Home > MR&L Services > Immigrant Integration

Immigrant Integration

Four different programs operate within Immigrant Integration. They are Refugee Services, Immigrant Services, Economic Development, and Foreign Labor Certification. Below is a summary of the different types of services that are provided within and across each of the programs.

Wisconsin Lao-Hmong Resettlement Summary

• Information and background on current new Hmong resettlement in Wisconsin
  
• Estimated Hmong Arrivals

REFUGEE SERVICES

• Refugee Cash and Medical Assistance: Welfare and medical assistance is provided to financially needy, recently arrived refugees and asylees who are not eligible for other programs.  RCA is a part of W2 manual, Chapter 20.
  
  
• Targeted Assistance Employment and Training Program: provides employment and training services to help refugees obtain and retain employment. This is targeted primarily at difficult to place, pre-literate and disabled refugees who have been on public assistance for extended periods.
  
  
• Social Services Program: helps recently arrived refugees achieve economic self-sufficiency and social adjustment within the shortest time possible following their arrival in the United States. Services include English language training, employability services, case management, social adjustment services, interpretation and citizenship and naturalization services.
  
  
• Older Refugee Program: addresses the specific needs of eligible refugee elderly by providing a safe environment that allows the elderly to participate in individual and group activities that will improve social relationships between elderly and their community.
  
  
• Refugee Mental Health program: provides bilingual bicultural clinical services, community education and outreach to refugee communities and provides consultation and in-service training to mental health staff.
  
  
• Preventive Health program: provides outreach, orientation, interpretation and transportation to help recent refugees with medical appointments. Staff also provide in-service training to medical staff.
  
  
• Health Screening: funds public health agencies who screen newly arrived refugees for communicable diseases and identify health care needs.

IMMIGRANT SERVICES

• Interpreter Training: All Department and partner programs need to ensure that they have trained, qualified interpreters in order to provide quality services and meet the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Individuals who wish to be community interpreters need to obtain training in order to meet their professional responsibilities to clients and agencies. The Section sponsors a variety of training programs in community, medical and legal interpretation to meet the need for qualified interpreters.
  
  
• Bilingual Materials Development: To assure customer access to services, all Division client materials must be translated into Spanish and Hmong. Vital documents must be translated into additional languages. Staff of the Immigrant Integration Section assist all Division programs to find qualified translators for Division documents.
  
  

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• Jobs and Business Development program: provides training, technical assistance and support to help low-income entrepreneurs of all kinds develop small businesses. This is an essential part of asset development and poverty prevention in community development. 
  

FOREIGN LABOR CERTIFICATION

• Insures that American workers are given the opportunity to apply for positions that are available for foreign workers and that the wages are prevailing for the occupation.
  
  
• The certification tells the Immigration and Naturalization service that the employer has advertised for the position in a state wide newspaper or professional journal and that the wage is prevailing for the occupation.
  
  
• The certification states that no American workers are able and available for the position.