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CWS/IRP Southern California affiliates move ahead under new auspices
Left to right: Anna Baghdassarian, Rev. Pam Tyler, and Karen Kazandjian fill out some paperwork with a client of the Refugee Resettlement Program of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
Photo: Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
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CWS/IRP's Los Angeles affiliate, formerly a sub-office of St. Anselm's Cross-Cultural Community Center in Garden Grove, Calif., was taken under the wing of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on Jan. 1, 2006.
It remains a "tri-site," affiliated with CWS, Episcopal Migration Ministries, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
The Garden Grove affiliate now is affiliated with CWS/IRP alone.
Both of these dynamic and distinctive programs are moving ahead with excitement and fresh energy. Here are "snapshots" of what each affiliate is up to now.
Los Angeles
CWS, EMM, and LIRS approached Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop Jon Bruno last fall about making the Los Angeles affiliate part of his diocese's ministry. He said yes and asked Rev. Pam Tyler, Diocesan Vice Chancellor, to provide oversight.
Anna Baghdassarian continues as director of the Refugee Resettlement Program, whose current caseload is 99 percent Christians and other minorities from Iran. She has worked with the program for 30 years, directing it for the past 20.
"Garden Grove is 45 miles away, which in Los Angeles is like 200 miles away in terms of traffic and aggravation," Tyler said.
"Bishop Bruno is exceedingly progressive on all manner of what I call 'gospel issues.' Serving refugees is consistent with his view of ministry, which is committed to engaging people across cultures and faiths, particularly those being persecuted on account of faith."
A major article in the Lent 2006 issue of the diocesan newspaper announced the new program.
Tyler, formerly priest in a Laguna Hills parish, is reaching out actively to Los Angeles churches to encourage them to co-sponsor refugees, donate furniture and other goods for new arrivals, and provide job leads.
"Now that we are under the diocese," Baghdassarian said, "the churches will know more about us. She described her new colleagues as "very nice, very warm. Most importantly, they really care about people. They are trying to assist new arrivals in any way they can."
Tyler described how exciting it was to sit in on Baghdassarian's orientation for a Liberian refugee family that had just arrived from Ivory Coast.
"To see their joy was so moving to me," she said. "When Anna passed them their check from the U.S. Refugee Program, I thought, 'All the challenges we face with this government notwithstanding, it is doing something very positive right now, right here for the benefit of this refugee family. For this family, the welcome is overwhelming. The government plainly has more work to do in this area. But we must not lose sight of how much one family's newfound freedom is mutually life giving.'"
Tyler barely pauses between sentences as she outlines her goals for the program, soon to be renamed the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Service (IRIS).
"By this time next year, we hope to move the program from its current office downtown to a site we'll be renovating in Glendale," where many resettled refugees and immigrants have created a thriving community, she said. Tyler is seeking grants to enable the program to offer a range of in-house social services, including employment counseling and English as a Second Language. Currently, clients are referred to other agencies for these services.
Tyler brings many strengths to her new responsibilities for the refugee program. As an attorney, she is equipped to provide legal oversight and "face the contracts, navigate through them, and generate grants."
Before she was ordained, she worked at St. Joseph's Center in Los Angeles, which serves the homeless and the working poor, many of them undocumented immigrants. She understands not-for-profit organizations and working with volunteers.
"I'm daunted by what's ahead, and really excited," she said. "I am learning as fast as I can. Fortunately, I have Anna and case manager Karen Kazandjian to teach me the ropes. Both are a godsend with tremendous experience."
 Participants in the March 21, 2006, quarterly community health fair held at St. Anselm’s Cross-Cultural Community Center in Garden Grove, CA. Photo: St. Anselm's Cross-Cultural Community Center |
Orange County, Calif., is home to more than 140,000 Vietnamese, the largest concentrated Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam itself. The country's "Little Saigon" is the unofficial capital of the estimated three million Vietnamese scattered around the world, more than one million of them in the United States.
St. Anselm's Cross-Cultural Community Center was established in 1976 by a former American military chaplain to help Vietnamese refugees resettle in Orange County.
"I'm not quite sure whether we are too boastful or not, but we think St. Anselm's has been instrumental to the creation of the Vietnamese community in Orange County," said Dennis Dung Le, the center's Director of Operations. "Many Vietnamese came through St. Anselm's to learn English, get their first job, or prepare for U.S. citizenship."
A community-based not-for-profit, St. Anselm's continues to resettle primarily Vietnamese refugees, most of them rejoining family members.
From Oct. 1, 2004, through Feb. 28, 2006, St. Anselm's 382 arrivals included many "stateless" Vietnamese who had been held in camps in the Philippines.
With the Nov. 14, 2005, extension of the McCain Amendment, "we hope more Vietnamese refugees could have a chance to resettle here in this land of freedom," Dung Le said. The amendment provides that certain former re-education center detainees, U.S. government employees, and employees of private U.S. companies or organizations, along with certain of their immediate family members, are to be considered refugees of special humanitarian concern and may be eligible for U.S. resettlement, if they meet specified criteria.
While Vietnamese constitute most of St. Anselm's caseload, the agency also has served refugees from Africa, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East, Dung Le said.
Formerly a high school English teacher in Vietnam, Dung Le immigrated to the United States in 1992 under his younger sister's sponsorship.
He directed a Vietnamese Bilingual Pilot Program of Santa Ana Unified School District until 1998, when he joined St. Anselm's. "I share the experience of all these Vietnamese refugees," Dung Le said. "Here I'm in touch with the Vietnamese community and refugees from all over the world. It seems to me it's my turn to help those less fortunate people come and resettle here in a new country."
When St. Anselm's Executive Director retired on March 1, Dung Le was asked to take on added responsibility as Interim Director until a permanent replacement is hired. St. Anselm's has 12 programs serving the community and refugees in the areas of employment, naturalization and citizenship, tuberculosis and hepatitis prevention and early intervention, transportation to job interviews and/or work for social benefit recipients and to non-emergency medical appointments for seniors, refugee family enrichment, and social adjustment, along with programs for survivors of human trafficking and political torture.
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