Imagine living in a camp with thousands of people, including women and children, fleeing one of many war-torn regions in the world. Life for you is worse than homelessness; you’re virtually without country.
Locally, the Catholic Family Center is a beacon of hope for refugees: resettling more than 1,100 people in Rochester last year alone. But an executive order from President Donald Trump has sent a wave of uncertainty through agencies such as CFC throughout the country.
The order stops all refugees from entering the US for 120 days and Syrians are banned indefinitely. Even though a federal appeals court has upheld a stay on Trump’s order, administrators at CFC started dealing with funding and staffing uncertainties prior to the 2016 election, says Lisa Hoyt, the agency’s director of refugee services.
“We’re not going to shut down, but the resettlement staff will be reduced,” she says. “It’s sad, because we’re highly regarded in the resettlement arena.”
Meanwhile, refugees are still trickling in. Hoyt recently met a family of eight at the Rochester airport. Her staff will help them find housing, as well as clothing and furnishings. Staff members will also help the family enroll their children in city schools, learn English, and find employment.
The Rochester community has been extremely supportive, but she is discouraged by the anti-immigrant rhetoric on the national level, Hoyt says.
Refugees are vetted for two years or more, trying to escape the worst situations imaginable, and their single goal is to become contributing American citizens, she says.
The notion that they’re here mooching off taxpayers or to commit some horrible crime is not supported by facts, Hoyt says.
“You have one interaction with my clients and you will change your mind,” she says.
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This article appears in Feb 22-28, 2017.
Catholic Family Center is part of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rochester and financial information for the organization is reported through the latter. According to the latter’s 2014 form 990, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Rochester received $30,565,519 in government grants out of total contributions of $45,639,037. Do the math on this and 67% of the group’s “contributions” in 2014 came from the government. None of this counts an additional $11.6 million that came directly from Medicaid (again, directly from the government, i.e. taxpayer money). Let’s call Catholic Family Center what it really is – a government agency masquerading as a religious “charity.” Taxpayers should not be propping up an organization like this.
Most of the work done by CFC in working with people that have addictions, mental Health issues or are homeless, would be done by either Government Agencies or Hospital and medical care providers if they did not exist. I doubt you would achieve any cost savings by substituting State Government worker salaries and benefits for those received by the CFC workers.
I agree it has evolved from a Charity and the name represents a different era.
REALLY? “We’re not going to shut down, but the resettlement staff will be reduced,” she says. “It’s sad, because we’re highly regarded in the resettlement arena.” You can pat yourselves on the back all you want but lets be honest, you are basically the only ones in Rochester and you have a collaboration of not for profits that basically control and manipulate people for your funding….CFC is so far behind other cities and agencies