Refugee and Immigrant Integration

The United States accepts tens of thousands of refugees each year from diverse regions of the world. Increasingly, they come from more countries and more ethnicities than ever before, and meeting their resettlement needs in this context becomes more complex. CAL has been a leader in refugee education and orientation since 1975, helping refugee newcomers understand fundamental aspects of life in the United States and helping service providers and other interested parties understand the rich cultures and linguistic heritages of the new members of their communities.

Refugee and Immigrant Orientation Services
CAL supports refugee and immigrant integration through the development of programs for newcomers, their service providers, and other members of their receiving communities.

Programs and services can be customized to meet your needs and include:

• Developing refugee orientation materials and curricula
• Preparing service providers to work with refugees, immigrants, and newcomers
• Conducting workshops to enhance staff development in refugee orientation
• Designing, developing, or restructuring a refugee orientation program
• Assessing the impact of refugee orientation programming

Featured Workshop: Multiculturalism in the Classroom
The increasing diversity of the U.S. population can provide both challenges to communication and opportunities for meaningful connections. With greater understanding and tolerance, diverse cultural beliefs, values, and histories become assets to be respected and cultivated. This workshop provides hands-on guidance on the use of the refugee family and youth videos, A New Day and Be Who You Are, and the companion facilitator’s guide, Connecting Diverse Cultures. Attendees learn to use the practical and effective activity plans to help increase student understanding of and appreciation for other cultures and beliefs. Developed for maximum flexibility, the guide is designed for use in K-12 classrooms, adult education settings, training of trainers, and by anyone seeking to promote tolerance, diversity, and cultural connections.

The Multiculturalism in the Classroom workshop specifically targets teachers working with newcomers, immigrants, and refugees in their classrooms. Participants will:

• Learn powerful strategies that they can implement immediately through an interactive, hands-on learning format
• Consider their own perspectives and diversity, acknowledge stereotypes, and learn to incorporate aspects of multiculturalism into the classroom
• Take part in discussions and activities age-appropriate for their classroom
• Gain valuable insight into what it is like to be a newcomer
• Identify fun and easy ways to create a low-stress learning environment to engage and connect their students
• Learn how to utilize Connecting Diverse Cultures and other resources to promote an understanding of and appreciation for cultural diversity

Email us to learn more about how CAL can tailor a workshop to meet your needs.

Learn more about the materials.

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Publications

Refugee Families and Youth in the United States: A New Day and Be Who You Are

Connecting Diverse Cultures: A Video Guide for A New Day and Be Who You Are

Learn more and watch a clip from the video.

Cultural Orientation for Refugees:
A Handbook for U.S. Trainers
This publication provides lesson plans, information, and training resources for U.S. cultural orientation. Read more about the handbook.

Current Refugee Orientation Practices in U.S. Resettlement Agencies
This report includes a review of the current orientation practices of resettlement agencies and the identification of emerging program models. Learn more.

Browse our collection of free downloadable digests including Cultural Orientation for Refugees.

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Project Spotlight

CAL serves as the national technical assistance provider on both overseas and domestic refugee orientation and on the backgrounds and resettlement needs of new refugee groups. Activities include training; development of print, audiovisual, and web resources; research; dissemination and exchange of information throughout an international network of refugee service providers; and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on refugee orientation and refugee groups. Learn more about our projects.

Browse the COR Center website for lesson plans and curricula, tools for trainers, information on incoming refugee groups, and publications.

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