant
and
refugee
residents,
we're
grateful
that
you
all
are
here
today
for
our
conversation
on
welcoming
afghan
evacuees
and
recognize
that
this
conversation
is
taking
place
during
asian
american
native
hawaiian
pacific
islander
heritage
month.
The
aapi
community
includes
individuals
from
afghanistan.
So
we're
grateful
that
you're
here
with
us
today
and
we'll
pull
up
a
powerpoint
in
a
moment
on
I'll
briefly
cover.
A
Can
you
see
the
powerpoint
yep
super?
Thank
you
very
much.
So
I'll
give
a
little
bit
of
information
about
what
we'll
learn
today,
we'll
do
a
brief
overview
of
operation
allies.
Welcome
on
the
afghan
welcoming
initiative
here
in
minnesota,
we'll
talk
about
welcoming
work,
that's
being
done
and
has
been
done
by
community
organizations,
refugee
resettlement
organizations,
legal
service
partners
and
city
staff
to
help
community
members
start
a
new
chapter
of
their
lives
here
in
our
city
and
state
will
also
share
information
about
city
of
minneapolis
and
minneapolis.
A
Related
information,
including
information
on
work.
Supporting
the
afghan
resettlement
community
through
minneapolis,
public
schools
and
hennepin
county
office
of
multicultural
services
will
highlight
some
immediate
needs
and
we'll
also
share
where
you
can
learn
more
and
how
you
can
be
involved.
If
welcoming
begins
with
each
one
of
us,
how
can
we
each
be
welcomers
and
welcome
our
afghan
resettlement
community
that
has
come
here
to
minnesota
and
finally,
we'll
talk
a
little
about
important
lessons,
we're
learning
that
will
assist
us
in
future
large-scale
resettlement
efforts?
A
If
you
look
on
the
right-hand
side
of
this
slide,
you'll
see
in
the
acknowledgment
section.
These
are
the
speakers
who
will
have
sharing
information
with
us
today,
nasrin
sashadi
from
afghan
cultural
society,
rochelle
king
from
the
department
of
human
services,
refugee
programs,
office,
anjali
cameron
from
the
council
on
asian
pacific
minnesotans
will
locker
and
roman
cutwell
from
cappy
user
maraude
from
zakah
ward
west
ray
from
the
ymca,
deborah
ziesmer
from
the
youth
coordinating
board
and
mike
slesak
from
city
of
minneapolis
employment
and
training.
A
Again
just
as
a
housekeeping
item.
We
are
recording
this
conversation
today.
If
you
could,
please
mute
your
mics,
it
would
be
super
and
we'll
take.
We
have
some
time
dedicated
at
the
end
of
the
conversation
for
questions.
So
I'll
ask
you
to
save
your
questions
till
the
end,
but
if
you
like,
please
feel
free
to
put
them
into
the
chat
and
once
we
are
done
with
the
different
with
the
powerpoint
we'll
address
questions
from
the
audience.
A
So
thank
you
so
much
for
being
with
us
today,
I'm
hearing
a
little
bit
of
feedback.
If
people
could
please
mute
your
mics
if
you
are
not
speaking,
I
think
that
that'll
help
with
with
sound
super
and
if
we
have
nasrine
sajadi
with
us.
I'm
sorry,
I
can't
see
the
the
list
of
participants,
but
nasrino
are
you
with
us,
I'm
here?
Oh
wonderful,
yay.
So
if
you'd
like
to
start
us
off
nasserine,
please
feel
free
to
introduce
yourself
share
information
about
the
community
and
the
work
that
you
are
doing
with
afghan
cultural
society.
B
B
B
B
B
Education
and
mental
health-
really
we
are
hearing
a
lot
of
stories
from
folks
feeling
very
isolated
and
even
young
people
having
a
hard
time
in
school
because
they're
having
a
hard
time
communicating
with
folks
and
it's
there's
a
lot
happening
in
the
community.
So
yeah
can
you
go
to
the
next
slide.
I
think
I
kind
of
talked
about
this.
B
Yeah,
so
I
think
I
kind
of
explained
this
a
little
bit
in
the
last
slide
too
as
well.
If
you
are
working
with
any
afghans,
please
please,
please
connect
them
with
us
if
they
are
feeling
lonely
or
if
they're,
feeling
isolated.
We
are
in
the
process
of
creating
several
summer
activities
to
get
the
youth
together.
The
women
together
the
families
together
all
kinds
of
different
activities
for
everybody's
comfort
level,
and
so
please,
please,
please
connect
them
with
afghan
cultural
society.
Our
contact
info
is
on
the
top
here.
B
If
you
especially
are
experiencing
folks
that
are
dealing
with
deteriorating
mental
health
issues,
symptoms
of
anxiety,
depression,
ptsd,
please
send
us,
send
them
our
way.
We
have
connections
to
resources
that
can
help
them
in
this
situation
prior
to
it
getting
to
extreme
cases.
If
you're
working
with
youth,
please
let
us
know
if
you're
experiencing
behavioral
issues
with
young
people.
If
you're
seeing
people
dealing
with
financial
struggles,
I.e
wearing
the
same
clothes
every
day,
young
people
growing
out
of
their
clothes
really
quickly.
B
Otherwise,
we
are
always
available
to
educate
folks
and
to
support
our
community
in
whatever
way
is
necessary
if
you'd
like
to
partner
with
us,
or
if
you
have
ideas
on
how
to
help
the
community,
please
feel
free
to
reach
out
to
us.
I
will
put
my
contact
info
in
the
chat.
I
am
not
going
to
be
here
for
the
questions.
So
if
you
do
have
questions,
please
just
email
or
call
me.
Thank.
A
C
That's
okay.
I
can
start
thanks
michelle
and
introduce
myself
again.
My
name
is
rochelle
king,
I'm
at
the
resettlement
programs
office
at
department
of
human
services
and
our
office.
Actually,
the
resettlement
programs
office
started
in
the
governor's
office
in
1979
in
response
to
cambodian
resettlement
that
was
happening
and
in
1980
that
office
moved
to
the
department
of
human
services
where
it's
been
since
that
time
and
as
the
slides
are
coming
up
just
to
give
you
a
really
brief
overview
of
who
we
are
and
what
happens.
C
I
think
this
is
the
last
slide
michelle.
I
can
go
back
to
the
first
one.
Thank
you
so,
just
to
give
you
really
I'm
here,
to
give
you
a
really
broad
overview,
not
talk
too
much
so
that
the
other,
the
experts
on
the
panel
that
do
the
hard
work
of
meeting
people's
needs
can
have
the
time
to
speak
so
reception
and
placement,
the
u.s
resettlement
program,
kind
of
happens
in
two
stages:
there's
those
initial
services,
reception
and
placement
that
happens
with
the
u.s
department
of
state.
C
So
you
see
the
logo
of
the
department
of
state
in
the
upper
left-hand
corner
there
and
those
services
are
and
that
part
of
the
federal
government
helps
get
people
here
and
then
places
them
in
communities
and
they
partner
with
local
resettlement
agencies.
To
do
that,
those
services
are
short
term,
though
they
last
30
to
90
days,
and
so
where
our
office
really
comes
in
in
the
state
of
minnesota.
Is
the
federal
government
has
a
state
coordinating
entity
so
in
minnesota?
C
That
is
our
office
here
at
the
department
of
human
services,
to
help
connect
the
dots
to
make
sure
that,
after
that,
initial
resettlement
people
are
connected
to
the
services
and
supports
that
they
need
to
build
their
well-being
here
in
minnesota.
We
also
help
to
distribute
funds
that
come
from
the
federal
government
to
support
those
longer-term
needs.
So
one
of
the
things
that
we
do
is
we
can
provide.
C
C
So
in
this
particular
response,
I'm
just
going
to
take
one
minute
to
say:
operation
allies
welcome
minnesota,
as
we
saw
the
crisis
unfold
in
afghanistan
and
resettlement
start
to
happen.
We
really
just
tried
to
call
people
together
to
make
sure
that
anybody
who
would
arrive
in
our
state
would
have
access
to
the
basic
needs
that
they
were
eligible
for
and
are
the
basic
needs
that
they
have.
C
I'm
sorry,
my
headphones
are
about
to
die
and
so
really
working
to
coordinate
with
others
to
do
that,
and
our
goal
also
was
to
build
the
capacity
of
our
community
to
welcome
more
and
more
people
next
slide,
please,
and
how
that
really
played
itself
out
here
in
minnesota
is
a
building
of
capacity.
Over
time
the
federal
government
was
asking
local
resettlement
affiliates
in
the
state.
C
We
saw
that
number
grow
over
time
until
january
20,
20
22,
when
the
the
capacity
that
was
presented
to
the
us
government
was
1500
people
that
minnesota
thought
we
could
resettle
ultimately
about
1250
people
were
resettled
in
our
state
through
these
efforts,
please,
and
just
to
dig
a
little
bit
more
deeply
in
that
who
are
the
people,
the
families
that
came
so
and
why
are
we
talking
in
minneapolis
in
particular?
So
minneapolis
has
really
stepped
up
in
really
amazing
ways
to
be
that
place
of.
C
Welcome,
like
michelle
was
talking
about
the
average
size
of
families
of
those
1250
or
so
folks.
That
came
the
smallest
case
of
family
size
was
one
and
the
largest
was
13..
So
what
we
actually
saw
was
a
lot
of
very
small
cases,
so
single
adults
and
then
quite
a
few,
very
large
families
as
well.
Over
half
of
those
people
that
arrived
are
kids
and
over
56
percent.
These
aren't
final
numbers
are
in
hennepin
county
with
33
of
the
overall
numbers
actually
residing
either
permanent
housing
at
being
in
minneapolis
next
slide.
C
C
So
we
have
really
tried
to
invest
resources
to
expand
on
what
already
exists
to
be
able
to
meet
the
needs
of
the
afghan
community
as
well
as
looking
at
some
specialized
resources
that
I'll
mention
in
just
a
moment
next
slide.
Please,
and
to
give
you
a
sense
of
who
we
partner
with
on
the
next
slide,
I'm
not
going
to
go
over
all
of
it,
but
these
are
the
community
based
organizations
that
we
fund
right
now
through
that
network
of
services,
that
we
call
the
resettlement
network
services
next
slide.
C
Please-
and
I
know
it's
really
fast,
but
just
to
give
you
the
sense
of
the
diversity
of
organizations
that
we
fund.
I
mean
this
is
my
last
slide,
just
to
say
sort
of
like
what
our
strategies
are
right
now,
I'm
really
wanting
to
make
strategic
investments
to
help
people
build
well-being,
and
that
has
really
seen
itself
roll
in
in
phases
right.
Those
initial
investments
that
we
really
made
were
around
short-term
supports
for
immediate
needs.
C
That's
on
the
very
bottom
of
that
triangle
there
and
you
can
see
on
the
right
a
list
of
all
of
the
this.
Isn't
it
this
isn't
an
exhausted
list
of
everybody
who
was
engaged,
but
these
are
the
these
are
the
entities
that
we
actually
engaged
in
formal
partnerships
like
provided
some
funding
to
to
support
just
those
initial
immediate
needs.
C
The
items
that
are
in
bold
on
these
in
this
intermediate
and
longer
term
investments
are
things
that
we're
working
on
right
now
that
we
see-
and
we
hear
as
community
priorities
and
that
we're
looking
at
the
federal
resources
that
we've
received
to
make
investments
in
those
areas
to
support
those
intermediate
and
longer
term
needs.
The
things
that
are
not
bolded
are
things
that
we
have
already
started
already.
Have
some
investments
in
place
for
why?
C
The
best
resettlement
is
done
as
community
and
the
best
resettlement
done
is
in
collaboration,
and
we
have
been
so
grateful
through
this
for
the
council
of
asian
pacific
minnesotans
to
help
be
a
convener
and
to
lift
up
the
voices
in
the
community
to
make
sure
that
the
government,
where
we
can
be
responsive
when
there
were
the
resources
that
we
have
are
being
invested
in
the
right
way.
So
I'll
tag
you
in
anjali.
D
D
Our
council
was
created
in
1985
as
a
direct
response
to
the
resettlement
of
southeast
asian
refugees
here
to
minnesota,
and
so
it's
really
important
in
the
work
and
why
we
were
created
to
be
able
to
help
new
communities
adjust
to
our
state,
and
so
that's
certainly
a
part
of
our
role
in
this
response
with
the
evacuation
of
afghanistan
in-state
statute.
I
want
to
highlight
this
because
it
can
vary
between
different
programs,
but
within
state
statute.
D
And
how
do
we
bring
all
these
folks
together,
and
so
that
really
was
the
impetus
for
the
creation
of
the
round
table,
and
so
those
happen
on
a
weekly
basis
on
tuesday
mornings.
Anyone
on
this
call
is
welcome
to
join
and
really
the
focus
of
those
meetings
is
to
coordinate
a
community
response
and
create
a
connection
hub
where
all
the
various
stakeholders
who
are
working
in
this
response
can
pull
resources
and
come
together.
D
So
I
will
put
in
the
chat
some
information
just
on
our
website.
Pull
this
up
so
which
has
additional
resources
and
if
anyone
is
interested
in
also
attending
the
afghan
evacuee
community,
we
round
tables
I'd,
be
happy
to
add
you
to
that
list
and
sorry,
my
team
for
those
of
you
who
attend
the
roundtable
know
how
slowly
my
team
operates
and
yeah.
I
want
to
thank
everyone,
particularly
the
other
organizations,
on
the
call
for
their
dedication
in
this
response
and
happy
to
stay
for
questions
at
the
end.
A
That's
wonderful,
thank
you
so
much,
and
you
know
just
thinking
about
the
unprecedented
resettlement
effort
that
has
taken
place
with
this
community
of
relocating
over
1200
people
to
minnesota
within
a
six-month
period.
It
feels
miraculous
and
there
is
a
lot
of
credits
to
go
around
very
grateful
for
the
leadership
of
the
department
of
human
services,
refugee
programs
office
and
the
council
on
asian
pacific
minnesotans,
and
certainly
the
organizations
who
you'll
hear
from
now
who
are
working
with
the
afghan
community,
including
refugee
resettlement
organizations
and
other
nonprofit
service
providers.
A
E
Great,
thank
you
michelle
and
good
morning.
Everybody.
My
name
is
ben
wall
and
I
direct
the
refugee
services
programs
at
the
minnesota
council
of
churches.
We
are
a
nonprofit
based
in
south
minneapolis,
just
south
of
downtown,
and
we
are
one
of
the
four
resettlement
agencies,
refugee
resettlement
agencies
in
the
twin
cities
that
includes
international
institute
and
st
paul
arrive
ministries
in
ridgefield
and
and
lutheran
social
service,
also
in
based
in
minneapolis.
E
All
of
our
agencies
have
for
years
welcomed
and
resettled
refugees
to
minnesota,
and
we
continued
to
do
that
as
outlined
by
rochelle.
You
know,
as
with
the
evacuation
of
afghanistan,
refugee
resettlement
agencies
were
enlisted
to
do
resettlement
work
and
to
resettle
afghans
evacuees
into
this
community.
This
has
been
a
very
intensive
and
quick
process
with
a
lot
of
people
coming
in
short
time,
and
so
it
stretched
the
capacity
that
we
had
as
agencies
to
to
do
this
work
as
quickly
as
possible.
E
So
that's
where,
with
the
intense
collaboration
with
with
community
resources
with
the
state
with
with
other
partners,
that's
we've
all
banded
together
to
to
make
this
effort
happen.
Typical
within
this
work,
we
within
resettlement
we
work
with
refugees
and-
and
in
this
case,
afghan
parolees
for
the
first
formally
for
the
first
three
months
of
their
after
they
arrive
in
this
response,
and
otherwise
we
help
with
finding
housing
for
for
new
arrivals.
E
You
know
the
formal
resettlement
program
funded
by
the
government
is
a
three-month
process
or
three-month
long
time
period.
It's
pretty
short
within
our
agency.
We
and
other
resettlement
agencies.
There
are
longer
term
supports
that
support
people,
but
we
also
are
connected
to
and
reliant
on,
the
resources
such
as
afghan
cultural
society
and
those
other
family
sister
agencies
throughout
the
community.
A
Wonderful,
thank
you
so
much
ben
and
if
you
could
put
contact
information
for
mcc
into
the
chat,
I
know
that
many
organizations,
including
mcc,
has
been
very
active
in
a
number
of
areas,
including
housing,
so
just
want
to
make
sure
that
people
have
a
point
of
contact
there
and
with
that
I'll
turn
to
cappy,
we
have
roman
coat
ball
and
will
locker
from
cappy.
If
you
could
go
next,
please
thank
you
and
welcome.
F
F
F
F
F
We
also
coordinate
with
government
entities
to
try
and
follow
up
on
any
government
applications.
They
have,
whether
it's
for
public
housing,
section
42
things
like
that,
and
then
we
also
just
try
to
be
a
general
touch
point
for
them.
We
deal
with
a
lot
of
people
who
are
housing,
unstable,
highly
mobile
or
homeless,
and
so
we're
usually
like
their
main
point
of
contact
for
getting
referred
to
food
shelf
services
or
getting
referred
to
various
forms
of
financial
assistance,
like
our
benefits.
Enrollment
center
with
helping
people
apply
for
things
like
snap,
mnsure
and
whatnot.
F
G
We,
with
the
help
of
dhs,
have
we
were
ready
and
organized
in
systematic
manner
to
work
closely
and
receive
200
afghan
250
afghan
families,
including
families
in
single
individual.
They
came
by
different
cases.
We
have
received
our
first
arrivals
on
january
10th
and
our
last
rebels
were
on
february
21st.
G
G
We
wanted
to
make
sure
that
we
warmly
welcome
our
new
arrivals
here
in
the
state
of
minnesota,
provide
them
more
meals,
make
sure
they
have
suitable
accommodation
here
and
wanted
to
make
sure
that
we
provide
housing.
So
what
it
does
is
that
we
provide
core
services
for
the
afghan
refugees
or
arrivals
within
once
we
receive
them
within
25
hours.
G
Our
case
managers
would
go
over
meet
and
greet
them,
make
sure
they
have
all
their
documents,
passports
or
the
scaras,
or
you
know,
nation,
id
and
stuff,
and
beside
that
we
want
to
make
sure
that
they
have
some
petty
cash
on
hand,
debit
cards,
bus
cards,
we
deliver
phones,
we
deliver
hot
spots
to
pc
for
people
and
yeah
within
24
hours.
We
also
gathered
their
documents,
we
processed
them
for
food
and
medical
support.
G
Absolutely
we
wanted
to
make
sure
that
our
arrivals
have
their
ead
cards
on
hand,
employment,
authorization
document.
So
you
know
social
security
on
hand.
Those
do
not
have
social
security.
We
help
them
to
with
the
local
social
security
administration,
to
process
them
and
give
them
new
social
security
cards
and
yeah.
G
You
know
they're
well
connected
with
with
other
local
afghan
communities,
who
are
really
settled
here
with
afghan
culture
society
with
afghan
community
in
minnesota
and
wanted
to
make
sure
that
over
the
time
once
they
receive
their
core
services,
they
have.
You
know
we
help
them
with
employment
as
well.
G
So
we
wanted
to
make
sure
that,
over
the
time
within
90
days,
resettlement
services,
our
goal-
is
to
fulfill
all
the
gates
and
deliver
our
services
on
time
and
at
the
end,
we
wanted
to
make
sure
that
all
of
our
rivals
and
refugees
are
self-sufficient
and
could
continue
the
new
beginning
in
their
lives.
Here
in
the
state
of
minnesota.
G
A
That's
wonderful!
Thank
you!
So
much
roman.
Thank
you.
So
much
will
it's
really
helpful
to
understand
the
comprehensive
effort
that
is
involved
in
welcoming
a
community
member
and
setting
them
up
right
with
what
they
need
to
be,
as
you
said,
romance
self-sufficient,
so
really
appreciate
you
explaining
that
the
work
that
cappy
is
doing
for
us
and
with
that
I'd
like
to
turn
to
yusra
arab
with
zaka.
Are
you
with
us.
A
H
Well,
hi
everyone
assalamualaikum,
my
name
is
yusra,
I'm
here
representing
zucka
and
I'll,
give
you
all
a
brief
overview
of
the
organization
and
then
talk
a
bit
about
how
we
are
involved
in
the
resettlement
effort.
So
zucka
was
founded
in
2014
by
a
group
of
muslim
folks
in
the
twin
cities,
two
of
whom
are
my
parents
naheed,
and
then
I
know
that
they're
on
the
line.
H
Our
belief
is
that
our
wealth
is
actually
a
gift
from
us
or
a
gift
to
us
from
god,
but
it
does
not
belong
to
us
and
our
responsibility
is
to
make
sure
that
our
wealth
is
used
to
better
the
lives
of
the
people
in
our
local
communities.
So
the
organization
came
about
really
to
focus
on
muslims
who
were
facing
financial
hardship
in
minnesota
and
specifically
in
hennepin
and
ramsey
county,
and
we
have
maintained
that
explicit
focus.
We
are
a
fully
volunteer-run
organization,
all
of
our
board.
H
H
H
We
have
a
very
small
transitional
home
in
eagan
for
women
and
children,
most
of
whom
are
immigrants,
refugees
and
are
survivors
of
domestic
or
sexual
violence
in
2020,
through
early
2021,
we
focused
very
heavily
on
our
unhoused
neighbors,
given
the
crisis
that
occurred
after
the
uprising
following
the
murder
of
george
floyd,
we
ran
a
small
hotel
to
housing
program
for
a
period
of
about
six
months
and
moved
roughly
140
people
from
encampments
directly
into
permanent
housing.
And
lastly,
our
most
recent
service
has
been
being
involved
in
the
iran
refugee
resettlement
process.
H
Our
main
function
here
is
still
on
rental
assistance,
so
we
partner
with
the
refugee
resettlement
organizations
to
ensure
that
all
families
are
able
to
access
the
six
months
of
guaranteed
rental
assistance
when
they
are
moved
into
housing
and
to
date,
we've
received
roughly
93
applications
for
that
purpose.
You
can
go
on
to
the
next
slide
and
show.
H
So
I
want
to
share
some
of
this
information
because
I
think
it's
very
important
for
us
when
we're
talking
about
resettlement,
to
be
honest
about
the
conditions
that
we're
actually
resettling
people
into.
We
are
in
a
very
severe
housing
crisis
in
minnesota
and
any
new
arrivals
are
not
protected
from
that
reality,
just
as
our
existing
renters
in
minnesota
are
also
not
protected
from
it.
H
H
H
Given
that
the
definition
of
severely
cost
burdened
is
is
when
somebody
is
paying
more
than
fifty
percent
of
their
income
on
housing
on
average,
our
applicant
pool
is
paying
75
of
their
income
on
rent.
It
is
a
completely
unsustainable
situation
for
all
of
our
applicants
to
be
living
in
these
private
market
rate
units
where
rent
is
is
climbing
at
a
pace
that
is
blowing
the
wage
increases
out
of
the
water.
H
H
again,
we've
got
average
rent
of
about
1289
and
in
order
to
prevent
new
arrivals
from
being
in
that
same
category
of
severely
cost
burdened,
their
average
monthly
income
would
need
to
be
over
2500,
which
I
think
we
can
all
understand
why
that
feels
so
unattainable
for
new
arrivals,
who
are
not
only
coming
from
an
extremely
traumatic
resettlement,
but
also
are
now
re-acclimating
to
a
completely
new
country
where
language,
transportation,
education.
Basically,
everything
is
a
barrier.
H
So
I
just
want
to.
I
always
want
to
mention
this
anytime,
that
we're
having
a
conversation
about
resettlement
if
there
is
not
an
effort,
a
statewide
effort
and
certainly
in
minneapolis,
to
really
expand
the
stock
of
supportive
subsidized
public
housing.
This
housing
crisis
will
continue
to
affect
everybody
and
it
will
continue
to
affect
new
arrivals,
so
I
think
we
have
to
keep
that
in
our
mind.
If
we
want
to
talk
honestly
about
what
every
settlement
really
looks
like
long
term
michelle,
you
can
go
to
the
next
slide.
Please.
H
Just
briefly
I'll
share
a
bit
of
the
the
hard
numbers
and
then
I'll
conclude
on
the
next
slide,
so
our
applicants
are
by
and
large,
not
receiving
emergency
assistance
from
the
state.
There
are
numerous
reasons
for
that
right
now.
I
think
the
biggest
reason
is
that
the
emergency
assistance
application
portal
is
absolutely
swamped
with
applications,
given
that
the
very
very
last
eviction
moratorium
protections
are
set
to
end
on
june
1st,
and
there
are
people
that
are
still
living
in
a
pandemic
still
experiencing
a
lot
of
financial
hardship
and
behind
on
their
rent.
H
Emergency
assistance
through
the
county
is
often
their
last
line
of
defense
and
the
turnaround
time
on
that
application
right
now
is
pretty
long
and
people
are
getting
denied.
So
we
don't
have
a
a
group
of
applicants
who
are
really
able
to
receive
support
somewhere
else.
Obviously,
structural
racism
is,
it
is
a
huge
part
of
our
work
we
have
applicant
pool
that
is
vast
majority
bypass
individuals
and
covet
is
still
the
number
one
factor
that
is
leading
to
financial
strain
in
people's
households.
H
So
I'll
end
I'll
end
here,
just
because
I
want
to
add
a
little
bit
of
bring
some
more
specific
examples
to
what
what
we're
talking
about
and
what
we're
constantly
iterating
around
at
zucka.
So
we're
dealing
with
two
applicant
families
right
now
and
I
think
it
really
has
struck
me
the
similarities
across
these
two
families.
One
of
them
is
a
new
avon
family,
a
family
of
eight
living
in
a
two
thousand
dollar
a
month,
two-bedroom
house
in
richfield.
H
The
current
wage
earner
in
that
household
is
making
21
dollars
an
hour,
and
so,
as
soon
as
the
resettlement
organization,
rental
assistance
came
to
the
six-month
end,
this
became
completely
unaffordable
for
them.
So
we
are
trying
to
help
with
one
more
month,
but
it's
really
unclear
as
to
what
is
going
to
happen
next.
I
think
we
all
know
that
everybody
here
has
only
limited
capacity.
H
We
can't
make
affordable
housing
show
up
out
of
nowhere
when
it
doesn't
exist
and
even
though
six
months
might
feel
like
a
lot
of
time
for
people
to
get
settled.
It's
really
not.
Six
months
is
really
not
a
lot
of
time
and
it's
very
unlikely
that
the
family
is
going
to
find
housing.
That
is
even
somewhat
affordable.
Best
case
scenario
is
that
they're
going
to
find
something
else
within
the
realm
of
1800s
2100
and
still
be
in
that
severe
cost
britain
category
that
I
described
earlier
now.
H
I
want
to
talk
about
the
second
family
that
is
not
a
new
arrival
family,
but
a
family
that
is
somali
that
has
been
here
for
some
time.
Another
family
of
eight,
with
only
one
parent
and
six
children
and
the
parent
is
also
currently
pregnant,
living
in
a
twenty
four
hundred
dollar
a
month.
Four
bedroom
also
making
minimum
wage
receiving
a
little
bit
of
extra
in
food
stamps
and
social
security
for
a
child
with
a
disability
and
who
is
also
coming
up
against
a
potential
eviction
unable
to
maintain
the
rent.
H
I
don't
know
what
will
happen
after
we
help
with
a
month
of
rent,
so
these
are
just
stories
that
I
wanted
to
share,
because
if
we
are
not
cognizant
of
the
reality
for
the
families
that
are
represented
by
the
right-hand
side
of
the
slide,
that
is
the
trajectory
for
new
arrivals.
So
I
think
it's
it's
important
for
us
to
be
honest
from
a
very
early
stage
about
the
protections
that
needs
to
be
put
in
place
to
prevent
similar
outcomes
for
our
new
arrival
families.
H
Rental
assistance
is,
I
wish
it
was
a
long-term
solve,
but
it
is
not
so
with
that.
I,
I
know
it's
not
a
very
hopeful
outlook,
but
I
just
want
to
iterate
that
it's
important
for
everybody
to
be
very
proactive
in
whatever
way
that
they
can
to
to
be
advocating
for
more
long-term
supports,
because
we're
resettling
people
into
a
broken
market,
and
we
have
to
be
be
real
about
it.
H
So
I'll
put
my
contact
information
in
the
chat
we
are
here
to
help
with
rental
assistance
for
new
arrivals
from
afghanistan,
but
also
for
really
anybody
that
you
may
be
working
with
who
is
in
an
unstable
housing
situation.
Our
mission
and
our
goal
is
to
prevent
people
from
being
evicted,
and
that
is
what
we
plan
on
undoing.
So,
if
anyone
has
questions,
please
feel
free
to
reach
out
and
thanks
all
for
your
time,.
A
Thank
you
so
much
you,
sir.
I
really
appreciate
the
important
work
that
zakat
is
doing
and
also
really
appreciate.
The
harsh
reality
that
you're
explaining
here
just
want
to
tell
the
audience
that
we
are
recording
this
conversation
we'll
send
out
a
link
afterwards
and
we'll
also
share
the
slides
to
participants
and
then,
more
broadly,
too.
A
I
I
Okay,
great
yeah,
so
thanks
everybody
thanks
for
having
me
here.
My
name
is
board
westray
and
I
work
with
the
ymca
of
the
north,
so
that
is
the
19
ymca
associations
around
the
twin
cities,
collectively
called
the
ymca
of
the
north,
and
I
represent
a
state-provided
service
called
the
family
assisters.
I
So
if
you
remember
michelle
talking
earlier
in
this
presentation
about
the
different
long-term
supports
provided
to
refugee
individuals,
one
of
these
five
programs
is
called
the
family
assisters
and
basically,
in
short,
the
family
sisters
serve
individuals,
refugee
and
other
immigrant
individuals
for
up
to
five
years
after
their
arrival,
and
we
help
provide
them
with
a
lot
of
basic
and
immediate
needs.
So
food
shelter,
esl
classes,
public
benefits,
kind
of
your
nuts
and
bolts
of
of
that
sustenance.
I
You
need
to
to
live
here
really,
and
we
work
a
lot
with
resettlement
agencies
and
also
cappy.
You
know
they're
doing
really
terrific
work
and
we
partnered
with
them
to
basically
ensure
that
when
these
clients
are
done
working
with
these
resettlement
agencies,
they
have
some
recourse
to
turn
to
if
they
do
need
that
initial
help
after
that
initial.
I
After
that
initial
time,
working
with
those
agencies,
so
some
of
these
examples
of
things
we
provide
are
on
the
on
the
slide
here
and
it
can
be
like
I
mentioned
food
or
esl
or
connecting
to
employment,
but
also
just
extraneous
things
you
might
not.
Think
of
such
as
having
your
mail
interpreted
for
you
or
practicing
for
a
driver's
license
test,
or
some
one
of
our
new
clients
needs
help
getting
glasses,
for
instance.
I
So
really
we
try
to
be
kind
of
a
catch-all
service
and
a
lot
of
these
services
are
provided
directly
by
the
ymca
and
also
the
four
other
metro
area
agencies
that
provide
these
family
assessor
services,
including
the
afghan
cultural
society,
amina
or
sorry.
Nasserine
was
the
first
to
speak
in
this
presentation.
I
They
recently
joined
us,
so
they
are
now
currently
providing
these
services
too,
which
is
really
great,
because
now
we
have
dari
and
pashto
speakers
who
can
connect
with
a
lot
of
these
afghan
clients
who
are
serving
so
yeah.
In
short,
we
connect
people
to
these
services
for
up
to
again,
five
years
after
they
arrive,
and
we
are
really
expanding
a
lot.
It's
our
third
year
of
our
it's
our
third
year
of
this
program
and
during
the
first
year
collectively
the
metro
area.
I
We
served
over
980,
individual
families
and
in
the
second
year
we've
served
over
1400
and
this
year
we're
on
track
to
even
beat
that
too.
So,
there's
a
lot
of
need
out
there
and
we're
definitely
trying
to
expand
our
services
and
having
the
new
support
of
the
afghan
cultural
society
to
help
us
provide.
These
services
is
really
terrific
and
we're
not
the
only
piece
of
the
puzzle
here,
but
we
try
to
be
that
kind
of
catch-all
again
that
helps
connect
people
and
make
sure
they
don't
fall
through
the
social
safety
net
and
connect
them.
I
It's
a
lot
of
these
critical
services
and
we
do
connect
with
zucka
and
some
of
these
other
agencies
on
this
call,
but
also
other
organizations
too.
We've
made
40
new
partnerships
in
the
last
year,
for
instance,
so
we
really
do
want
to
reach
out
there
and
do
a
lot
of
outreach
to
the
community
to
make
sure
that
nobody,
nobody
falls
through.
Like
I
mentioned
so
yeah,
I
guess
I'll
I'll
cut.
I
It
short
there
to
leave
time
for
the
remaining
speakers,
but
that's
basically
it
the
family
sisters
again
are
we're
kind
of
a
port
of
entry
for
not
only
refugees
but
also
other
immigrants
to
connect
them
to
a
lot
of
those
basic
necessities,
including
those
other
four
state
programs
which
include
family
coaching,
to
provide
career
pathway,
development
and
community
orientation
and
legal
representation
and
yeah.
So
basically
we're
here
to
be
that
catch-all
service
for
people.
I
A
Thank
you,
ward.
That's
wonderful,
really
appreciate,
ymca
and
just
to
make
sure
that
we
have
enough
time
for
our
city.
Presenters
wanted
to
turn
it
over
to
community
planning
and
economic
development
representative
mike
slesak
to
share
updates
from
the
city
and
then
we'll
turn
it
over
to
deb
and
mike.
If
you
want
me
to
pull
up
that
slide,
I'm
happy
to
do
so.
If
you'd
like
to
speak
briefly
without.
J
J
As
we've
talked
about
it
more
and
it
primarily
would
be
two
things.
So
one
is
working
with
with
job
seekers
and
less
on
the
direct
service
side,
but
more
making
sure
they
have
an
employment
plan.
An
employment
coach,
identifying
priority
needs
and
working
with
their
current
case
management
counselors
to
make
sure
that
their
job
search
is
moving
and
they're
they're
helping
to
jump
in
and
address
any
barriers.
A
A
More
that
would
be
wonderful
and
deb
a
couple
of
minutes.
I
know
with
the
with
the
fact
that
there's
so
many
afghan
youth
resettling
that
youth
coordinating
board
is
very
interested
in
this.
I'm
working
with
this
population-
and
I
know
that
you've
got
some
information
here.
So
we'll
give
you
just
a
couple
minutes
if
you
can
quickly
go
through
yeah.
K
Oh
quickly,
my
name
is
debbie
ziesmer,
I'm
with
the
minneapolis
youth
coordinating
board.
We
are
a
community
resource
hub.
There
we're
one
of
five
community
resource
hubs
in
the
city
of
minneapolis
and
really
what
what
these
hubs
are
intended
to
do
is
make
it
easier
for
families
to
get
what
they
need
through
a
culturally
appropriate
relation-based
ship
based
navigation
of
the
programs
and
systems
that
are
available
throughout
our
state,
because
we
are
child
focused
and
youth
focused.
K
That
could
mean
assistance
with
disability
services,
healthy
development
or
screening
behavioral
concerns,
as
well
as
family
well-being,
mental
health
and
child
care.
The
other
thing
we
do
is
we
are
the
hub
for
the
minneapolis
after
school
network,
so
we
convene
all
of
the
the
after
school
and
summer
activities
for
the
youth
in
minneapolis.
So
wherever
youth
are,
you
can
find
a
presence
by
either
us
or
one
of
our
close
partners.
We
manage
the
what's
up
612
tab
on
our
website.
K
If
you
go
to
that
tab,
that
will
tell
you
where
all
the
youth
activities
are
happening.
That's
updated
consistently,
so
the
parks,
the
libraries
any
of
the
non-profit
organizations
that
do
after
school
and
summer
programming
those
will
be
listed
there
so
as
you're
working
with
families
who
have
youth
that
might
need
a
place
to
go.
Please
check
out
our
website
and
look.
You
know,
look
at
what's
available
for
families
and
youth.
I
will
drop
my
contact
information
in
the
chat.
So
if
you
have
any
questions,
I'm
running
really
quickly
through
this.
A
Wonderful,
thank
you,
debbie,
and
I
see
we're
at
12.
I
don't
know
if
people
have
questions
they
wanted
to
ask
or
if
any
of
our
presenters
are
able
to
stay
any
longer.
If
not,
I
just
wanted
to
close
before
we
stop
recording
and
say
thank
you
so
much
to
all
of
our
presenters
for
all
the
information
that
you've
shared
and
the
important
work
that
you
are
doing
to
welcome
immigrant
and
immigrant
residents
afghan
evacuees
to
the
city
of
minneapolis
and
to
the
state
of
minnesota.
A
There
are
many
resources
where
you
can
learn
more
on
how
to
get
involved
and
we'll
be
sharing
those
resources
in
the
chat
and
by
email
afterwards,
and
want
to
make
sure
that
if
people
have
questions
or
last
thoughts
that
they
would
like
to
share,
feel
free
to
do
so
with
the
couple
of
minutes
that
we
have
left
and
I'm
just
going
to
stop
the
recording
now
so
that
people
feel
comfortable,
maybe
perhaps
feel
more
comfortable
asking
their
questions.
Thank
you.
So
much
again,.