 SUPPORTING IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE FAMILIES INITIATIVE “Columbine changed this community,” says Bebe Kleinman, Executive Director of Doctors Care in Littleton, Colorado. As the city that became synonymous with Columbine High School, “Littleton’s leaders realized they had to do business differently. In many ways, they are responding to people’s needs in ways they didn’t before.” One of those responses is the Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative, designed to help immigrants and refugees become part of their new community. Kleinman says town leaders are asking, “How do we fully and actively engage all residents?”
According to Kleinman, there’s now a greater community emphasis on health care, mental health issues and suicide prevention. Brought togetherby the initiative, health care agencies that serve low-income residents are taking a “team approach to meeting the needs of immigrants in the community." "Through The Colorado Trust-funded initiative, we’re sending a message that it’s critical to focus on the people needing the services. When you work for a nonprofit, the first things we ask are, ‘how do we market to those who will support our work and how will we market to the community we serve?’ With a need to generate resources to support the work, the question of reaching out to the community being served doesn’t get attention.” Within initiative-sponsored monthly meetings, Kleinman says the communication network has grown. Agencies stay informed about each other’s services and have gained a greater sensitivity to the needs of new Americans. “We are asking questions we didn’t have the opportunity to ask before: 'Why didn’t [the system] work for this individual? How can we fix this problem?' When something hits our system and bounces back, such as if a child isn’t permitted into the Head Start program because the child’s parents didn’t have the child immunized, we learn about it and figure out how to solve it. If someone hits the safety net and falls through it, we can ask why, evaluate our efforts and figure out how to solve the problem." As a result, Kleinman sees leaders emerging within the immigrant communities. “I absolutely love the idea that we are developing leadership in the immigrant community so they can become advocates and guides for community members to help them access the health care they need.” Kleinman believes this new approach to serving immigrant families will build commitment and increase newcomers’ ability to contribute to the community. “When you have your basic needs met, then you get to be in a position to give back.” If immigrants feel they are cared for by their community, she adds, they’ll want to contribute to the community. Kleinman says that Doctors Care currently has volunteers from several countries working with those who come to the agency and that, in many ways,the Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative has the potential “to make this community stronger.” |
