The Emporia Gazette

Posted on November 9 at 5:31 p.m.

If you have questions, please come to the next Emporia Refugee Resettlement Alliance meeting. It will be held at 8:30 AM, Friday, December 7, at Flint Hills Technical College.

If that does not work with your schedule, we could schedule an evening meeting in the future.

The Alliance was formed to help resolve many issues relating to the refugees moving to Emporia. Those issues include resolving problems and misunderstandings between the established community and the refugees.

Another issue is doing the paperwork so that federal funding that helps cover the expenses the Health Department and other local agencies incur, related to the refugees. Part of the work Catholic Social Services will provide is documenting identities and getting an accurate count of just how many refugees actually are here and where they were before they came here. At this point any number anyone can give you regarding the current refugee population in Emporia, is just a guess. Even the guesses vary widely. CCS will also ask if the refugees are planning to bring other family members to Emporia and how soon they think they will come here. When we have more accurate numbers, we will be better able to see what the community's future may be.

I was told on Wednesday, by a Tyson representative, that they currently have about 200 job openings at the Emporia plant. That doesn't mean 200 refugees are coming here, it just means Tyson needs more workers and they don't get enough applications from the people who already live in or near Emporia, to fill those jobs.

I'm sure everyone in the community is concerned about changes that may occur in the community due to the refugees, but we need to work together to resolve the problems.

On Group says info lacking on resettlement