Social Services through Refugee Community Organizations
MORI supports grassroots refugee community organizations, known as Mutual Assistance Associations or MAAs, to provide an array of community outreach, education and direct services to refugee communities in Massachusetts through the Ethnic Community Self-Help Initiative (ECSHI) and Post-Resettlement Community Services (PRCS). Direct services can include helping an individual to schedule an appointment, enroll in a class, fill out an application form or understand a letter from their child’s school.
In addition, MORI supports a coalition of MAAs that work together to improve member agencies’ operational capacity and ability to meet the growing needs of their communities. Member organizations provide each other assistance with fiscal systems, grantwriting, recordkeeping, program implementation and more. This support enables organizations to survive and grow to offer more and more of the programs—English classes, job training, mental health support, civic education—that their community members need to succeed in their new lives in the United States.
Read more about MAAs.
Three Primary Components of ECSHI
a. Direct Service Support to local ethnic community self-help organizations to provide services to their communities. This includes:
- Provide outreach, community education and on-going community orientation
- Disseminate information and promote access to services
- Use of community volunteers
- Coordinate with mainstream service providers
Examples of one-on-one services provided include escort and interpretation for medical appointments, assistance in reading and understanding utility bills, school notices, etc., and application assistance for immigration, health or other public benefits. When people’s health, financials and paperwork are in order, they can focus their energy on working, studying and building full new lives for themselves and their children in this country.
b. Organizational Capacity Building support to strengthen refugee and immigrant community organizations ability to deliver services.
This includes activities such as:
- helping with 501(c)3 certification
- set up of office fiscal procedures
- guidance on billing and reporting
- assistance with program development
In addition, the coalition is working to raise funds to enable member agencies to provide additional vital services.
c. Coalition Projects address systemic barriers to access, integration and cross-cultural understanding. For the current year, the four coalition projects prioritized are:
- Development and management of the New American Center (hyperlink to NAC brochure) in Lynn, a multi-ethnic service site that enables MAAs to share daily office expenses and organizational expertise, and establish joint programs. This is an unparalleled service model that enables more services to be offered at less expense in an area with large numbers of refugees and, until now, few refugee services.
- Develop the coalition website, to increase coalition visibility for potential collaborators and funders
- Access to services: coordinate interpretation and translation services
- Civic Participation, including Refugee Day at the State House. Civic engagement is one component of the full life that refugees are working to build in Massachusetts.
MAAs participating in ECSHI include:
- Bosnian Community Center for Resource Development (BCCRD)
- Ethiopian Community Mutual Assistance Association (ECMAA)
- Haitian American Public Health Initiative (HAPHI)
- Somali Development Center (SDC)
- Southern Sudan Solidarity Organization (SSSO)
- Sudanese-American Integration and Development Center (SAIDC)
- Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (RIAC)
- Russian Community Association of Massachusetts (RCAM)
- Universal Human Rights International (UHRI)
- Vietnamese American Civic Association (VACA)
The Post Resettlement Community Services program provides direct services to individuals in refugee communities, much like ECSHI, such as:
- escort and interpret for medical appointments
- assist in reading and understanding utility bills, school notices, etc.
- application assistance for immigration, health or other public benefits
Most of the same Associations are participating.
For definitions of terms used by the Office for Refugees and Immigrants, please view the Glossary.
This information is provided by the Office for Refugees and Immigrants.