nhn public relations

DES MOINESAGENCY PLAN FOR NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS

SENIOR STRATEGICMarketing/PR Services

Tyler Craig - Account ExecutiveCharlie Sandvick- Designer/Tactics Manager

David Talley - Research DirectorAdam Walker - Presentation Director

Chelsea Winegard - Writer/Editor

Opening Statement: Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) is a pilot program in Des Moines for the 2012-13 school year. This pilot program was started by three leaders: Joe Jongewaard, Cara Kennedy-Ode and Vinh Nguyen. These leaders’ dedication and passion toward helping Burmese refugee families is what drives the organization. While NHN may not yet be an established organization, its overall goal is to positively affect many Burmese refugees by helping them assimilate to the Des Moines culture. Ac-cording to the leaders, each refugee family is paired with a Des Moines area family, known as a par-ticipant family. The participant families serve as resources for the refugee families who are seeking information about culture, customs and essential knowledge needed to successfully assimilate. The program stresses that there is no expectation of the participant families helping their Burmese fam-ily financially, but they may be asked to provide transportation to medical appointments, assist their families with the English language or answer any other questions they may have. NHN has recently started, but hopes to be a nonprofit organization someday and be widely known.

Strengths: One of its strengths is attributed to its committed and passionate leaders. Their willingness to help Burmese families succeed in Des Moines is a key component to having a successful organization. Dedication to the program such as they have inspires others to become part of the pilot. With leader Vinh Nguyen’s firsthand experience in the refugee process, he knows the struggles that come with relocating from Burma to the United States. NHN’s other leader, Joe Jongewaard, has experience being a participant family member that has hosted a refugee. The leaders’ insight helps provide a basis for how NHN needs to run in order to be successful. Vinh and Joe’s guidance, with the support of Cara Kennedy-Ode, should make the organization’s goal of becoming a nonprofit organization a reality.

Another strength is the volunteers – participant families and leaders– of the program due to their in-terest and devotion to the cause. Being a participant family or individual is not an easy task, but from personal interviews conducted it is evident they are a dedicated and passionate group. All of the participants have received some kind of reward from the program and the majority plans to stick with the program. While all of the participants have complaints about the beginning steps of the pilot, they still view NHN positively. Alda Hevey, a participant family member, states that NHN is “a grass-roots company whose heart is in the right place.” So even though NHN hasn’t been up and running for long, it has a good base of sponsor families who are willing to be involved and help Burmese families.

Other strengths within the program come from the community assistance programs already in place. For the Burmese families that are coming in there are adult language classes to help them learn the English language so they are comfortable communicating. Although these classes are not part of NHN, it greatly contributes to the program. In fact, NHN requires Burmese families in the program to enroll in ELL classes. There are also two other programs offered for Burmese children. Specialized middle school classes are there to help Burmese students become familiar with English at school.

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Table of Contents

Situation Analysis

Target Publics with Key Messages

Objectives with Tactics

Evaluation Recommendations

Appendices

Primary Research and Results

Burmese Interviews - Child Adult

Opted Out Families’ Interviews

Current Families’ Interviews

Leadership Interview

Other Organizations’’ Interviews

Secondary Research

Vinh’s PowerPoints

Two Tactics Developed

Letter

Website

Logo Design

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There is also an after-school program held for Burmese middle schoolers two times a week from 3-5 p.m. to provide homework help and involvement in recreational activities.

The Des Moines Register article Refugees in Iowa: Making a New Home indicated that there is a need for organizations like NHN. Des Moines is a good place to get the pilot started due to its loca-tion and the opportunities it provides for Burmese families. In the Des Moines school district alone, there are 5,400 refugees. Therefore, NHN can take advantage of this environment and provide op-portunities for these refugees. Iowans have historically opened their arms to refugees and have real-ized that they have a right to the American dream – just like any other American citizen. This idea has spurred other organizations to help. Catholic Charities and the U.S. Commission of Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) help new refugees resettle. EMBARC helps bring all Burmese groups togeth-er. Other groups such as Zion Lutheran Church play an essential role in helping Burmese refugees assimilate. The Burmese refugee children go to the Hoover feeder schools (Meredith Middle School, Woodlawn, Monroe, Samuelson, and Perkins). All these groups serve a specific purpose to benefit the program such as: language training, documentation, counseling, etc. While those things are es-sential, NHN serves in a way that these organizations can’t. NHN gives an overarching support to all of these programs and can be the Burmese refugees’ “rock.” NHN gives refugees a personal touch that other organizations don’t.

Weaknesses: One of NHN’s weaknesses is its lack of funding. Since the pilot is not teaming up with any other organizations there is no money coming in. This creates a problem for NHN in many ways because in order to become widely known the program has to be able to market itself. In order for the program to do so it would have to raise money before it could use a tactic that required spending. This also makes it harder to reach out to different publics because direct mail pieces, brochures or even flyers would cost the organization money that isn’t available. NHN will have to find an alternative way to make its program known.

One of the ways NHN lets people know about its pilot is through Facebook. The demographic for the host families is typically above 50 years of age so social networks are not a regular tool of communi-cation for them. Also, if people do not have Facebook in the first place they may be unaware of the opportunity to volunteer altogether. Awareness is the overarching weakness for NHN. Many people do not know of the program since it is only talked about through Facebook and has been included in only a few Des Moines Register articles. If people are unaware of the pilot it will be hard to grow, so they must find a way to communicate. In addition, lack of awareness creates the weakness of not having enough volunteers in the long run. NHN started out with about 20 volunteers, but in order to grow the program, it needs many more. Awareness of the organization and the amount of volunteers directly correlate, so if NHN can increase its awareness then it will tackle a couple of problems.

Since this pilot is not the NHN leaders’ main job, it results in a problem. With the leaders having full-time jobs and trying to start up an organization there is a lack of time commitment by the leaders.

Their passion and drive for the organization is there, but sometimes the leaders cannot to devote as much time needed to consistently run and grow the program. As for the participant families, they expressed a few weaknesses they felt were within the organiza-tion. They feel that there is a lack of communication between them and the Burmese families. There is a language barrier caused by different dialects among the Burmese, which makes it difficult for these families to help the Burmese without specific guidance. The host families also felt that there was a lack of resources provided for them. If more information was provided on how to help the Bur-mese families, it would cause less frustration for the volunteers. The families feel that there should be a layout of where they could go with their families, how to talk to them and so on.

In addition, the host families also felt there was a lack of guidance from the leaders to the host fami-lies. Some of the participant families were disoriented for a while and didn’t get fully acquainted with the program until later in the process. Some sponsor families have dropped out of the program due to the lack of communication with either the refugee families, NHN leaders or both. However, lack of guidance will also go back to the time commitment from the leaders. If the leaders don’t have a lot of time to give to the pilot, then the pilot may suffer.

Aside from the weaknesses the participant families discussed, a weakness also stems from the volunteers. Involvement with the Burmese families for some participant families is above and be-yond. However, others are lacking with their accountability. With the allotted time with their Burmese families sitting at six hours a month, it gives participant families room to have their own lives outside helping the Burmese. On the other hand, it is very important that those six hours are met in order to help the Burmese families assimilate with the Des Moines culture.

Lastly, NHN has a lack of clear goals. The pilot wants to help Burmese families assimilate in Des Moines and have a successful future here. It also wants to become a nonprofit organization some-day, but aside from these broad goals, NHN does not have any other specific goals. This could be a problem because in order to make their pilot bigger it has to take baby steps – and meeting small, specific goals will help it make progress.

Opportunities: NHN has a lot of room to grow, which provides a variety of opportunities. The number of Burmese families from Burma will provide NHN with an opportunity for the pilot to expand. Another way to help it expand would be to partner with other organizations. Wells Fargo, for example, could be a connector in their current Reinvestment Campaign and could help provide funding for NHN. Wells Fargo’s contribution could help NHN gain awareness through different print mediums.

As a way to help the host families and Burmese families, NHN could hire ESL interpreters as well. Since Vinh already requires the Burmese families and helpers to attend ESL classes, this option would be more of a question and answer session between just one participant family and their Bur-mese family. This would provide an opportunity for Burmese families to have a place to go directly

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may become so frustrated with the language barrier that they may drop out NHN. This is something that needs to be prevented so that the pilot can gain more volunteers and not deplete.Another threat that NHN has is its resistance to reach out to other organizations. The overall goal is to help Burmese refugees assimilate. Although it wants to become a separate entity, the idea of having a partnership should not go unnoticed. If NHN used a partnership its name would get out to the public quicker and it would be able to obtain sufficient funds in order to do more with their pro-gram.

Lastly, other organizations are a threat to NHN. The USCRI, Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) and Catholic Charities all serve as threats to the awareness and feasibility of a new pilot. NHN wants to become widely known as the main Burmese helping organization, but if there are other organizations that are similar, NHN must find a way to stand out and be the best. For instance, Zion Lutheran has over 300 Burmese members and offers a large list of resources – the same stands true for Catholic Charities. Therefore, the Burmese families may want to go there instead. Many of the threats can be overcome through partnerships, but the language barrier is of greater importance right now.

Closing Statement: Neighbors Helping Neighbors is in its beginning stages. NHN is still trying to find out how its pilot is going to work. It has the opportunity to become a large organization and possibly a nonprofit if it is able to conquer the language barrier and raise awareness in Des Moines. With time and effort from all members of the organization, it has the potential to grow. NHN is undergoing a learning process, but once the needs of the host families and Burmese families are figured out, the program can move forward – NHN will be successful. An increasing number of refugees in need of assistance gives NHN a chance to grow as a leader of such efforts in the Des Moines area.

if they were having trouble communicating with one another due to the language barrier instead of having to do it in a group setting. Providing this type of service would create better communication for everyone and take stress off the leaders to overcome the language barrier.

Another big opportunity for NHN is its relationship with the Des Moines Register. Since the news-paper interviewed Vinh and covered NHN during the pilot stage, this could be used as a way to become better known. If Burmese families are talked about in the newspaper, Vinh is usually the resource in that article – making his name known. If NHN makes it known that Vinh is a part of the program, it creates publicity every time he is involved in an article. This would help NHN become widely known as an organization, which is another important opportunity for them.

NHN also has the opportunity to gain more support from individuals for their organization. This links back to being more widely known; when NHN makes that happen it will be easier to gain support when people know what it entails. Another way to gain more support and become widely known is through social media. If NHN found a way to use more than just Facebook the pilot would be able to reach out to more people. Finding the correct medium is an important part of reaching the target audience.

As stated above, gaining awareness is also an opportunity for NHN. Spreading the word of the program itself can help NHN grow as a whole. Receiving more coverage from the media, aside from the few Des Moines Register articles, would be a great thing for NHN because it is free and reaches its target audience – Des Moines residents. With Burmese being the largest refugee group in Des Moines it makes it more difficult for NHN to grow, but with the use of proper resources (print, radio, television and newspaper) NHN has the ability to broaden connections.

Increasing involvement of current participant families and their Burmese families is an opportunity. With host families’ hours set at six hours a month, it is important that the families are at least meet-ing that requirement. It is in the best interest of the Burmese families in order to help them become more comfortable in Des Moines.

Lastly, other organizations like Zion Lutheran Church could serve as a partner to NHN. Since Zion has a large list of resources and experience, they would be a great place to go if NHN needed guid-ance. With Zion’s already existing tutoring services and seminars of how to use insurance, medical care, and ways transport around Des Moines, NHN could help them expand their efforts by offering volunteers. Threats: Overall the biggest threat to NHN is the language barrier. With there being different dialects in the Burmese language it is hard for the host families to communicate with their family. Overcoming this language barrier should be one of the main goals of NHN, as it would make it less stressful for the people who want to be involved and the Burmese families themselves. Another threat is that families

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GoalThe predominant goal is to help a large number of Burmese families assimilate in Des Moines with the assistance of Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN). Through continued development NHN will improve with communication, find an identity and ultimately enrich the community.

Publics and MessagesNHN should target potential partnerships/publics to achieve this goal and build up its identity. NHN should continue to work through these partnerships to have proper funding, support and greater influence as a central hub concerning the present and future of Burmese refugees and their families. There must be a main focus toward organizations and educational programs that have experience, passion and general goodwill toward refugees.

Primary Publics

Aviva or Wells Fargo

Aviva has shown interest in giving back to the community by helping troubled and struggling youth. This applies to refugee children undergoing the dramatic change of culture, comfort and uncertainty. NHN is in need of financial backing in order to give adequate support to the pilot. Funding is also needed to help grow efforts involving participant families, as well as involving churches and schools to help support its programs. If, however, Aviva is not willing to provide corporate sponsorship to NHN, then Wells Fargo is involved with a Reinvestment Campaign and could be an alternative op-tion. Through their campaign they intend to reinvest in community to help give back to local organi-zations as their social corporate responsibility.

Key Message: The interest shown in past and present corporate responsibility, such as the Street to School campaign, warrants a great opportunity to continue giving back to the local community. The corporate sponsor opportunity is an important opening to give the Burmese youth the tools to con-tribute back to society. In addition, it benefits Aviva. As a corporate sponsor providing financial and volunteer support, Aviva will be recognized as an important contributor in the Des Moines commu-nity. Since Aviva has the capability, unlike any other, to have a positive effect on Burmese refugees, this partnership is a smart fit.

Zion Lutheran Church Zion Lutheran Church is similar, if not larger, in size when compared to NHN. Efforts from Zion Lu-theran Church have shown success stemming from its 300+ Burmese members. It also provides a tutoring class that hosts more than 30 children and seminars/classes that provide knowledge on obtaining insurance, filing taxes, marriage counseling, and legal encounters. A partnership with Zion would help NHN’s growth, awareness and expansion.

Key Message: As a non-profit church, the involvement of Zion would positively impact Burmese youth in the Des Moines community. Zion has the ability to offer programs that other organizations cannot, as well as dramatically change the lives of young people in an advantageous matter. Since you have many great programs that are essential to assisting Burmese families, supporting the unique program of NHN will only further your cause in supporting Burmese families.

Des Moines School District/Schools

There are a large number of Burmese refugee children within the district spending a majority of their time at school. After-school programs, such as tutoring or fun activities that focus on the needs of refugee children can provide a large emotional step and have a positive impact. This would be a large outlet to reach the children, as well as provide additional awareness to parents and others will-ing to help the program grow through needed volunteering. The use of corporate sponsors to fund Des Moines school district’s current programs could relieve the stress of the teachers involved. This would be made possible by providing volunteers and resources from NHN.

Key Message: Since there is an influx of Burmese students within the school district, it is essen-tial and critical that these children are educated and supported outside the home. With the help of NHN, the success stories that could come over time would shed a positive light on your school district and further your prestige.

Simpson College Students

Simpson provides various ways for its students to be involved around campus and the larger Des Moines community, with volunteering at the center. With Simpson already providing service learning courses and options to be part of a Wesley Service Scholarship, it provides an opportunity for stu-dents to get involved in an organization like NHN. Simpson student volunteers could provide relief to the Des Moines school district’s current programs by serving Burmese refugees. Students would have the opportunity to enroll in a range of internships with NHN for a specified amount of hours and can also use NHN to amount their volunteer hours necessary to achieve service program require-ments.

Key Message: Simpson College has had a long history of volunteerism within the local community and the next great project to be involved in is NHN. The ability to positively affect the lives of Bur-mese refugees is unique and is a great opportunity to receive credit hours, complete Wesley Service Scholarship hours or get internship experience. Each one of these options would look great on your resume or portfolio.

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Potential Participant Families

The demographics should be 50-to-64 years old, college graduate, an income higher than $75,000, and broadly believe in Christianity.

The psychographical information focuses on goodwill, improving quality of life for others, have self-satisfaction and being charitable in nature. The believers tend to have a focus on tradition, fam-ily and community. Thinkers are inclined to be educated, value knowledge and show responsibility. Emotional triggers will be essential to showing why NHN is needed; the plight of the refugee should e highlighted to encourage participation.

Key Message: It is your responsibility, as a member of the Des Moines area to give back to the community and help NHN and its members flourish. As we realize that being a participant family member is time consuming, think of the struggles that Burmese families face in order to accomplish where you are today with the little resources that they have. Everyone deserves the American dream; these refugees should not get shorted because of their circumstances. Becoming involved in this gives you the opportunity to change their lives and yours for the better.

Secondary Publics

Burmese Families

The Burmese have experienced a difficult lifestyle at their refugee camps in Burma. With the NHN program these families are given the opportunity to experience the American dream. With the help of participant families, the Burmese families assimilate to the Des Moines culture and eventually find a job. The program greatly benefits them as they will be able to obtain a job and have an income in order to support their families towards a better life and future. This, in turn, provides more opportuni-ties for their children and proceeding generations.

Objectives: 1. Raise awareness of Neighbors Helping Neighbors by 40% in the Des Moines area by October 2013. - Tactic 1: Create a website for Neighbors Helping Neighbors. - Tactic 2: Build awareness through The Des Moines Register and local radio stations.

2. Obtain $1,000 from non-corporate sponsors by May 2014. - Tactic 1: Set up program for donations through Neighbors Helping Neighbors website to reach gold, silver and bronze status (amount of money given equals higher ranking). - Tactic 2: Host recognition ceremony at an event where donors and participant families are honored and refugee families tell how volunteers have impacted their lives.

3. Recruit 15 new participant families through Zion Lutheran Church by September 2013. - Tactic 1: Meet with Pastor John Kline at Zion Lutheran Church on the importance of the program and helping further NHN mission and give him brochures to hand out. - Tactic 2: Put information about Neighbors Helping Neighbors in bulletins/newsletters to help spread the word around Zion Lutheran Church.

4. Obtain a minimum of $5,000 from targeted corporate sponsors by mid July 2013. - Tactic 1: Have Vinh pitch the idea about Neighbors Helping Neighbors with PowerPoint slides to potential corporate sponsors. - Tactic 2: Create brochure to leave behind at the pitch.

5. Retain 80% of current participant families from NHN by September 2013. - Tactic 1: Meeting with leaders of each of the church programs to schedule dates and see which programs are most beneficial to Neighbors Helping Neighbors - Tactic 2: Set a schedule for existing programs such as language classes, tutoring, DUI aid, insurance and tax seminars by Zion Lutheran Church by September 2013. - Tactic 3: Acquire emails of all participant families, leaders and volunteers to be distributed to all parties in an effort to enhance communication.

6. Use Simpson College student volunteers to provide relief to Des Moines school district’s cur-rent programs serving Burmese refugees starting fall of 2013. - Tactic 1: Hire student volunteer coordinator from Simpson College. Student would receive internship credit and/or teaching hours for education majors. - Tactic 2: Offer Simpson College Greek Life opportunities to help out NHN and contribute to their philantrophy hours each semster. - Tactic 3: Provide volunteer hours with NHN towards ICAP and Wesley Service Scholarship for students who want to be involved. - Tactic 4: Submit a press release to the Des Moines Register to promote new aspects of the program and Simpson College’s involvement.

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Evaluation Recommendation

Objectives: 1. Raise awareness of Neighbors Helping Neighbors by 40 percent to the Des Moines area potential participant families by October 2013. a. Survey Des Moines residents in churches and through Aviva/Wells Fargo. b. Analyze media coverage through articles and mentions. c. Monitor web traffic by the click-through ratings.

2. Obtain $1,000 from non-corporate sponsors by May 2014. a. Track total donations using an Excel database. b. Track number of attendees at the recognition ceremony to determine if it garners repeat support.

3. Recruit 15 new participant families through Zion Lutheran Church and Des Moines School District by September 2013. a. Track the number of new participant families through an Excel database.

4. Obtain a minimum of $5,000 from targeted corporate sponsors by mid July 2013. a. Track when corporate sponsor commits to assist NHN. b. Confirm the amount of money received.

5. Retain 80 percent of current participant families from Neighbors Helping Neighbors by September 2013. a. Track retention rates through an Excel database.

6. Use Simpson College student volunteers to provide relief to Des Moines school district’s current programs serving Burmese refugees starting fall of 2014. a. Track the amount of students enrolled in the specific course through the registrar’s office. b. Monitor the logged hours done by students from the Wesley Service Scholarship program.

Burmese Child Interview

Name: Taw MehAge: 14Born: Thailand

How long have you been here in the U.S.? Three Years.How long have you been living in Iowa? About two years.When did you move to Iowa? 2011.What do you know about NHN? They help when we need something.Do you share the apartment where you live with someone else? Yes, we share with three others.Do they have a host family? No.How is it living with them? Good.How is it living in the U.S.? Good for me.What do you like to do? Play volleyball.Do you play volleyball here at school? Sometimes.Do you like school? (laughing) Yes.What is your favorite subject? Math.What are your grades? All A’s.What do you want to be when you grow up? A singer.What kind of music do you like? Country.Do you have a TV at home? Yes.Favorite TV show? Miley Cyrus.How often do you see your host family? Like twice a week.What do they do for you and your family? They have bought a softa and a microwave.Does your family speak English? No.Are you the only one that speaks English? Yes. She translates for family when grocery shopping.What language do you speak? Karenni.Do you have any siblings? One brother and three sisters. (25, 23, 20, 14)What does your mom do? Stay home and cook.What do you hope for your life in Iowa? Be happy always, just that.

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NAME

Su Meh

How long they’ve been in Iowa

Where they lived before Iowa

Experienceso far

# of Peoplein Family

Diff. BetweenIowa and previous

placeA little over a year..Moved 10/20/2011

Nebraska Better than Nebras-ka because there are interpreters here. She feels safer.

7 members At refugee camp. she was always scared for herself and her family’s safe-ty. Soldiers would raid the camp they were living in so the family constantly had to escape and move to other camps. The last camp in Thailand was safe, but they couldn’t go anywhere or they would be arrested/deported back. Had no freedom and not enough food.

BiggestChallenges

How NHNhas helped

Way of Communicating

with NHN Family

Time SpentWith NHN Family

NHN FamilyHelps Most With

Hopes ForFuture Here

Language Barrier. They can’t communicate, so she didn’t feel safe. She didn’t leave the apart-ment for a long time or even go downstairs.

Getting basic Needs Daughter who attends school translates every-thing. Her NHN family will also send her text messages and then her daughter reads them.

Saw them 2-3 times a month at the beginning. Less now that they have all of their needs, but the family always asks if they need anything.

Very helpful to her and her family. Helped buy/get things they need like cloth-ing and food. Have learned a lot from them. Have helped with reading and writing. Really liked when they told her family about Christmas. Came and cele-brated her child’s birthday and that’s not something they’ve done before. Taken them to resteraunts. They help with homework also.

Wants all of her kids to graduate, get jobs, and be able to support them-selves. She also hopes to be able to fully support her family and herself.

Meh MoA little over a year Refugee camp in Thailand Not happy at the be-

ginning. Really struggled with the language barrier and not being able to communicate, but it is getting better now.

6 members; 4 children

Kids can go to school and get a free education. Very happy for them.

Language Barrier. Food is different, but not a challenge.

Getting Basic Needs Children interpret Saw them 3 times a month at the beginning, a little less now because they don’t need as much. Family always asks if they need anything.

Helped them find furniture, clothing, basic necessities. Brings them food from time to time.

Wants to be able to sup-port her family and for her kids to graduate.

Say Meh2 years Lived in Nevada (state)

for 11 months.Langauge barrier is tough. Can’t read or write. Apartment has a lot of mold. She’s told the manager many times, but they won’t fix it because it “isn’t bad enough”

5 members In Nevada, No Burmese community where her family lived, so they had no friends. They couldn’t get jobs because they couldn’t speak English or commu-nicate with anyone. Before coming to the US, they weren’t able to fully-sup-port kids. They didn’t have money to buy clothes or put kids in school. Here, there are other Burmese/refu-gee families, kids get a free education, husband has a job at a meatpacking plant, and she also gets to learn English through the classes.

Language Barrier. No Answer. Son interprets/commu-nicates

5 times in 6-7 months Transportation to the clinic. Wouldn’t have gotten there if they hadn’t. Took kids to look at Christmas lights. She and the kids really like doing that. She told them her kids need a new bed. They are helping her with getting one.

Wants her kids to grad-uate. Wants to be able to support herself and her family. Wants to be able to communicate.

N/A 2 years Refugee camp in Thailand Everything is okay for the most part. Tough living conditions, mice and cockroaches, two different landlords, but both never gave much help. Language barrier is tough., but not a huge problem. Just happy to be free.

Her, her husband, and children

In Burma, they were worried about attacks, possesion threat, and constantly worried about death. In the US, the biggest thing is freedom. It’s been hard work, but well worth it to be free. Getting to study and take classes.

Communication and lack of help. Her child that interprets isn’t fluent in English yet. Her kids often need help with homework, but can’t communicate with NHN family.

Again, no communica-tion with family. Tries to call, but no answers. Seems like the family purposely tries to stay away.

Seen one time.Never really have been helped by NHN. No real contact with sponsor family.

Help with food, clothing, and living conditions.

Continue to live free and prosper with more experiences.

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NAME

Patty Link

How did you hearabout NHN?

Thoughts of NHNwhile participating

Reason forJoining

Reason forOpting Out

Thoughts Now

At Church Thought it was a great idea. Thought Vinh did an excellent job explaining.

Liked the chance to help another family. Though the idea of being matched up with a larger family would help the family from a small-scale.

Just communi-cation factor.

She still thinks it’s a great idea, but the reason they dropped out was because of communication. The Burmese family they were matched with was large (seven people). None of them could speak English or communicate with her. They did not have a translator either. They just simply could not com-municate with each other. When they would go over to the apartment, they just got strange information and could not understand.

Challenges Frequent Needswhen participating

What could’ve NHN done to make things

better?

Consider Getting Involved again?

Participate inother orgs?

AdditionalComments on

NHN

Communication. Because of the commu-nication factor, she could never really understand or know what they needed.

NHN could have confirmed from the beginning that the family had at least one person that would be able to communicate with the family in a way that there would be understanding. Could have paired with a translator that could have helped with a communi-cation barrier.

Yes, for sure. None. Better communication. Have translators for the families.

Aida Helvey

The Des Moines Register Seemed like a good ground level organi-zation. It seemed very experienced and honest.

If there wasn’t a time burden, she would do it. Can’t do it now because of family issues.

She still thinks it’s great. Had family issues that prevented her from partic-ipating.

Other ways of help-ing. She wanted to get involved, but at a lower level.

Yes, if she had more free time she would. Would like to see it more tied to church.

The Des Moines Music Coalition.

N/A

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Participant Interview Results

Name: Maggie KeshenDems: 55 years old, Caucasian, Substitute Teacher, Bachelor’s DegreeReligion: Roman CatholicMarried with three grown children

Length of Service: Since November 2012Hours/Month: Didn’t specify hours, said she had seen her family: - November: Three times; December - Two times; None until Feb. 10.

Awareness: Found out about NHN from The Des Moines Register. She said it was a miracle that they found it because there was only one sentence about it. She said they needed to broadcast it better. If she hadn’t read the paper front to back, she would have missed this opportunity.

Rewards: You get to make a difference in their lives. She said anything she does is more than what they had.

Challenges: Communication with her family and the leaders, doesn’t know what to do with her fami-ly, and lack of guidance from the leaders.Since communication is poor, she doesn’t think they understand that they can contact her with any problems or transportation help. She doesn’t know their needs. She doesn’t like just stopping by their house because she feels like it is rude. She wouldn’t like someone doing that to her all the time, but she doesn’t know what else to do. They won’t answer her phone calls.

Were you aware of the challenges you were going to face? Yes and no. She was a little naive about their living conditions. She said their complex is very small and theya re not provided with quality places. She is afraid to bring them to her house and bring something home with her.

Time spent with Burmese family: N/A

What more can NHN do? Provide a list of resources that she can refer to when she does not know how to help her family. Provide a way to help them communicate with the family such as a translator that all the host families and their Burmese family could go to once a month to ask any questions they need answered. Also, to maybe have an instant messanger to translate the language to and from host family to their family.

Willing to stay involved? She is currently frustrated since she feels she doesn’t have much guid-ance with her family, but realizes NHN is in the early stages of their organization. She does want to keep volunteering just thinks if a few things were cleared up it would be easier.

Name: Diane MesserlinDems: 59 years old, CaucasianReligion: LutheranMarried with two children

Length of Service: Since September of 2012

Hours/Month: 7 hours.

Awareness: Was not aware of the program at all and still feels mislead.

Attitudes: Feels like her family appreciates her and is grateful. She wants to continue this through-out her life.

Rewards: Feels like she was lead to do this and feels like a better person inside and out.

Challenges: Communications. They have no phone, so she occasionally stops or leaves notes if they are not there.

Were you aware of the challenges you were going to face? She knew it would be a struggle, but didn’t know it would take so much effort and time.

What more can NHN do? Would like a better communication system such as email. No Facebook.

What comes to mind when you hear NHN?: Good and dedicated people.

Willing to stay involved? Yes, the rest of her life she wants to stay involved.

Describe their Burmese family: Dad works at meat packaging plant, mom, two daughters and two granddaughters. Mom came over in September and Dad came over in the following summer.

Other organizations you’re involved with?: Des Moines Marathon, Lutheran Church, and Iowa National Guard.

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Name : Cheryl Long Dems.: 66, Caucasian, Part time business owner, BA, congregational, 1 son (25 years old)

Length of Service: September of last year Awareness: Was a little aware of situation before, but found out about NHN by the newspaper. Attitudes: She is handling it better than most other families, but knows that others are stuggling with language barrier and commnication with the NHN program itself. Feels it is unorganized. Communi-cation is problem.

Rewards: Members of her family were all immigrants, feels that she should pay forward the help her family received.

Challenges: Communication with family and program leaders, the biggest challenge is in the very beginning when everyone in the refugee family is shy and doesnt want to talk or receive help. But then kids warmed up after awhile, biggest challenge is keeping at it and getting more comfortable with family.

Were you aware of the challenges you were going to face?: Yes, but only because she was more knowlegable about refugees, other host families were not aware of how difficult it would be to com-municate.

Time spent with Burmese family: A lot of time doing paper work, taxes and doctors forms etc. with them. Will do more outside things when warms up. What more can NHN do?: The program needs for most people, more direction for volunteers. Some type of a checklist or guidelines to follow to make sure host families are doing what they need to do. .Willing to stay involved? Yes, she is doing fine with the program but knows its because she is experienced with refugee process. Other families are struggling because of lack of instruction and direction.

Describe their Burmese family: Dad, mom, kids. Kids have warmed up and run and hug when she comes to see them. Dad can only say “Hi” in English. Been here for three years. Other notes: Needs to partner with other organizations to get some financial help.

Name: Heather JacobusDems.: 44, married, 4 younger children, graduated from University of Iowa, part-time job at elemen-tary school, husband is in army, Lutheran, family income of $100,000/yr

Length of Service: Since start of program

Awareness: Found out about program in DM Register, knew about refugees living here but didn’t know extent of how many or their situation

Attitudes: Very dedicated/committed to the project and helping the families.

Rewards: Yes-knowing she’s helping people meet basic needs and making life better for them

Challenges: Language barrier, cultural differences-hard to figure out what they need/their reactions, no translators when they meet

Were you aware of the challenges you were going to face?: No but is still committed and wants to see the program grow

Time spent with Burmese family: Invited family to their family Thanksgiving-they asked to go home after being there for 15 minutes-too loud/crowded. Also makes sure they have clothing/food, took to see Christmas lights, bring them along when running errands every once in a while.

Money?: Yes-couple hundred dollars on food, clothing, shoes, etc. Would be willing to help raise money.

What more can NHN do?: Give more information out about their culture (how to respond to the way they act, etc.)

Willing to stay involved?: Yes-willing to participate as long as they need her to.

Describe their Burmese family: Dad works at meat packing plant from 4-4, have been here 1-2 years, living in 2 bedroom apartment, other relatives live in same building, 4 kids- 9th grade, 6th grade, 3rd grade, baby-2-3? Didn’t have much in the beginning but found people to donate furniture

Other organizations you’re involved with?: Military family, so mainly military affiliated organiza-tions.

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Name: Mary Quiner Dems.: 62, married, substitute teacher, graduated from Ohio State University,Christian, 3 adult children

Length of Service: Since start of program

Hours/month: Only a couple hours in the last couple months-decreased time during winter when weather is bad, hopes to increase as weather gets nicer again

Awareness: Found out about program in DM Register, didn’t know alot about the refugee’s or their situation but being a substitute teacher-workes with immigrant children

Attitudes: Disappointed with her experience so far mostly because of language barrier. If this was improved, it would be better.

Rewards: No because of the language barrier-she feels like she isn’t really helping them, isn’t sure what they need or how to help them most of the time

Challenges: Language barrier-can’t communicate

Were you aware of the challenges you were going to face?: No. Time spent with Burmese family: Took then to the Capitol building, Botanical Center, etc.. will do more when weather is nice again Money?: Would be willing to work at fundraiser or event to raise money

What more can NHN do?: More group meetings and activities-get whole group together

Willing to stay involved? How?: Will participate for at least a year, if improvements to the program are made, will continue.

What comes to mind when you hear NHN? Brand/Image clues: Reach, compassion, awareness.

Describe their Burmese family: Not sure if there is a dad? Two kids-8 and 4 years old Other organizations you’re involved with?:Tutors at Drake’s adult literacy program

Name: Lynn Mankins Dems.: Female, 50 years oldTwo children in HS, married, Graduated from ISU Length of Service: August of last year Hours/month: On average 4-5 (very busy) Awareness: Didn’t have a clue about it. Found out from her cousin who was in charge of it. Attitudes: Feels hesistant just because of she didn’t know what it was and it took her 2-3 meetings before actually really getting into it, and bc she is very busy with her own life. Yet, feels rewarded because she liked volunteering. Rewards: Feels rewarding knowing that you are helping others who are less fortunate than yourself. Loves giving back to others. Makes her not take anything for advantage after seeing others who don’t have as much, etc. Challenges: 1. Busy schedules 2. Communication b/t leaders and families- she can only commu-nicate with 2 teenage daughters bc they speak english- communicate via text msg or calling. Never much involement with father bc he doesn’t speak english and works all the timeWere you aware of the challenges you were going to face?: Not really. Came into this not really knowing anything about it, and she doesn’t feel they have done a very good job about communicat-ing and information the families of stuff. Time spent with Burmese family: Celebrates b-days together, they go over to their apartment (which isn’t much). She had the children over for Halloween and took them treat-o-treating. They have dinner with each other every once in a while or she takes them out to a restaurant. She has kids over to just hangout, play outside, legos/movies, typical kid stuff. Took them shopping around X-mas time (her church raised money and gave it to her Burmese family) Took mom and mother-in-law to clothing pantry at homeless shelter for some free clothes. Money?: Takes them out to eat every once in a while, but does NOT think it’s much of a money thing. They don’t have time to raise money and they don’t find it necessary for it. She thinks NHN needs to find other organizations that are out there, bc she knows there are some, that there is mon-ey and are wanting to help families such as the Burmese.

What more can NHN do?: Have better communication- maybe what other families do with their participant families. Make a list of organizations that are willing to help. Need website. Send out list to families that list places that are giving out clothers, free food, etc.Willing to stay involved? How?: She is not sure if she is going to stay involved very much longer. At

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times she feels guilty because she hasn’t spent much time with Burmese family but her busy sched-ule only gives her limited time. Also, she does not think communication is happening so it is frustrat-ing at the same time.

What comes to mind when you hear NHN? Brand/Image clues: Group of caring volunteers who want to help people who do not have anyone else to help them--especially when it comes to lan-guage .Describe their Burmese family: Family of 7. Mom and Dad. Dad works at Tyson and mom is un-employed. 5 kids- 2 teenage girls and 3 younger boys 10, 8, 4. Have been here for 3 years--in Des Moines for 1 year in Maine for first 2 years. (Liked Maine more than Iowa) Living in apartment build-ing with a lot of other Burmese families. They help one another out a lot. Not great living conditions. Only 2 br apartment with 7 people. 5 in 1 room with the 2 teenage girls sharing the other room. Con-cerned with bed bugs, bedding situation is awful. (She donated 2 beds to them a few weeks ago.) Other organizations you’re involved with?: Church, PTA board, involved with business and groups with business, her kids HS stuff.

NHN LEADERSHIP

1. Are there any other organizations trying to help the Burmese besides Catholic Charities and EMBARC? (Zion Lutheran) - Catholic Charities and USCRI (US Commission of Refugees and Immigrants) are the only two organizations that resettle new refugees. The rest of the churches in town (Zion, Oliver Baptist, Westover Baptist) are very much voluntary organizations. EMBARC is an organization that tries to bring all the Burmese ethnic groups together. NHN is just a very unique operation. There are a number of churches, Zion Lutheran is a leader among them, but there are many more.

2. How did the three of you come together (Joe, Cara, and Vinh and what got you to the point of actually piloting this idea?) - Concerns for refugee students and families in Des Moines. Joe is really the one who gets this established. I was appointed to the School Board Feb. 2012 and began having discussions with Vinh on how to help ELL students. I was asked by Joe to help with organization as the group got off the ground.

3. Do you have a mission statement? - We could use one.

4. What was the method of outreach for recruiting participant families? Who did you target? - Word-of-mouth with our contacts and networks.

5. As far as your identity, how would you like NHN to be perceived in the community? - A group of people with interest in helping others especially the newly arrived people to the U.S.

6. By the Burmese? - A hand up.

7. By the participant families? - A way to reach out to those in need and benefit the greater community.

- According to the leaders, they are just looking to work with the Burmese as far as they can see.

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OrganizationName

Opinion ofNHN

Would your organizationconsider partnering?

Burmese’s BiggestStruggle

Catholic Charities They have limited time and ability to work with refugees. They need more support from more people. She was disappointed how lost the refugees seem because they are mislead. There are many gaps between the refugees and the leaders, but she believes it is a learning process, so it will come the older the program gets.

She mentioned ESL would be good to partner, however, I don’t know what ESL is. She never mentioned Catholic churches partnering.

Language and communication is what she believes is the biggest struggle.

90 vs. 120 days Involvement with the Burmese

What have youoffered the Burmese? NHN in Future

Federal Funding requires resettlement agencies to fund refugees for the first 90 days. However, they do not just drop them off after that. They still visit them and read them their mail.

Daughter who attends school translates everything. Her NHN family will also send her text messages and then her daughter reads them.

N/A N/A

Pastor of Zion Lutheran Love them. Yes, absolutely. Language, transportation, jobs, marriage, and community leadership. Maybe leadership should be #2. With leadership and language, so many prob-lems could be overcome. I think the Mizo at Zion are really successful as a group because we have overlapping leadership structures.

N/A In June, 2010, we did a simple outreach to Douglas Terrace Apartments. I suppose it sounds funny, but God said to do it. The idea was that He wanted us to bless someone who couldn’t give us anything in return. He showed us the place and we went and did lunch for 150. Fried chicken from Culver’s, ice cream, chips, slaw, and beans. Had no idea who would show up. We went back for the next four months and wound up loving a bunch of Burmese kids. We invited them to come and get tutoring at the church. We had four kids at the time. Today we have 200+, mostly Burmese. More detail at www.ziondsm.org/our-story/

Last summer we started a Karenni language Sunday School.

We now have 300+/- Burmese members. They are from the Chin people group, Mizo language speakers. What we offer is basi-cally open to anyone, regarless of race. We supply food from Meals from the Heartland to 12 Karenni families. We have 3 ESL class-es, most are Burmese. Tutoring. Paperwork. We do seminars, we take about 30 kids, now all Burmese to school and back every day, clothes closet, supplemental food, furniture is available in our lobby, beds, locations for meeting, and transportation. EMBARC uses our van for their tutoring program, marriage counseling, home visits, help with domestic disputes, death of family members, funeral planning, etc. We have hired a pastor from Burma to come. Waiting on his Visa now. That will be a game changer, I think, in many ways.

Want them to meet reg-ularly at Zion. Want them to make us their home. Want them to teach our folks to do what they are doing. We need the teaching program and encouragement.

Meredith Middle School Principal, Cindy Flesch.

Appreciate what they do. Learning the language, but she says they do very well considerin the cir-cumstances. When taking the ITBS, for example, many are unable to read the long reading passages, and teachers can only help them so much with that. This also reflects in the school’s test results as an entire school, as their scores tend to bring down the aver-age test scores. She said it is worth it though and people have to understand the situation.

25 percent of students are English language learners at the school. Majority of them are Burmese, but don’t know specific number.

When refugees arrive, they are put into smaller classes with other English language learners. The teachers in these classes are all certified to teach kids the English language. Since they don’t have translators for every dialect, much of the beginning teaching is done through visual learning with pictures and shapes. After a refugee reaches a certain proficiency level, they join regular classes. The time it takes to get here varies quite a bit. Depends on how much schooling they have had at refugee camps. Most of them haven’t had much. The school also has an after-school program two nights a week from 3-5. They also do Saturday morning classes.

Program should continue communicating with the school on what families are participating to be sure services are being distributed evenly and no one gets forgotten about.

She says the refugee kids become Americanized pretty quickly here - hair, clothing, etc. They tend to stick/hang out prety much just with each other simply because it’s human nature to hang out with people you look/act like.

26 27

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- -

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34 35

NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS

DES MOINES

Our misson is to assist Burmese refugee families in assimilating to Des Moines in order to provide them

with a successful future.

HOME ABOUT GET INVOLVED NEWS CONTACT DONATE

CLICK HERE>>

SEARCH FOR LOCAL VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNTIES

Too busy to volunteer? We understand. There are other ways to help. FIND OUT HOW HERE!

LATEST NEWS

1

2

Simpson College offers new student..April 5, 2013

Aviva partners with NHN to spons..March 29, 2013

Is your church or charity interested in helping?

36 37

Neighbors Helping NeighborsAddress

Des Moines, IA Phone #

April 12, 2013

Mr. Jim HayesAssociate Dean and Director of CivilSimpson College 701 N. C StreetIndianola, IA 50125

Dear Mr. Hayes:

I am writing to you with interest in expanding our program, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, to Simpson College students. Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) is a pilot program in Des Moines that was started by Vinh Nguyen, Joe Jongewaard and Cara Kennedy-Ode to help Burmese refugees assimilate to the Des Moines culture. NHN program stems from its volunteers, known as participant families. Each of these families is assigned to one Burmese family in which they provide transportation to medical appointments, assist their family with the English language or answer any other questions they may have. NHN is not an established organization yet, but with Simpson’s help could succeed toward its goal of being a nonprofit organization.

We are contacting Simpson because we feel that Burmese refugees could benefit from your students. NHN currently has an English as a Second Language (ESL) program in place on the weekends to help participant families and their Bur-mese family. However, we feel that Simpson would impact our program as well. With the help of your students a program could be developed in which students could have the opportunity to gain knowledge in educating Burmese families. This type of program would not only be for those interested in teaching, but those looking to volunteer as well. Students would have the option in volunteering to receive credit, use toward Wesley Service Scholarship or toward Iowa Campus Compact AmeriCorps Program (ICAP). Through these programs students’ would log their hours to be applied to one of the categories above. In order to receive credit towards an internship, Bobbi Meyers, Simpson’s Internship Coordinator, could determine the specified amount of hours that is needed per credit. The more hours a student volun-teers the more credits he/she would earn. This would give students the chance to make a tremendous difference on our Burmese family’s lives while receiving credit or scholarships at Simpson.

For a student whose schedule would not be able to fit in an internship or hours of toward a program, he/she could have the chance to volunteer during a shorter time period. Simpson students are known around the Des Moines community for their annual Campus Day services. During this day, students could sign up to devote their time at NHN in order to lend a helping hand.

Another way students could make a difference at NHN is through their sorority or fraternity. These students could volun-teer by going to visit with the Burmese families, providing a donation or volunteering at other NHN locations. This would give Simpson’s Greek life a perspective of a Burmese lifestyle and the barriers they are trying to overcome. Simpson has always done a great job in offering service and volunteer programs to students and NHN would love to provide an opportunity where students could fulfill their hours toward their scholarships or internship requirements. This further differentiates Simpson and fits into “Choose Simpson, Choose Success” mission. We believe this would be a great opportunity for students to broaden their experience and help NHN grow into a larger organization.Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

Senior Strategic Agency for Neighbors Helping Neighbors



DES MOINES


VINH NGUYEN

LEADERSMEETTHE

JOE JONGEWAARD CARA KENNEDY-ODE

DMPS ESL Coordinator(enter desired bio)

School board member who lead the Neighbors Helping Neighbors initiative.

Contact at:[email protected]

Helps with Neighbors Helping Neighbors initiative. (enter desired bio)


DES MOINES


CAUSEHELPTHE

DONOR NAME

Congratulations DONOR NAME! You have just reached silver status.

AMOUNTCARD #DONATE

Neighbors Helping Neighbors and all involved appreciate your donations of time and money. All donors and volunteers are invited to the NHN End-of-the-Year Ceremony to be recognized for their generosity.

38 39


DES MOINES


Neighbors Helping Neighbors seeks partners with many institutions, businesses, churches, charities and community members around the Des Moines and surrounding areas. Central and Simpson College offer student-oriented programs to give back to Burmese refugees by volunteering, internships, and student-teaching hours.

Sponsorships come from corporate entities like Aviva.

As individuals, you have the opportunity, as a member of the Des Moines area, to give back to the community and help NHN and its members flourish. You can do your part by simply volunteering your time, donating, or becoming a potential participant family member.

Are you, your institution, business, church or organization interested in helping?

TODAYGETINVOLVED


DES MOINES


HEADLINES

[April 5, 2013] Simpson College announced today that they plan to create a volunteer program for students to get college credit for helping out the Neighbors Helping Neigh-bors pilot-program new to the Des Moines community.

The program’s purpose is to help Burmese refugees in the Des Moines area. Students can get credit by...(continued)

Simpson College to Create Program for Students to Give Back for Credit

NEWSINTHE

[March 29, 2013] Des Moines corporate entity, Aviva, teams up with Neighbors Helping Neighbors to help spon-sor the pilot program. Aviva donated $500,000 to help fund the ELS classes, and helped supply 10 refugee families with furniture and school supplies for their children.

Aviva’s next step in the corporate sponsorshi..(continued)

Aviva teams up with Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Corp. Sponsorship

Neighbors Helping Neighbors Twitter Feed

NHN Des Moines Register Archive

Charlie Sandvick @charliesandvick@SimpsonCollege students can now get cred-it for helping out NHN. #givingback

David Talley @ODDTIIIJust earned 5 volunteer hours for helping NHN this afternoon. #doingwork

Volunteers sought for refugee assistance program -

New program to assist refugees in Des Moines -

40 41


DES MOINES


Neighbors Helping Neighbors is a new refugee assistance effort seeking volunteers to help Des Moines refugee families adjust to life in the U.S.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors kicked off in August 2012 and tar-gets Burmese families with children at Meredith Middle School and Hoover High School.

The initiative is led by school board member Joe Jongewaard, with assistance from the Vinh Nguyen, who coordinates the district’s English Language Learners program. Ten refugee fam-ilies will take part in the initiative in 2012-13. Organizers hope to expand the effort the beginning of August 2013.

Each refugee family is paired with two U.S. families. Volunteers serve as go-to sources for newcomers seeking information about American culture and customs. They may also be asked to provide transportation to medical appointments, decipher En-glish language forms or offer information about social services available in the community. (Click here to contact)

THE NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS INITIATIVE

PROGRAMABOUTOUR


This logo is a product of taking the letters NHN of Neighbors Helping Neighbors and making an image that can stand alone to describe what the pilot program is all about. As you can see, the letters are clearly visible and they all come together to create an image of two people joining togeth-er. This the idea behind the program. Two families joining together to help one another flourish. The people look the same because they are Des Moines community members. Ethnicity may be a de-fining factor between the Burmese refugees and Des Moines resisdents, but at the end of the day, we’re all the same. We’re just people trying to make a successful life for ourselves, our children, and the community.

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nhn public relations

Documents

burmese families

burmese refugee families

pilot program

refugee family

neighbors nhn

participant family member

program stresses

des moines area family