KHRW Open House on January 23rd, 1999

One of the most exiting community events was the Open House on January 23rd, 1999.   Community members, Voluntary resettlement agencies, State Refugee Coordinator, service provider agencies attended the Open House.   Warm congratulations to the Advisory Committee and the founding members of KHRW in establishing the CBO in Nashville.  Visitors signed in the visitor book for this exiting event, which was very important for the community to have access to services provided by grass-roots Community Based Organization.  Brief orientation has been given to all visitors. Also a Brochure has been prepared about KHRW background and services provided by the KHRW Nashville Office.

• Employment Services:

One of the services provided to the community in Nashville is to provide employment services, access and referral to mainstream services.  This will avoid service duplication and provide a valuable service to refugees new to the community.   Along these lines and in order to help the community become self-sufficient, the KHRW, Nashville office invited a team from the Bureau of the Census to visit our office on January 29th.   They offered job training for about 25 Kurdish from Nashville to participate in United States Census.  As immediate result on Feb 6^th & 13^th, 45 persons have been interview and tested, most of them passed with Good scores.  Six individuals were given orientations and get employed by the Bureau of Census.

• Orientation:

Orientation & Office Startup, site coordinator start-up Manual been provided to the office employees to serve the Nashville Community.  Technical assistance and guidance is provided by the Executive Director and Program Developer of Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Inc.  national headquarters.  An Advisory Committee was formed by members of the community who meet on a regular basis and make contributions and envision main objectives of the KHRW Nashville office.  The Nashville Advisory Committee is like a steering committee to the KHRW Nashville office.

On February 14^th, Ms. Sandra Long, a Counselor from Metro Schools, was invited to present a program to our community.  The areas that were discussed were Jobs, Training in computers, Sewing Machines and Technical Vocational English language, Owning a Business and Business Opportunities. Ms. Long is coordinating with the Tennessee Department of Employment to find job upgrades for individuals.   More than 100 Individuals attended this orientation. Ms. Long is still involved in helping to find jobs for members of our community.