Feb 1, 2022 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 12 min read

With last year’s withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war came the exodus of tens of thousands of refugees, with hundreds settling in Western Pennsylvania.

To provide information on the regional impact and assistance efforts, Mt. Lebanon’s Denis Theatre Foundation recently hosted an online panel discussion, “Building a New Life in a New Country: Welcoming Afghan Families to Pittsburgh.”

The program represented the fourth installment in the foundation’s “Pittsburgh Perspectives” series, with previous topics covering racism, the environment and mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four panelists joined moderator Jon Delano, foundation president, in sharing their insight:

• Sloane Davidson,

who founded the nonprofit

Hello Neighbor

• in 2017 to support resettled refugee and immigrant families;
• Jordan Golin,

president and chief executive officer of

Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh

• , which is part of a collaborative effort to make resettlement successful;
• Ginny Barnicoat, who lives in Mt. Lebanon and has experience in assisting refugee families;
• Larry Lebowitz,

founder and chairman of the Immigration Practice Group at his law firm,

Dentons Cohen & Grigsby

• , and a lifelong Mt. Lebanon resident.

“We did try to reach out to see if there was an Afghan family or anyone who would like to join this panel,” Delano said. “But we also understand that there are tremendous concerns about the impact of things said, particularly when recorded, on families back home, back in Afghanistan.”

He asked the panelists prepared questions, plus those submitted by participants in the webinar, addressing various facets of what life is like for refugees arriving in the Pittsburgh area and how the efforts of established residents can help them become acclimated.

Are we as friendly as we could be?

“I do think we are better than in many parts of the country,” Golin said.

For example, he admitted to being “a little bit nervous” about the reaction his organization would receive with regard to its commitment toward helping Afghan refugees.

“I was pleasantly surprised that the vast, vast majority of feedback that we’ve gotten from the community has been overwhelmingly positive: people wanting to volunteer, people wanting to help, people asking how they can contribute and make the transition easier for the new arrivals,” he said.

He also recalled taking a group of young refugees to meet with then-Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

“This was a couple of years ago, when there was a heightened sense of anti-immigrant feelings across the country,” Golin said. “And he very clearly said to each of the kids, ‘You’re not going to experience that in Pittsburgh. Our policies, our desire, is for you to come here, and for more people from other countries to come here, and to build up our immigrant population.'”

Along with welcoming arrivals to the region, Davidson enjoys serving as an ambassador for its selling points, such as comparative affordability.

“You can buy a home here. You can put your kids in school. You can start a small business of your own,” she said. “Pittsburgh does a really great job of getting ourselves on lists and talking about recruitment. I think we should shift our mindset to retention, and what it takes to actually keep people here and not have them move away. That’s a sense that they can have a good job and provide for their families.”

How welcoming is the government?

“When I talk about this topic, I think it’s helpful to define: What is a refugee?” Lebowitz said, explaining the term basically applies to a person fleeing persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

“U.S. law and international law say that if you can meet those criteria, you have a basis of being able to secure refugee status, which ultimately, under U.S. law, is a pathway to permanent residence,” Lebowitz added.

In practice, though, nothing is guaranteed. Lebowitz referenced the mass evacuation of Afghans from the war-torn country as being greeted with enthusiasm by many Americans.

“But what we don’t see is, there are probably 50,000 people who are still in Afghanistan or outside of Afghanistan seeking the protection of the U.S. government who meet that definition of a refugee,” he said. “And unfortunately, because of bureaucracy, because of challenges, they have not been able to get out.”

If or when they do, the process of designation is complex and protracted.

“On average, it takes about five years for someone to gain refugee status,” Davidson said. “Twelve different U.S. government agencies are involved.”

How many Afghan refugees are in area?About 100 Afghan families lived in the region prior to the U.S. withdrawal from their home country.

“Since the crisis began, we’ve seen that number skyrocket,” Golin said, as Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh has resettled 190 refugees starting in September. By comparison, the typical yearly number for the agency had been about 200 from various nations.

Davidson offered confirmation.

“What refugee resettlement agencies all around the country are seeing is what we would see in the course of a year in just a few short months,” she said.

This marks the first year Hello Neighbor has had a contract with the U.S. Department of State as a resettlement agency for refugees.

“In applying for the contract, they said, oh, we’ll be easy on you, and maybe you’ll get 75 to 100 in the whole year. I have 55 arrivals this week,” Davidson said, bringing the total to 100 within two months of starting the process.

What challenges do families face?

“It’s great that they get here, but then you have to think about all the things that you would have to do if you relocated in a brand-new country, maybe not having a great grasp on the English language,” Barnicoat said. “The learning curve is so, so steep.”

Among her experience with refugees is being matched with a family from Africa through a mentorship program and, by way of a request from Hello Neighbor, helping an Afghan family, starting with giving the mother a ride from Mt. Lebanon to downtown Pittsburgh.

“She was having trouble getting the children enrolled in school, because they needed vaccination records. Well, they had vaccinations in Afghanistan, but they didn’t bring any of that paperwork,” Barnicoat said. “That was just one of her challenges that day.”

Although many refugees live in secondary countries for a few years prior to being able to settle in the United States, Davidson said, the situation tends to be different for Afghans.

“This just happened. Their entire lives got ripped away from them overnight. We have families from all across Afghanistan that didn’t know the U.S. government was pulling out,” she said. “Often times, most of their family is still there.”

She spoke about an Afghan man with whom her agency is working.

“His wife and children – who are 1 and 5, the same ages as my children – are there and couldn’t make it out. And all he wants to do is get a job, get his green card and file the papers to be reunited with his family,” Davidson said. “I think the biggest issue right now is that the trauma is not far enough removed, and they are going to have to work through the loss of country, loss of home, loss of family, loss of sense of what that future might look like while rebuilding it, simultaneously.”

How receptive are

employers?

“There is always a built-in question about making sure that the person is authorized to work in the United States,” Lebowitz said. “Although there are many employers in Pittsburgh and elsewhere that are sophisticated about the process – they understand what a person has to present in order to be legally authorized to work – there are many that don’t, and simply walk away from it.”

He said he supports programs to inform employers about what to look for in terms of employability, such as work permits, types of visas and refugee status.

“Most employers are willing to, and many are excited about, hiring immigrants,” he said. “But I think that there is a significant percentage that really doesn’t know how to do that, and some education around that could be helpful.”

Golin provided information from the perspective of an employee.

“We work really hard to try to help refugees understand that your first job is what we call a ‘survival’ job. The U.S. government gives enough money to refugees who arrive in this country to survive for about three to four months. And after that period of time, they’re expected to be self-sufficient,” he said.

“The truth is, refugee families work really, really hard at being successful in this country,” he added. “They are stellar employees. They can’t not show up for work. They know that their families’ lives and their own lives depend on them keeping their jobs, paying their bills.”

What are the issues involving housing?

Barnicoat complimented Hello Neighbor, Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh and other resettlement agencies for helping find suitable places for people to live.

“It seems to me that you’ve made every effort to try to group refugees together in proximity,” she said, with the residence of the Afghans she has befriended serving as an example.

“There are several different Afghan families in the same building, and it must be so supportive. I know they help each other, and you can see them running back and forth from apartment to apartment,” she added. “And my family from Africa lives in a place where there are many, many other refugees from Nepal and Bhutan, and it’s a very supportive community where they live, too.”

From an agency’s standpoint, placement has to meet certain criteria.

“The apartments have to be safe. They have to be reasonably priced,” Davidson said. “They have to be on a bus line or some kind of transportation, because these folks are coming in and they have to make it to their appointments, and they have to do it without a car.”

The experience is challenging for landlords, as well.

“Are you going to take on a tenant who doesn’t have a Social Security number, who doesn’t have a job, who hasn’t arrived in the country yet, on the word of an agency? Is that someone whom you would consider a good risk?” Golin said. “There’s that piece, and then there’s just the housing stock, in general. There really isn’t enough affordable housing in our area or in most areas of the country. And so we are constantly scrambling.”

What can we do to help?

Hello Neighbor and Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh are two of the many regional organizations that offer programming for which volunteerism serves as a vital component. Among the others are:

Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education

• , based in East Liberty, assists resettled refugee youth in becoming confident, engaged and productive members of American society;

South Hills Interfaith Movement’s

• programs include youth mentoring, parenting classes, family support, and early childhood and afterschool education;

Financial Empowerment Center – City of Pittsburgh

• , offering professional financial counseling as a free public service;

Literacy Pittsburgh

• , with programs focusing on college and career readiness, English language learning, children and families, and building community capacity;

Latino Community Center – Pittsburgh

• , providing educational and family services.

Monetary donations are essential to the operation of all nonprofits, and as far as promoting the welcoming of new neighbors, advocacy is a key component.

“If you believe that it’s important to welcome foreign-born individuals to our communities,” Golin said, “don’t keep it to yourself. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Tell your relatives. Talk about it. Let this be something that Pittsburghers become known for. People thrive in diverse communities, and it’s up to the communities to make themselves diverse.”

For more information about the Denis Theatre, visit www.denistheatre.org.