GAP Program Services for Karen Refugees in St. Paul, MN

Introduction and Program Background

GAP — Guadalupe Alternative Programs — has served St. Paul's Latino youth on the West Side for the last fifty years. Programs like GAP exist to promote the wellbeing of St. Paul, Minnesota's Latino student population by offering services such as counseling, educational programs, emergency resources, and job assistance (GAP, n.d.). While GAP still assists the Latino student population, the demographic landscape has shifted: the Latino population in the agency has decreased, opening GAP services to students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. This transition has created a pressing need to understand the needs of the current GAP student population.

The current population consists of English language learners, refugees (primarily Karen refugees), and low-income students. Social work interns at GAP recognized external factors that may affect these students, which prompted a desire to promote wellness across the current GAP student population. This research study is meant to provide an understanding of the potential hurdles the current GAP student population faces, by asking GAP students whether they are satisfied with GAP services and by assessing their level of awareness regarding available resources.

Statement of Problem

The community has historically viewed GAP as an agency serving Latino students (GAP, n.d.). Established in 1967, GAP's main mission was to offer various opportunities for Latino students in the areas of skills development, education, and personal growth. These students were typically young high school dropouts living on the West Side of St. Paul, Minnesota. However, the mission objectives have changed in the last decade. GAP has grown from assisting underserved Latino youth to assisting underserved students from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

In recent years, the dominant population being served by the agency has become Karen refugees. The need arose to understand the potential factors contributing to the difficulties experienced by the current GAP student population. Several of these issues include transportation, language barriers (most Karen clients speak the Karen language), and needs for legal assistance, educational opportunities, and job assistance. By recognizing the needs of GAP students, GAP staff also identified a lack of resources required to provide such assistance. Without adequate resources, GAP students cannot accomplish goals of academic success. To fully assist GAP students in meeting current academic demands and managing the stress of perceived barriers, further action must be taken to understand the student population and improve existing services given the constraints of limited resources.

Literature Review: Understanding Karen Refugees

The Guadalupe Alternative Program has changed significantly in the last decade. Prior to recent changes, it successfully met the needs of a majority-Latino student population in Minneapolis–St. Paul. While GAP has historically achieved success in helping that student population, the influx of Karen refugees into the agency has led to some ineffective practices and obstacles for both GAP staff and GAP students. This literature review is intended to illustrate the barriers faced by Karen refugees and to identify services that can be improved to meet the needs of the current student population.

To understand the current GAP student population, it is important to understand what life is like for Karen refugees. Karen refugee women, for example, maintain traditions that help them preserve elements of the culture they left behind when they migrated from their homeland. One article highlights the standing tradition of weaving among Karen refugee women. Weaving provides social support, economic survival, and empowerment for these women, and it offers a clue toward helping Karen refugee GAP students find purpose and connection to their culture (Stephenson, Smith, Gibson, & Watson, 2013). Weaving provides roots as well as a means of socialization that the Karen people deeply value.

A second article examines literacy practices among Karen refugee women and their children, offering insight into Karen family literacy both inside and outside the home. Karen refugees practice literacy through participant observation, memorization, reading texts aloud (recitation), and computer use (Quadros & Sarrob, 2016). Because research on the Karen people remains limited, these documented practices can shed light on ways to improve literacy among GAP's Karen refugee student population.

Language barriers represent another critical aspect of Karen refugee life. An Australian-based study examining English language participation, achievement, and education among the Karen people found that Karen refugee women perceived significant difficulties with English language communication and proficiency. They also demonstrated additional barriers to education stemming from socio-political, cultural, and gendered factors (Watkins, Razee, & Richters, 2012). To improve outreach to Karen refugee GAP students, GAP staff must become aware of their backgrounds, culture, and resettlement challenges.

Karen refugees have endured a multitude of hardships, including war trauma and torture, and these experiences have contributed to significant mental health distress within the population. One study found that the extent of torture among the population led to depression, PTSD, and distress among older Karen refugee women (Shannon, Vinson, Wieling, Cook, & Letts, 2015). Counseling services offered at GAP must take these obstacles into consideration.

These obstacles are frequent and render the population especially vulnerable. One article details the struggles of Karen refugees and traces their refugee status to a longstanding civil war with the Burmese government (Bartholomew, Gundel, & Kantamneni, 2015). Through phenomenological examination, the authors identified four themes, the most significant being redefined selfhood and loss resulting from oppression. These feelings and identity changes may factor into outreach and counseling efforts at GAP.

Conclusion and Appendices

GAP is an agency that seeks to help students improve their outcomes. However, GAP and its staff have lagged in fulfilling the needs of the current student population. Perceived barriers identified in this study — particularly language barriers and lack of follow-up — demonstrate a clear need to improve existing services. Research indicates that literacy and language are two of the most significant barriers facing Karen refugees, who now constitute the dominant population in GAP programs. Beyond these barriers, mental health services must be strengthened and must take into account the cultural traditions and history of the Karen people.

Question 1: Describe how accessible the social service office was when you needed help.

Somali female client: "The social service office was accessible for me most of the time when I need help."

Male Karen client: "There have been times when I was unsure if the benefits I applied for have been approved or not."

Male Karen client: "It was helpful. It seems like it has been helpful and I get support whenever I apply for benefits."

Female Karen client: "People are available, but there is always a language barrier. I have to wait for Ahmay."

Additional written responses: Accessible because they meet my needs. / Not accessible because they don't meet my needs. / Not sure if they know what services I want. / Not accessible because they take too long to meet my needs.

Female Karen client (Session 2): "Very satisfied with services; was able to fill out paperwork. I have never done this before."

Male Karen client (Session 2): "Usually staff is there."

Female Karen client (Session 2): "If there is no Karen staff, I have to try and work with the other staff."

Male Karen client (Session 2): "I liked that the staff hours are posted."

Female Karen client (Session 2): "I am meeting most of my needs with the help of the social service office."

Question 2: Describe any experiences you had in the social service office.

Somali female client: "For the most part my experience is great. I get help with my needs, but there is a lack of Somali interpreters in the office."

Karen client: "This is my feeling — there is a lack of communication between the county and the interns. People are not always available in the office."

Karen client: "There is help sometimes but not all the time."

Karen client: "I am so glad that I get support from the social service office. It is helpful to me for explaining and reading papers from the county."

Additional written responses: They are not welcoming because they are not smiling when we come in. / Not telling me when my insurance or food stamp will be ready. / Not filing my forms properly. / Not following up with me. / They don't understand my language.

Male Karen client (Session 2): "I went to the social service office but never saw anything afterwards. Staff is willing to give support, but I never see Ahmay. It is hard to communicate with other staff."

Female Karen client (Session 2): "I feel very good that I am receiving help. Staff is willing to support. Multiple interns are working together."

Female Karen client (Session 2): "Good experience. I always get help."

Question 3: How did you feel about the ability of the social service interns in addressing your needs?

Karen client: "The social service interns try their best."

Karen client: "I feel much better leaving the office."

Karen client: "I feel relieved at the social service office. When I read papers, I am confused and frustrated, but the social service office helps me feel comfortable."

Somali client: "The interns are great and I get support from them."

Additional written responses: I am not sure if they are able to meet my needs. I bring in forms and they are not always able to fill them out properly. / They are not able to address my needs immediately. / I don't know what to do after coming to the social service office. / I feel they don't understand my language. / They are trying their best.

Female Karen client (Session 2): "They are trying their best to meet my needs. It seems like the staff are using the best of their knowledge."

Female Karen client (Session 2): "They have the ability and knowledge to help. I am seeing the results. I am getting benefits."

Question 4: Describe how you felt when working with staff in the social service office.

Somali client: "I felt that I was being supported by the social service staff."

Karen male client: "I felt very happy when I seek help. I think the interns don't always work as a team and it makes me frustrated because it takes a long time for me to get benefits."

Karen female client: "I feel at times that interns may not be happy to help me."

Nepali female client: "I feel happy that the interns help me and I feel that I am being supported by the person who works with me in the social service office."

Karen female client: "I feel very frustrated and angry because (1) my application has not been completed, and (2) the interns put the wrong address and phone number on my combined application."

Karen female client: "I was helped and received support service coordination from the social service office."

Additional written responses: They don't understand my language. Not satisfied with the services. / I feel good about the services they provided for me. / They were able to do their best for me. / Sometimes there is no staff to attend to me. If they have staff, they don't understand my language.

Female Karen client (Session 2): "I see a struggle with language and miscommunications. They don't fully understand me. They have to explain things to me. They are patient when they explain things multiple times."

Female Karen client (Session 2): "I agree with the other participant."

Question 5: What barriers did you experience when working with the social service interns?

Somali female client: "I don't feel there are any barriers when working with the interns. The only barrier I can think of is the lack of a Somali interpreter."

Nepali female client: "I was helped by only one person and she is good."

Karen male client: "I encounter a lack of follow-up. Sometimes the social service office is slow."

Karen female client: "One of the interns completed my combined application form incorrectly. I don't want this experience repeated again."

Additional written responses: They don't understand my language. / They don't follow up with me. / They don't know how to fill the forms correctly. / They don't know all the services we want.

Female Karen client (Session 2): "Lack of interpreters. It is a huge challenge for me without an interpreter."

Male Karen client (Session 2): "When I don't see the interpreter or Ahmay, I rarely ask for help."

All agreed that interpreting is the biggest barrier.

Female Karen client (Session 2): "Without an interpreter, our needs cannot be met." Lack of communication was also noted.

Question 6: Describe how satisfied you were after receiving help from the social service office.

Somali female client: "I am satisfied with the help and support that the interns give me when I need help."

Female client: "I am happy and satisfied when I get help from the social service office."

Female client: "I felt relief."

Female client: "I felt happy when my work got done."

Female client: "I felt relieved and satisfied."

Additional written responses: Not satisfied. / Satisfied. / A little bit satisfied. / Not sure. / Satisfied.

Female client (Session 2): "I was fully satisfied after receiving help."

Female client (Session 2): "I feel very good because I got what I asked for."

Female client (Session 2): "I was fully satisfied. I am getting all the support I need."

Male client (Session 2): "I am fully satisfied. I feel that GAP's social service office is meeting my needs and I don't have to worry about my academics."

Question 7: How can the social service interns improve their services to better meet your needs?

Female Somali client: No answer.

Female client: "I worked with only one person and she is good and she helps me."

Male client: "Increase my food benefits. It is not enough."

Female client: "Improve the quality and try your best."

Male client: "I need to know and want to make sure all the interns are willing to help us."

Additional written responses: Learn how to fill our SNAP paperwork correctly. / Have someone to interpret my language. / Try and follow up with me. / They meet my needs.

Female client (Session 2): "My concern is more with the interpreter. Even if staff is available, if there is no interpreter I can't get help."

Female client (Session 2): "My biggest barrier is interpreters."

Question 8: Describe why you would or would not refer a friend to the social service office.

Female Somali client: "I would refer a friend to the social service office because I think they will get the help and support I received."

Female client: "Yes, I would send a friend to the social service office. They are good and do everything. When I go to Ramsey County to apply for benefits, the case workers don't take time to understand what we want. We get more support from the social service office."

Female client: "No, I would not send a friend to the social service office because they delay work, don't have enough staff available, and are slow to complete the process of getting benefits."

Male client: "I will not refer a friend if they are slow or not willing to help me."

Additional written responses: They don't meet my needs. / I am not sure they know how to fill some of the forms I need. / They cannot quickly meet my emergency needs. / They don't understand my language. / I will refer someone to the office.

Female client (Session 2): "One reason why I wouldn't refer a friend is because of the language barrier. They are not familiar with what we do."

Female client (Session 2): "I wouldn't refer shy students. Students need to be encouraged to be brave."

Male client (Session 2): "I would not refer someone who needs an interpreter or bilingual assistance. I would encourage those students to stay in class. If there is an interpreter or bilingual assistant, I would go there every day."

Question 9: What would you like to tell us that we have not asked you yet?

Somali female client: "Nothing."

Female client: "Are you willing to help me with applying for a travel document?"

Female client: "No."

Female client: "Do you know how to help apply for PCA service?"

Female client (Session 2): "Nothing."

1. "The office was accessible whenever I needed help. Interns were in the office and I got help right away."

2. "I had a positive experience with the people in the office. However, there were some language barriers."

3. "I felt that they knew what they were doing because they were able to help me."

4. "I felt happy working with the staff and comfortable."

5. "I didn't have many barriers. The only barrier was a limited understanding because English is not my first language, so I would say I had a language barrier."

6. "I think they are doing a good job and I don't know how they could improve."

7. "I would refer a friend to the social service office because I think my friend would get the help and support I got."

8. "I would like to see more programs such as the parenting group. I like this program — I am learning so much from it, such as nutrition and how to raise a healthy child."