July Project Update

Update to the MT collaborative project

On 6/20/2005 NSC held an initial community leadership development meeting with the representatives of the families from various sites MTs are currently living at: Lancaster, North East Philadelphia, Upper Darby, Villanova, King of Prussia. The meeting was hosted at NSC’s office and there were 28 people present at the meeting. Savas Can and Leyla Dursunova were facilitating the meeting. The issues discussed were some of the following:

- The introduction to the project, it’s goals, activities, objectives
- The creation of the self help organization: how it works, what it is, and the possible way for the community to do it
The large part of the discussion consisted of the in-community brain storming about the leadership part. The issues with the current, so-called leadership were raised from the discussion and it was obvious that there are quite a few disagreements on the current way things are organized. Lancaster representatives had a clear idea and vision about what the leadership should be like, what it should be doing and how it should operate in the current flow of things. The biggest part of the refugee resettlement is concentrated in the North East Philadelphia area and the opinions on the leadership roles and functions were different within the group.

We hope to be able to openly discuss the rest of the issues on the next meeting in August.

Youth activities
NSC organized youth picnic on July 3rd and group youth outing on July 4th to the art museum area for Independence Day festivities and celebration.

27 Meskhetian Turkish teenagers (from North east Philadelphia, Telford, and Springfield, MA), children and young adults gathered at the picnic at Penny pack Park in North East Philadelphia. Various activities and games were provided and organized by NSC’s project coordinator and volunteers. The picnic was aimed to foster the interaction between the children.

On July 4th, 10 MT teenagers together were introduced to their first 4th of July celebration around Art Museum in Philadelphia. It was their first introduction to the Independence Day in the United States and the history of the holiday was beautifully told by NSC’s volunteer. The activity was aimed to share the American Holiday experience and foster civic participation mentality in youth.

Plans for the upcoming month

July 27th: Seniors trip to the NSC’s Senior Center
July 27th: Trip to the gardening store for elders to choose the plants they would like to grow as part of the gardening activity for elders
July 27: Women’s group gathering in North East Philadelphia: the issues like assisting new families in their new life, organizing employment preparedness workshop, social adjustment issues for refugees and families, creating a women’s committee group
By July 30: Distribution of the need assessment survey in Russian to all MT families. The results of the survey will provide information on the topics of interests for organizing workshops, training sessions for MT families.
By July 30: Together with the survey NSC will mail out the translated into Russian requirements to file for Legal Permanent Residency for the families that arrived to the U.S. during summer 2004
August 4th: Children’s trip to Art Museum, includes a 1 hour architecture workshop, for children ages 6-12 years old (please let us know if you have any MT children in mind for this)
August 4th: Art Museum trip will be followed by a trip to a Public Library

Other upcoming events:
NSC plans to organize the financial literacy workshop, initially for the group in Lancaster, using an experienced volunteer in the area of finance with the experience of providing similar training to refugees resettled by IRC, NY. The successful implementation would lead to the expanding the workshop to other areas of Meskhetian Turkish resettlement.

August gathering to follow up on the community leadership development

In September, NSC is planning to organize a “group wedding” for young MT families that were not able to get officially married in Russia but are willing to legalize their relationships in the U.S..

Adjustment of Status workshop is planned for early fall 2005