First Refugees Resettled by LSS in St. Cloud Weren’t Somalis

Lutheran Social Services has been involved with refugee resettlement in the St. Cloud area since 2010.  Maureen Warren is the Senior Vice President of Services for Lutheran Social Services in Minnesota.  She explains refugee resettlement is mainly funded by a Federal funded agency called "Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services".  The money for that agency comes from the United States Treasury.

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Warren says refugees undergo a lot of work before they ever get referred to the United States, are allowed to travel and become a refugee.  Many times the refugee spends a significant amount of time in foreign countries in refugee camps and Warren says the average wait for a refugee is 8 years.  She says these people have gone through lots of vetting oversees before receiving refugee status to come to the United States.  Warren says refugees have some choice as to where they will go.  She says when they get people interesting in coming to Minnesota they are either coming to be reunited with a family member or to come here as a free agent.  Those that are coming to Minnesota without a family connection are called "free cases" while others are called "family renewal" or "family unification".  The Central Minnesota office is only doing "family unification" right now.

Warren recalls when they opened their Central Minnesota office the first group of refugees resettled were Iraqis.  She explains they didn't choose to stay in St. Cloud and instead moved to Michigan.  Warren says once a refugee comes to the United States they have the same travel rights as any other person.  Lutheran Social Services is paid to work with refugees for their first 90 days.  The responsibilities are to get the refugee a doctor, housing, employment, get their children in school, and get them in language classes.  The State Department gives each refugee a one time grant of $2,425 and LSS receives $1,100 dollars for each refugee they work with for the first 90 days.  Warren says the $1,100 dollars covers the administration costs, mileage, and program operations at LSS.

The funding for Lutheran Social Services largely comes from Federal dollars.  Warren explains they deliver many services for people on Medicare and Medicaid, and those on waiver services.  LSS also works with many people housed in group homes.  Warren says their funding is multi pronged with funding coming from Federal dollars but they also receive state and county funding and do their own fundraising as well.

If you'd like to listen to my full conversation with Maureen Warren it is available below.