Profiles of some good places for the Lao to live in the United StatesDavid North Voradeth DitthavongU.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Family Support Administration, Office of Refugee ResettlementCZA, Inc., 2262 Hall Place, N.W.Washington, D.C.July 1989 |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| The Purpose of this Document | 1 |
| How to Use this Document | .8 |
| The Profiles: | 11 |
| Tucson, Arizona | 11 |
| Denver, Colorado | 14 |
| St. Petersburg, Florida | 18 |
| Atlanta, Georgia | 22 |
| Boise and Twin Falls, Idaho | 27 |
| Elgin, Illinois | 31 |
| Rockford, Illinois | 36 |
| Des Moines, Iowa | 41 |
| Western Kansas | 45 |
| New Iberia, Louisiana | 50 |
| Montgomery County, Maryland | 55 |
| St. Louis, Missouri | 59 |
| Grand Island, Nebraska | 62 |
| Newmarket, New Hampshire | 66 |
| Rochester, New York | 60 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | 72 |
| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | 75 |
| Portland, Oregon | 79 |
| Providence, Rhode Island | 84 |
| Spartanburg, South Carolina | 89 |
| Murfreesboro, Tennessee | 92 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | 96 |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | 100 |
| Arlington, Virginia | 104 |
THE PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT
This report includes short descriptions, or profiles, of some of the more successful Lao communities in the United States. These are places where Lao are largely self-sufficient, where they have a reasonably easy time getting jobs, and where there are a minimum of problems with crime and big-city crowding.
The information was gathered in one report because the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) wanted to make it possible for Lao refugees to know about their opportunities in the United States. With that in mind, data are presented, for 24 communities, on these subjects:
- ○ Job opportunities for refugees
- jobs available to refugees
- average wages for new placements average wages for established refugees
- ○ The local Lao community
- size and stability of the community
- degrees of self-sufficiency and welfare utilization
- number of Lao-owned businesses presence or absence of a temple presence or absence of Mutual
- Assistance Associations (MAAs) number of college students services available to refugees, including
- health, job placement, and education services housing costs, extent of refugee home ownership
- ○ The host community
- location, total population, and other features unemployment rates for the general population earnings for the general population
Each summary starts with a short description of the advantages and disadvantages the location offers to Lao people.
Most of the data on the host community, however, such as size of the population, the extent of unemployment and average earnings for resident workers, are from standard Federal Government sources.
*. More specifically, population data are from the 1980 U.S. Census, unemployment data are the average for calendar year 1987, and annual earnings of resident workers are for the year 1987. The last two sets of numbers were obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. While unemployment rates were lower at this writing, in the early spring of 1989, than in 1987, the 1987 rates were the last ones available which had been corrected for seasonal variations. The exact unemployment rates quoted for each city are less significant than the comparisons with the national average; all else being equal, settlement in a city with a lower-than-average unemployment rate is better than settlement in one with a higher-than-average rate.
It should be remembered that these data are for the host community, generally, and not specifically for the refugees. In the profile of Tucson, Arizona, for instance, the unemployment rate is reported as 5.1 percent – which was lower than the national average at the time of 6.2 percent. The 5.1 percent rate covers all residents of the Tucson area, not just refugees.The data in this report should be handled carefully. A typical refugee thinking about moving to Tucson, for instance, should not expect to earn exactly as much as the average wage
Also, the monthly rents shown in the report are estimates based on recent experience. A refugee should not expect to pay exactly the same rent as mentioned in this report. Perhaps he can do better, perhaps worse.
How were the Lao communities selected for this report? There are many successful communities in the U.S. and only 24 of them are shown here. The process of selecting communities was careful, but there undoubtedly are many fine communities that could have been listed, but were overlooked.
The first step in the selection process was to eliminate communities in States, such as California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, where high proportions of the Lao are on cash assistance. Next, the biggest cities, such as New York and Philadelphia, were eliminated because Lao often live in unattractive areas of those cities. Next, very small communities, with less than 100 individuals, were eliminated. Then communities that the Lao were leaving were taken off the list.
Within that framework, Lao leaders were asked to nominate locations that appeared to be good for their people. The locations nominated were then examined, and the profiles that follow were selected. Cities outside the high welfare States, where there were either Lao temples or funded Lao mutual
The specific communities listed in this report are not equally advantageous for all Lao. Some locations have higher wages than others (the range in Exhibit One is from a low of $3.93 per hour in New Iberia, Louisiana, to a high of $6.40 in Garden City, Kansas). Some have lower rents than others, though places with high rents often have high wages, and vice versa. Some have better educational opportunities than others. Some have more social services than others. Some have hot climates, some moderate climates and some cold climates. Some locations with high wages, such as in the meat-packing cities, also report more dangerous working conditions than some others, often with lower wages.
Refugees, if interested in relocating within the U.S., should think about what their families want and need, and what they are willing to give up in order to meet these needs. For example, perhaps the family is willing to live in a colder climate in exchange for higher wages or what appear to be better schools. A quick overview of the communities covered in the profiles can be found in Exhibit one which shows the name of the community and State, the approximate size of the Lao community, the general unemployment rate for the host community, the average wages paid to newly-hired refugees and a quick summary of other
If these profiles do not answer all the questions about a place (which will often be the case) there are names, addresses and phone numbers of people who can give more information. If serious errors are discovered in these profiles, or if one senses major changes in the community, the reader should write to Ms. Toyo Biddle, Deputy Director, Division of Policy and Analysis, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Family Support Administration, USDHHS, 370 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington D.C., 20447, with the information.
A note to MAAs and service providers: descriptions of interesting sources of funding and precedent-setting programs can be found scattered throughout the profiles. For example:
- ○ the Lao parent-teachers association in Murfreesboro, TN;
- ○the Lao programs on public radio in several locations;
- ○several different examples of how agencies have helped Lao families buy or rent homes at lower cost;
- ○there is a very active MAA in Rockford, IL, which receives no Federal money but relies instead on private sector support;
- ○Lao staff in the Agricultural Extension Service (Arlington, VA), the Police Department (Providence, RI and Dallas, TX), and the local community college (Elgin, IL).
Some of these examples may be helpful in program planning in other places.
HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT
Each of the 24 profiles has nine sections and answers the same basic set of questions about each community. Some have additional information about matters of special interest to Lao refugees. Each section is headed by type in SOLID CAPITAL LETTERS. The following are the section headings, and what each covers:
LOCATION:
The name of the city or area, and the State.
SUMMARY:
The most important facts about the area.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
These questions are answered: How many Lao live there? How old is the community? Is the population growing? Is there a Lao MAA or a temple? Are there Lao-owned businesses? Where do the Lao live in this general area?
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
This section gives a quick description of the area, the size of the city, and an indication of how refugees fared in the labor market. The specific measures used are the rate of unemployment in 1987 (6.2 percent was the U.S. average), and how much money resident workers (not refugees) earned that year. The average for the country was $20,885.
Sometimes there is a mention of the climate as well.
EMPLOYMENT:
The employment section opens with statements about the extent of self-sufficiency in the Lao community (in other words, how many families were working and were not on welfare?), and on the number of families with two or more workers, a very important factor in resettlement. Then there are
As Exhibit One shows, there is a wide range in the wages paid to newly-hired refugees; the mid-point on this range is $4.82 an hour, the rate paid in Portland, OR. When other data are available on wages they are shown. In each profile there is some information on the kinds of jobs refugees have in the community.
In this and the following sections data are presented as reported in the winter of 1988-1989; since this is the case, and since changes may occur with the passage of time, the findings are reported in the past tense.
HOUSING:
This section describes where refugees live (apartments, individual houses, or mobile homes) and how much rent they pay. The number of refugees owning their own homes is reported. In a few of the communities, where a large percentage of refugees are home owners, estimates are presented on: the average costs of homes purchased by refugees in the 1988-1989 period, the average down payment, and the average monthly payment for principal, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI).
SCHOOLS:
This section shows, to the extent it is known, what the Lao community thinks about the local schools. If there are Lao teacher aides, that is noted. Availability of ESL courses and an estimated number of Lao college students are also shown.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Health services for refugees are shown. If hospitals have Lao interpreters, for example, that is noted.
OTHER SERVICES:
This is a section in which all other services, notably outreach and social services, are reported.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
This section provides the name, agency, address, and telephone number of someone who can give more information about the community.
LOCATION: TUCSON, ARIZONA
SUMMARY:
Tucson offered the Lao warm weather, many jobs and low rents, but wages were low and there were no Lao employed in social service positions.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were between 300 and 500 Lao in Tucson, where there was an active, but unfunded, MAA. The Lao community was founded in 1985 and has grown over the years. There was one Lao-owned business, a video store, and a Buddhist temple in the area.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Tucson, a city of 330,000 is in Pima County, near the border with Mexico. The city is in the southern Arizona desert. Because it is warm in the winter, the city attracts American tourists. The summers are noted for their dry heat. The name is pronounced “two-sahn”; the “c” is silent.
The basic economic signals were mixed; Tucson had an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent, a point or so below the national average. The average pay to resident workers, $18,566, was also below the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
All of the Lao families in the area were self-sufficient, and in virtually every case there were at least two workers in each family.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in this State during 1988 was $4.16; this suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $3.74 and $4.58 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $4.16 average). Refugees with the least skills, the least English and the least
Lao in the area said that it has been rather easy for a refugee, even one without English, to get a job. Most Lao in Tucson worked in factories as assemblers, inspectors, and machine operators. With the passage of time, wages rose for many of the workers to $5.00 an hour, and sometimes the men earned more.
HOUSING:
Rents were reasonable in Tucson with a two-bedroom apartment renting for $275 to $350 (plus utilities). Most Lao lived in the southeast part of the city, south of 30th and east of Alvernon. About one-third of the Lao families owned their homes.
Recently several refugees have purchased modest houses for about $40,000. One strategy used by refugees in Tucson (potentially available in some other areas as well) was to buy repossessed houses that had been financed by the Veteran's Administration, and whose first occupant failed to make the monthly payments. Such houses often could be bought with minimal down payments.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao community appeared to be content with the local school system, although it had no Lao teacher aides or special programs for Lao children. The Pima County school system's adult education program provided ESL. Information on the number of Lao college students was not available.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Virtually all the Lao families had
OTHER SERVICES:
Refugee employment services were provided by the Arizona State Jobs Service. Initial reception and placement of newly-arrived refugees was handled by the refugee unit of Catholic Charities. That organization also provided refugees with case management and social services.
Tucson is one of the few communities listed in this report in which no Lao are employed, either full- or part-time, to help other Lao refugees.
For more information contact: Mr. Donald Chantha, Lao Community Association, 5325 E. 25th St., Tucson, AZ, 85711; (602) 790-1389.
LOCATION: DENVER, COLORADO
SUMMARY:
Ready access to jobs, services, a Lao temple and reasonable rents drew Lao to Denver; wages, however, were below average.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 500 Lao families in the Denver area, totalling 2,500 to 3,000 individuals. There were six MAAs, including one with Federal funding (see addresses below). There was a Lao-owned grocery in nearby Westminster, and a Lao temple in Arvada. Most Lao lived in either Westminster or Arvada. The community was founded in 1975 and has grown a bit recently.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Denver, the “Mile-high city,” is located where the western plains meet the Rocky Mountains. The capital of, and largest city in, Colorado, it has a population of 500,000. The climate is pleasant in the summer and cold in the winter.
Denver, which has been hurt by falling oil prices, displayed mixed economic signals. Its unemployment rate of 7.8 percent was a point or so above the national average, while its residents earned $23,985 a year, several thousands of dollars over the U.S. average.
EMPLOYMENT:
Between 70 and 90 percent of the Lao were self-sufficient; about 80 percent of the working families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in Colorado during 1988 was $4.43; this suggests that most newly-hired
Most Lao in the Denver area worked in factories, with many of the women sewing clothes, and the men working in medical goods or plastics plants. For those refugees who have been working in the area for a while, the average hourly wages were estimated to be in the $5.00 to $6.00 range. It was not difficult for refugees to get jobs; for some jobs, however, there was a need to speak at least a little English.
HOUSING:
Because of Denver's housing patterns, few refugees lived in high-rise apartments. An arriving refugee family should expect to pay about $290 per month for an older, two-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of the Denver area; rents are higher in the center of the city.
Some Lao lived in single-family houses, but most were in low-rise garden apartments. A large number of Lao, between 20 and 30 percent, owned their own homes. A very small percentage lived in public or other subsidized housing.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao apparently thought well of the school system, which, though it has not offered any bi-lingual programs for Lao, had hired two Lao teacher aides.
ESL was provided to adults and school children by the public school systems. Adults could also join ESL classes run by the State refugee program. Classes were provided three hours a day,
It is thought that some 20 to 30 Lao were attending college in the area.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
About 80 percent of the working families had their own medical insurance which usually took effect in the Denver area after three months on the job.
There were several health programs which had made special provisions for the Lao. For example, the Colorado State Health Department had a Lao outreach worker-translator, and the Asian-Pacific Center for Human Development had a mental health program with two Lao staff members.
OTHER SERVICES:
Most refugee services were provided directly by the State government through the Colorado Refugee and Immigrant Services Program (CRISP, see address below). CRISP provided job placement and employment counseling programs as well as a variety of other referral and general social services. It had a Lao, as well as Lao-speaking Hmong, on its staff.
The Lao temple in Arvada, temporarily located in the house where the Lao monk resides, provided both religious and cultural services.
For more information contact: Ms. Saengkham Khatiyavong Nguyen, CRISP, Suite 300, 190 E. 9th Ave., Denver, CO, 80203; (303) 863-8214.
and/or the Lao MAAs:
Mr. Souchitta Panpradith, President, Laotian Association of Colorado, 4844 S. Braun Street, Morrison, CO, 80465
Mr. Somkid Tonhsay, President, Laotian Association of Colorado,
1114 Rosemary #3, Denver, CO, 80220
Mr Bounkong Sengdara, President, Union of Lao Organizations, Colorado Chapter, 10490 Newcome St., Westminster, CO, 80004
Mr. Samroy Sengthon, President, Lao Community Center, 13808 W. 66th Way, Arvada, CO, 80004
Mr. Banchay Sourivong, President, Lao-American Association of Colorado, 11368 Otis Street, Westminster, CO, 80020 (funded MAA)
Mr. Kom Panyachith, Lao-Lu Association, 7134 Yates Street, Westminster, CO, 80030.
LOCATION: ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
SUMMARY:
A pleasant climate, plentiful jobs, and a Lao temple were among the attractions of this city on Florida's Gulf Coast; refugee wages, however, were below the average.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 2,000 Lao in the St. Petersburg area. The community had a Lao temple, two (non-funded) MAAs, and three Lao-owned groceries. The community was founded in 1978, and has been growing in recent years.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
St. Petersburg is best known to Americans as a retirement community, where senior citizens from northern States settle in their later years. A city with a population of 236,000, St. Petersburg is in Pinellas County, and is on the west, or Gulf of Mexico, side of the State.
The basic economic picture for the population as a whole was mixed: unemployment was 4.1 percent, two points below the national average, but so were the average earnings for the residents at $17,715, about $3,000 below the national average. Since St. Petersburg is a winter-time resort, jobs (particularly in the hotels and restaurants) were reported to be easier to get in the winter than in the summer.
EMPLOYMENT:
More than 90 percent of the families were self-sufficient, and a similar percentage of the families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in St. Petersburg during 1988 was $4.50; this suggests that most newly-hired refugees had wages between $4.05 and $4.95 per hour (in a
Most of the Lao worked in factories, particularly in assembling circuit boards on Defense contracts. Some of the men worked in restaurants and in the resort hotels. Women were likely to find jobs in sewing, electronic assembly or in food processing. Data on wage rates for established refugee workers were incomplete. The most common wage for men was said to be around $5.00 an hour. Wages for women were largely in the $4.00 to $5.00 range.
The community reported that employers liked Lao workers, and that it was relatively easy for refugees to find jobs.
HOUSING:
The best strategy for securing an inexpensive apartment in St. Petersburg area was said to be looking for one early in the summer, when the rents are lowest because of the seasonal swings of the resort business. Most apartments cost at least $300, though some could be rented for as little as $200. A large percentage, perhaps as much as a half, of the Lao owned their own homes.
SCHOOLS:
The local Lao community appeared to be content with the school system, though no special provisions (such as hiring Lao teacher aides) have been made.
ESL for adults was furnished by the public schools, and vocational training by St. Petersburg Vocational-Technical Institute. About 20 Lao were attending college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Medical insurance could be secured from some employers after only one month of work (which is unusual) but most employers required a three-month waiting period. Catholic Social Services, the principal refugee-serving organization in the area, has persuaded many employers to offer medical insurance, and tended not to refer workers to employers who do not offer it. But in many cases medical insurance was optional, and many Lao families decided not to buy it. About half the families in the area had medical insurance.
The local Lao often used Thai physicians and there was one Vietnamese physician in the area. The Pinellas County Health Department employed a Lao staff member; one of his duties was to translate for Lao seeking medical attention.
OTHER SERVICES:
Reception and placement services for newly-arrived refugees were provided by Catholic Social Services (see address below), and by Aid to Refugees, Inc, another church-related organization. The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service performed similar work from its office in nearby Tampa.
Catholic Social Services had an ORR-funded contract to provide job placement services to refugees; it also provided outreach and social adjustment services.
There were two Lao MAAs in the area. The address of the Laotian American Association of Florida is shown below. The other organization, the Laotian Association of St. Petersburg, is headed by a member of the staff of Catholic Social Services (see listing below.) Both organizations provided a variety of
For more information contact:
Mr. Vanhsouk Kousonsanong, Catholic Social Services, 6533 9th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, FL, 33710; (813) 345-0953 and/or Mr. Bounneua Songbandith, President, Laotian-American Association of Florida, 2178 25th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, FL, 33703; (813) 822-4527.
LOCATION: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
SUMMARY:
Good weather, the best refugee wages in the south, many jobs and a Lao temple were among Atlanta's attractions; rents, however, were higher in Atlanta than in the rest of the south.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 2,500 Lao living in the Atlanta area. The community was founded in 1979, and was once slightly larger than it was at the time of the study. There were several Lao-owned groceries and a restaurant, a (non-funded) MAA, and a Lao temple. Five organizations had Lao on their refugee-serving staffs.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
The Atlanta metropolitan area, with a population close to 2,000,000, is one of the largest and most internationally-oriented cities in the south. It is also one of the most prosperous southern cities, with a variety of industrial, commercial and governmental activity. Atlanta is in the hills in the northern part of the State; its weather is warmer than in most of the U.S., but not as warm as in Florida.
The City of Atlanta is in Fulton and DeKalb Counties. Many of the Lao lived in these two counties and in Clayton County, south of Atlanta.
Atlanta's prosperity showed in its unemployment rate, 4.6 percent for the metro area, considerably less than the national average. Its average resident earnings of $22,400, were a little above the U.S. average.
EMPLOYMENT:
More than 80 percent of the Lao were self-sufficient, and a similar percentage of the families had two or
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in Georgia during 1988 was $5.33. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.80 and $5.86 per hour, (a range of 10 percent on either side of $5.33 average). Refugees with lower levels of skills were likely to be paid low in this range, and those with more skills higher in the range.
The $5.33 average hourly wage was, by far, the highest rate reported in this volume for the south, and one of the highest in the nation. This was the entry-level wage for newly-hired workers; after time passes on the job most refugees earned more. For example, in a recent ORR study of a group of refugees from Laos (both Hmong and Lao) the men earned, on average, $6.51 an hour, while the women earned $5.74. Those workers had been assisted in their move to Atlanta by the Planned Secondary Resettlement Program described below.
Most Lao men in Atlanta worked in factories, including electronics and poultry packing plants; others worked in hotels and warehouses. The women worked in the poultry plants, in kitchens preparing meals for the planes leaving the busy airport, and in electronics assembly. As is the case elsewhere, the work in the poultry plants is hard and demanding and could be dangerous, but refugees with little or no English could get jobs there fairly easily.
Generally it was easy for refugees to find jobs in Atlanta.
HOUSING:
Because of the prosperity of the area, housing
SCHOOLS:
From what could be gathered, the community was content with the school systems although there was no bi-lingual education for Lao children in the Atlanta area school systems. One Lao teacher aide had been hired by the DeKalb County schools.
ESL for adults was provided in the area by the county public school systems, and by some churches. (Several evening ESL programs have been discontinued, however, for lack of interest on the part of the refugees). Refugees in Georgia have traditionally had little access to skills training.
There were about ten Lao attending college in the area.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
An estimated 80 to 90 percent of the Lao families had private medical insurance, usually obtained through their employers. The waiting period for the start of such insurance varied from one to three months in the area.
Many Lao with private health insurance used one of the numerous Vietnamese medical clinics or other facilities where there were Asian physicians.
OTHER SERVICES:
There were a number of voluntary agencies helping refugees as they first settle in the Atlanta area, including Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS),
LIRS also provided job placement and counseling services and some on-the-job training from its office in downtown Atlanta. Its telephone number is (404) 875-0201.
Social adjustment, translation and referral services were provided by the Georgia Mutual Assistance Association Consortium. This organization had a Lao on its staff (see address below). It had support from ORR and from the Atlanta United Way.
Another organization with a Lao staff member was Save the Children. It helped refugees by providing child care while parents were in ESL courses, or during their first few weeks on the job. It also helped refugee women who care for other children by showing them how to apply for government money to provide food for the children.
The Clayton County Human Resources Agency (its welfare department) had a Lao on its staff.
The Lao MAA (see address below) provided volunteer social services to Lao refugees and arranged community events.
The Lao temple was near Atlanta in Riverdale, Georgia; it provided cultural and religious services.
Atlanta is the only city listed in this report which had a special U.S. Government program designed to assist refugees who are secondary migrants to settle in its area. That program, Planned Secondary Resettlement (PSR), was funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and was designed to help refugees to move
PSR in Atlanta was managed by Lao Family Community Association, Inc., which had a staff of six who speak Lao, including five Hmong and one Lao. The agency had moved several Lao families, and many Hmong (see address below). The families moved to date have been former residents of California, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the agency has recruited.
To be eligible for the program a refugee family must have lived in the U.S. for at least one year, and either been on cash assistance or unemployed. The program prefers to move families but will also assist single individuals if certain criteria are met.
For more information about PSR contact:
Mr. Siong Koua Vanchiasong, Executive Director, Lao Family Community Assn., Inc., 4336 Covington Highway, Suite 103, Decatur, GA, 30005; (404) 288-4381
For more information about Atlanta, generally, contact:
Mr. Thomas Bounkeo, Georgia Mutual Assistance Association Consortium, 535 N. Central Ave., Hapeville, GA, 30354; (404) 763-4240 or 763-4241 and/or Mr. Josep Latsamy Phommavongsay, President, Lao Friendship Association, 6468 River Ran Rd., Riverdale, GA, 30274; (404) 966-5820.
LOCATION: BOISE AND TWIN FALLS, IDAHO
SUMMARY:
Easy access to jobs, low rents, pleasant outdoor activities and a strong Lao community were among the attractions of Idaho to the Lao; the only drawbacks were the cold winters.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 700 Lao in Idaho, 200 or so in Boise, 500 in Twin Falls and others in Pocatello. The community was founded in 1975 and had been growing slowly ever since. There was a stable but unfunded MAA. There were no Lao-owned businesses and the nearest temple attended by Lao was in Salt Lake City, Utah.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Boise (pronounced “boy-see”) is the capital and largest city in Idaho with a population of 103,000. Twin Falls, about 150 miles south and east of Boise, is a small city of about 30,000. Idaho is a largely mountainous State located in the northern part of the country, in the Rocky Mountains.
The basic economic situation in Boise was better than that in Twin Falls. In Boise the unemployment rate was 5.7 percent, a little under the national average, while the average annual earnings of residents was $19,371, about $1,500 less than the U.S. standard. In Twin Falls the unemployment rate was 8.2 percent, worse than the national average, and the average earnings was only $15,367, the lowest of any in this report.
EMPLOYMENT:
All Lao families, with few exceptions, were self-sufficient, and in 90 percent of the families there were two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in Idaho during 1988 was $4.51. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.06 and $4.96 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $4.51 average). Refugees with the least skills, the least English and the least U.S. work experience tended to be hired at or near the lower rate. The $4.51 rate is below the average of the wage rates for the refugee communities described in this report.
Refugees who have become established in their jobs earned more than the entry level. Average wages for such refugees were said to be $6.00 an hour for men and $5.00 for women.
Given the fact that employers in Idaho are apparently somewhat more likely than employers elsewhere to demand some ability with English of their workers, refugees with limited English reported difficulty securing jobs. Most Lao in Idaho, men and women, worked in factories, making bags, electronic equipment and garments. Micron Technology was a large employer of the Lao.
HOUSING:
As was often the case, where wages were low, rents are also low, and that was the story in Idaho. In the Boise area one could rent a two-bedroom apartment for $280 to $300 a month plus utilities; such apartments would be in a pleasant, average Idaho neighborhood, not in a crowded, deteriorating area. About half the Lao in the State owned their homes, and none were known to be in public housing.
Refugees buying three-bedroom houses in Idaho were paying
SCHOOLS:
The Lao seemed contented with Idaho's high schools. In the summer of 1988 all Lao seniors in Idaho's high schools graduated and all went on to college. Of the ten or eleven in the Boise area in this group all but one or two were still in college six months later.
ESL was provided by Boise State University and by the Idaho Refugee Services Program in both Boise and in Twin Falls.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
About 95 percent of the Lao families had private medical insurance secured through their employers. There was usually a three-month wait before health insurance went into effect. The Lao appeared to have experienced no major problems in securing needed health care.
OTHER SERVICES:
A voluntary agency and a voluntary-agency consortium provided reception and placement services for arriving refugees. The American Federation of Czechoslovak Refugees has worked with European refugees, while the consortium has worked with Southeast Asians. The consortium consists of Church World Service, the Presiding Bishop's Fund, and the Episcopal Diocese of Boise. Its telephone number is (208) 376-4529.
Most other refugee services were provided by the Refugee Center, or more formally, the Idaho Refugee Services Program (address below). This program, in an unusual arrangement, is
staffed by State employees (including as-needed Lao translators). The Refugee Center provided ESL courses, job placement and employment counseling, and social services.
For more information contact:
Mr. Oula Sackpraseuth, Vice President, Lao Association of Idaho, 1903 Lemhi Street, Boise, ID, 83705; (208) 342-2640 and/or Refugee Center, Suite 100, 5440 W. Franklin Rd., Boise, ID, 83705; (208) 334-2693.
LOCATION: ELGIN, ILLINOIS
SUMMARY:
The Lao community, in this small city 36 miles west of Chicago, had a vigorous interest in education, and had developed one of the nation's strongest Lao involvements in a public school system. Jobs were plentiful in a diversified economy, but housing was somewhat more expensive than in some other Lao communities.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
The Lao community was a stable, long-established one, having been founded in 1975. There were approximately 500 families, totalling some 3,000 individuals, making it the largest refugee community in the area, and one of the larger concentrations of Lao in the U.S. outside California.
There were a number of Lao-owned businesses including four grocery stores, two restaurants, an insurance and financial services agency, two welding shops and several landlords. A few of the families newly-arrived from the camps had left because of the cold winters, and a few others moved to Wisconsin at the end of the initial cash assistance period.
There was a non-funded Lao MAA in the area, and a Lao temple about an hour's drive away in Rockford, Illinois.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Elgin is a small city of 65,000 at the outer edge of the Chicago suburbs. Most of it is located in Kane County with a small part in Cook County. Some of the Lao refugees lived in nearby Hanover Park and Streamwood, both in Cook County.
The basic economic signs were good. The unemployment rate of 3.2 percent was about half the nation's average, and half that of nearby Chicago. The average annual income of resident
Elgin had an interesting distinction although the significance was not great. Many American cities have had sister cities overseas for years — twenty years ago Elgin selected her sister city, Vientiane.
EMPLOYMENT:
“There are more jobs than people” one Lao spokesman declared. The self-sufficiency rate was high, with less than 10 percent of the families on cash assistance. In about three-quarters of the families there were two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in Elgin during 1988 was $5.10. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.59 and $5.61 per hour, (a range of 10 percent more or less than the average of $5.10). Refugees with the most skills tended to be hired at the higher end of the range, and those with less skill at the lower end. Experienced refugee workers earned an average of $5.50 an hour or a little more.
Elgin had a diversified economy and, as a result, the Lao worked in many different kinds of jobs. The work is relatively safe and not overly demanding.
The most common jobs for men and women were in factories, particularly in electronic assembly. Many also worked in hotels and other service industries. Some of the men who have gone through welding and machine tool vocational training, conducted by the Refugee Program of the Elgin Young Women's Christian
HOUSING:
The Lao lived in several types of housing, single family houses as well as apartments. Many of them were in the Crestwood apartment complex of Elgin. The average monthly rental for a two-bedroom apartment was $375 to $400. Very few Lao 'were in public or other subsidized housing which was not readily available. About one-fifth of the families owned their own homes.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao presence in the local school system (Unified School District 46, or U-46) was remarkable. Whereas many Lao communities have never had U.S.-certified Lao teachers, there were 11 such teachers in U46, some with partial certificates. Similarly, bi-lingual education programs in Lao were unusual in the U.S. But there was such a program in Elgin, giving children who speak only Lao a chance to learn English while being taught partially in Lao.
U46 has not only gone out of its way to recruit Lao teachers, it has also taken the lead in seeing to it that these Lao teachers had a chance to further their own education at the National College of Education in Chicago and elsewhere. Lao children attending the local schools often found themselves in classes where American children are in the majority but the teacher is Lao, an unusual situation for Lao in American schools.
There were an estimated 60 to 100 Lao enrolled in colleges in the area — in fact most Lao graduating from high school go on to college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Most newly-arrived families depended on medical assistance until they have completed three months on the job, when private medical insurance started. At least four health facilities had one or more Lao on their staffs: the Crossroads Clinic in Elgin, the Elgin Medical Center (which employed a Lao student nurse), the Refugee Health Program of the Department of Public Health in nearby Cook County, and the refugee mental health program of Travellers and Immigrants Aid.
OTHER SERVICES:
The principal provider of refugee services, other than those mentioned above, was the YWCA, which had four full-time, Lao-speaking staff members. The YWCA formerly had provided vocational training, and continued to offer vocational ESL, regular ESL, outreach, referral, and other social services at the time of the study. Its employment department placed about one refugee in a job every business day (i.e. 20 a month). Over the last few years the YMCA Refugee Project has placed a total over more than 3,300 refugees in jobs.
A relatively large number of public service agencies, seven
For more information contact: Mr. Thavisouk Vongsaga, YWCA Refugee Project, Suite 304, 164 Division St., Elgin, IL, 60120; (312) 697-3360.
LOCATION: ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS
SUMMARY:
A very strong education program, good services, good jobs and reasonable rents made this a very good community for the Lao. There was a Lao social service agency with private funding, an unfunded Lao MAA, and both a Lao Buddhist temple and a Lao Christian Church. The winters, however, were cold.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 300 Lao families in the Rockford area totaling about 1,700 individuals. There were a Lao-managed social service agency with private funding, the Rockford Area Indochinese Services Center and a Lao MAA (see addresses below). The community was founded in 1978 and had grown substantially in recent years.
There were several Lao-owned businesses in the area, including two groceries, a restaurant, an auto service firm, a television service agency and a licensed real estate agent. There was a Lao temple with, at the time, four Lao monks. Rockford, in short, had a very strong Lao community.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Rockford, the county seat of Winnebago County, is a city of 140,000. It is at the northern edge of Illinois, some 75 miles west and north of Chicago. It is on the Rock River which later flows into the Mississippi.
Once the principal clock manufacturing city in the U.S., Rockford lost that business some years ago, and, as a result, lost population between 1970 and 1980. It is one of those small midwest communities with few minorities, and the Lao are the largest of the Southeast Asian refugee populations.
The community's basic economic measures were mixed. The
EMPLOYMENT:
About 85 percent of the Lao were self-sufficient, and in 70 percent of the families there were two or more workers. The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in the State during 1988 was $4.70. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.23 and $5.17 per hour (a range of 10 percent more and 10 percent less than the average of $4.70). Refugees with the least skills, the least English and the least U.S. work experience tended to hired at or near the lower rate.
As in many other communities, the agency handling job placement for refugees set its own minimum wage. It would not place refugees in jobs paying less than $4.00 an hour, and there was a sufficient number of jobs so that the agency could enforce this wage level. The average wage for refugees who have been in their jobs for several years is said to be about $7.00 an hour for the men and $5.50 to $6.00 for women.
The Lao men in the area were employed in woodworking factories, in machine shops and in some office occupations (as caseworkers and accountants). Most of the women worked as assemblers in factories, but several were caseworkers and teachers. Gates Rubber Co., Heartwood Creations, Elco Industries, Cam Car, and Seward Screws Co. were major employers of Lao.
Rockford, like nearby Elgin, Illinois, is one of the few locations covered by these profiles where Lao worked as fully-credentialed teachers, as well as teacher aides. Generally, and despite the high unemployment rate, the Lao have little trouble getting jobs in Rockford, even those with minimal English.
HOUSING:
A modest two-bedroom apartment could be rented for $225 a month (plus utilities) and a modest three-bedroom apartment could be had for around $275. About ten families settled in public housing units. A sizeable number of Lao families owned their own homes but estimates of the extent of homeownership varied.
SCHOOLS:
The program for Lao children in the school system was remarkable. It is one of the few locations covered by these profiles in which there was a full-fledged bi-lingual program for Lao-speaking students. This transitional program, which was designed to ease the move into all-English classes, was provided to more than 100 grade school children, 30 in the middle schools, and 60 more in high schools. Another 150 Lao children were regarded as not needing these services, having good English-speaking skills. In addition to three Lao teachers, the schools also employed four Lao teacher aides.
ESL for adults was provided by the public schools, and by Rock Valley College. The Refugee Training Program at the College was one of the principal refugee-serving agencies in the area. There were ten to twenty Lao residents of Rockford attending college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
It was estimated that 80 percent of the Lao families had secured health insurance through their employers.
The local medical system, like the local schools, had made special arrangements for the Lao: there was a Lao nursing aide on the staff of the local health department, and a bi-lingual Lao worker at the Rockford Memorial Hospital.
OTHER SERVICES:
The principal local agency providing reception and placement services for newly-arrived refugees was Catholic Social Services. (Some 50 refugees arrived from Bangkok in December 1988 and January 1989.)
There was an unusually large number of Lao-speakers working with refugees in Rockford, 14 full-time workers and two part-time ones. In addition to the agencies previously mentioned, they worked for:
- ○ The Winnebago County Department of Human Services (the welfare agency);
- ○ The Rockford Area Indochinese Service Center (RAISC);
- ○ The Zion Lutheran Church; and
- ○ The Refugee Training Program of Rock Valley College.
There were two full-time employees in the College's program who speak Lao (one Lao and the other a Lao Hmong) and two other Lao holding part-time positions. The College placed refugees in jobs at $4.00 and more per hour, and provided other services as well.
RAISC provided a broad range of services to all local refugees, although most of the refugees on the board, and the two
The MAA was the Rockford Chapter of the Lao Association of Illinois. It provided volunteer services and sponsored community events.
The Lao temple and the Lao church both provided cultural and religious services.
For more information contact:
Mr. Angkhane Donepanya, President, Lao Association of Illinois, Rockford Chapter, 715 South 5th St., Rockford, IL, 61104; (815) 968-3147 and/or Mr. Kheuangsack Chanthasack, Program Director, RAISC, 1907 Kishwaukee Street, Rockford, IL, 61104; (815) 965-7042 and/or Mr. Phengpohone Chanthalangsyl, Chairman, RAISC, (815) 398-9311 (res.) or (815) 229-2100 (work).
LOCATION: DES MOINES, IOWA
SUMMARY:
This was a small, highly self-sufficient Lao community. Jobs were as numerous as rents were reasonable and there was a Lao temple; but the winters were cold.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were approximately 2,300 Lao in the State of Iowa. About half were in Des Moines, and many of the others were in Sioux City. The Lao had a temple in Des Moines, and there were a few Lao-owned businesses, such as a grocery and several restaurants. The community was formed in 1975 and has been stable in size in recent years.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Iowa is a largely flat, farming state; Des Moines, a city of 190,000 is the State capital and the largest city. It is in Polk County and it is located right in the middle of the State. Sioux City, with 80,000 population, is 160 miles north west of Des Moines, at the far western edge of the State.
Des Moines' principal activities are trade, State government, and manufacturing. The economic signals were mixed; the unemployment rate of 4.4 percent was almost two points below the national average, but the average level of earnings of its resident workers, $19,706, was also below the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
More than 92 percent of the Lao families were self-sufficient. In about two-thirds of the families there were two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in the State during 1988 was $5.30. This suggests that most newly-hired
Lao have found it easy to get jobs in this area, even with little or no English. Some of them, both men and women, worked in meat plants, but a majority worked in other factories and some in hotels. (For more on the kinds of work available in the meatpacking plants, see the profile of Garden City, Kansas.)
HOUSING:
Housing was reasonable, as it often was in small cities in the middlewest In Iowa, a refugee family could often rent a modest two-bedroom apartment for $230 to $250 per month, plus utilities.
Most of the refugees in the Des Moines area lived in apartments or single-family houses. In some of the smaller towns, Lao, working in meat plants, lived in mobile homes. About a third of the Lao families owned their own homes.
The average cost of houses purchased by refugees recently in the Des Moines area was $45,000; these would be, on average, three-bedroom houses about 12 years of age. Down payments were 10 to 20 percent ($4,500 to $9,000) and monthly payments $450 to $500. The cost of a comparable house in Sioux City would probably have been a little less, and would have been considerably less in rural parts of the state.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao community spoke well of the local school
ESL was offered by both the Des Moines Community College and the local public school system. About twenty Lao were enrolled in college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
It was estimated that 95 percent of the families had medical insurance, secured through their employers. There was usually a three-month, and sometimes a six-month wait, before medical insurance went into effect.
The State Health Department employed a Lao for community outreach and translation work. Many Lao made use of the Thai and Vietnamese physicians practicing in the area.
OTHER SERVICES:
The Iowa system of refugee resettlement encourages early employment, and the State, through the Bureau of Refugee Programs, operates its refugee programs directly, rather than through contractors.
Direct job placements and employment counseling are handled by the four Lao staff members of the Refugee Bureau, one of whom is based in Sioux City. Short-term vocational training in technical subjects, such as electronic assembly, was provided by various community colleges.
Reception and placement of newly-arrived refugees was provided by the State (the only State that handles this function), by the Catholic social service agencies in Des Moines
The Lao temple, (see address below), provided both cultural and religious programs.
For more information contact: Mr. Done Phommachack, President, Lao Buddhist Temple, 1433 E. 17th St., Des Moines, IA, 50316; (515) 282-1801.
LOCATION:
Western Kansas
SUMMARY:
Jobs were plentiful even for those with no English, wages were high, housing was inexpensive and refugee services were available. Virtually all refugees were employed in meat-packing plants where the work was demanding and sometimes dangerous.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
Lao refugees first arrived in Western Kansas in 1982 to work in the packing plants. Most of the Lao families in the area, about 100 of them, totalling 500 people, lived in Garden City. Smaller groups, perhaps half a dozen families or so each, could be found in Liberal and Dodge City. The community has been growing in size.
While there was no Lao MAA, there was a multi-ethnic MAA, and there was one full-time Lao caseworker, as well as several part-time, Lao-speaking caseworkers and teacher aides. The nearest Lao Buddhist temples were in Amarillo, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas, each several hours drive from Western Kansas.
The Lao in Western Kansas said they like the area Jobs were plentiful, housing was inexpensive, and the schools were good. Lao families coming to Western Kansas tended to come and stay. There seemed to be more coming and going in the larger Vietnamese community in the area.
THE HOST COMMUNITIES:
Western Kansas is farm country, perfectly flat, and the location of substantial beef feeding and meat-packing industries. The three small cities (Garden City, Dodge City, and Liberal) form a triangle, each being about an hour's drive from the others. Their populations range between
EMPLOYMENT:
There was a high degree of self-sufficiency in the Lao community; only six of the hundred families were receiving cash assistance. In more than 80 percent of the Lao households there were two or more workers.
This was and is, for the refugees, a one-industry area; virtually all the working refugees in Western Kansas are employed in the meat-packing plants, where cattle are killed and cut up for shipment, ultimately, to super markets. There is at least one such plant in each of the three cities. Work is organized on an assembly-line basis, with each worker doing a specific task, over and over again. The work is demanding and, given the repetitive motions built into the work, potentially dangerous. A few Lao have moved up to supervisory jobs in the packing houses. Supervisors have weekly salaries and often, end-of-the year bonuses, while the production workers are paid at hourly rates.
The average wage paid to newly-hired refugees, in 1988, in Garden City was $6.40 an hour, the highest in this report; the variations in starting wages here, unlike most other cities
The meat factories guaranteed their workers at least 32 hours a week, the usual amount of work in the winter. There was considerable overtime work available during the summer.
The average hourly wage of refugees who have been in the area for a while was estimated at between $7.40 and $8.00 an hour, with little difference between the wages of men and women. A refugee working year-round at an average of 40 hours a week would earn approximately as much as his or her American neighbors, which was different than the situation in most U.S. communities where average refugee wages were usually below those of the average of the host population. In Garden City many refugees earned $20,000 a year or more.
Since there was constant turnover in the packing plants, because of the nature of the work, jobs could be obtained easily, even by refugees with no English and no vocational training or other education.
As one informant put it “If you are young (18-30) and strong and have little English or training, here's a place where you can
There were no Lao-owned businesses in the area, but many are owned by the more numerous Vietnamese community.
HOUSING:
The vast majority (60 to 90 percent) of the Lao refugees lived in mobile homes, which could be rented for $200 to $400 a month. (A review of classified ads in the local paper showed that five out of six apartments and houses offered for rent were in the $225 to $335 range). For $400 a family could rent a fairly new mobile home with three bedrooms and enough space outdoors for a small garden. Lower rents were paid for older or smaller units. About 20 percent of the Lao owned their own mobile homes. Only a handful (5 percent) of the refugees lived in public or other subsidized housing.
Lao who bought mobile homes paid $10,000 to $15,000 for used ones and $25,000 and more for new ones.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao reaction to the local schools appeared to be positive, with two or three part-time Lao-speaking teacher aides being reported in the Garden City schools and one in Liberal. Bi-lingual instruction, in Lao, is not offered in the area. There were three to five Lao attending local colleges.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
There were mixed reports on health services. All families secured medical insurance after six months on the job, but services were limited during the first six months. The only free clinic was in Garden City, and it was often crowded. Most dentists would not accept Medicaid patients.
OTHER SERVICES:
The Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association in Garden City was a multi-ethnic service organization which provided a wide range of services: ESL, job placement, housing placement, citizenship training, interpretation, and referrals to other service providers. The Adult Learning Center of the Garden City Community College provided ESL and special services to refugees.
A somewhat similar range of services were provided by the Seward County Community College in Liberal. The Seward County college had a part-time, Lao-speaking caseworker, while the MAA had a fulltime one. A representative of the Kansas State Refugee Coordinator's Office was stationed in Garden City at the time of the study. His telephone number was (316) 275-0271.
For more information about Garden City, contact: Ms. Sara Bouddhara, Southeast Asian MAA, 103 N. 9th St., Garden City, NB, 67846; (316) 275-2261 and/or Ms. Susan Hart, Adult Learning Center, Garden City Community College, 603 N. 9th St., Garden City, NB, 67846; (316) 276-7600.
For more information about Liberal, contact: Ms. Carol Feather Francis, Seward County Community College Refugee Services; (316) 626-7124.
LOCATION: NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA
SUMMARY:
Hard-working Lao with little or no education could make money and buy their own home here; a whole Lao village, complete with a temple, has been built in New Iberia. Hourly wages, however, were lower than in any other city covered in this report, but the cost of living was also lower than average.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were some 1,200 Lao living in New Iberia. They have built Lanexang Village surrounding the site of the planned Wat Thammarattanaram. In the Village there are currently 52 home lots, and a larger, three-acre, lot for the temple, all owned by Lao; the local Lao have the option of expanding the Village. The temple, and its monks, were located in a house at the time of the study.
The community also had an unfunded MAA, and several Lao-owned groceries and restaurants. A local Baptist Church employed a Lao minister. The Lao said that they felt safe in the area, and that they liked the climate and the economic opportunities. The community was formed in 1981 and has been growing slightly in recent years.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
New Iberia, a city of 33,000, is in the bayou country of Louisiana, about 120 miles west of New Orleans, and a few miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. It is in Iberia Parish; a parish is like a county elsewhere in the U.S. Once heavily dependent on oil and oil-related businesses, before the fall in oil prices, New Iberia now is a manufacturing and seafood processing center.
The basic economic signs of the area seem to be less than
The climate is warm to hot and humid. The long growing season in the area permits Lao, and other residents, an opportunity for almost year-round gardening.
EMPLOYMENT:
About 95 percent of the families were self-sufficient; and in a majority of the families there were two or more workers. The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in this State during 1988 was $3.93. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $3.54 and $4.32 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $3.94 average). Refugees with more skills are typically paid more than those who have fewer skills.
These hourly rates are both the lowest reported for any community covered in this report and somewhat misleading, as most Lao in the area worked on piece rates, not at hourly wages.
The largest single employer of the Lao in the area has been a fabric and garment plant. The basic pay there begins at $3.50 an hour with a piece-work bonus system which brings the average hourly wage up to about $9.00 an hour. More than 100 Lao worked
Many other Lao worked in seafood processing plants gathering the meat from oysters, crabs, and crawfish. The work was regarded as demanding, but the hours could be flexible. The faster and longer one worked, the more money one earned.
Others worked as welders and machine operators in the manufacture of storm windows and doors, awnings, and mini-blinds, chemical bags, and automobile accessories. There were also some who have built boats for Vietnamese fishermen, and a few who pick the tiny peppers that are used to produce Tabasco sauce.
HOUSING:
There were several clusters of Lao residences in New Iberia in addition to the one around the temple. Lao lived in single family houses, in trailers, and in apartments. Most families who rented paid about $150 a month.
Many Lao families were homeowners, perhaps half of them. As stated earlier, 52 Lao families owned lots around the temple. There were 15 houses on these lots, and several trailers as well. The trailers, however, could stay there for only seven years; after which time the owners must have built houses.
Buying the land, securing a series of 53 bank loans, and bringing roads, electricity, water and sewer lines into the development was a major struggle in which the Lao community worked closely over several years with Migration and Refugee Services of the Diocese of Lafayette. Many of the loans have since been paid off, and the whole venture was accomplished without the expenditure of any federal monies. The roads in the
Most Lao in the area do not buy houses. They build them with family and neighbors pitching in to do all the work except the plumbing and electrical wiring. The Program Director of Migration and Refugee Services estimated that the average refugee-built house was a three or four-bedroom unit of 1,500 square feet. Such houses would be worth $50,000 or so on the open market. The actual cost to the Lao was about half that because of the use of their own labor.
New mobile homes could be purchased for around $10,000 to $12,000 and used ones (often occupied while the family builds its own house) were priced in the $3,000 to $5,000 range.
SCHOOLS:
The local school board has hired two Lao to serve as teacher aides. ESL was provided by the Diocese.
There were six to eight Lao enrolled in college, and one Lao woman recently graduated from college. Although a number of Lao learned welding from private employers, there has been relatively little utilization of public vocational education by the Lao.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Relatively few of the families who worked in the seafood industry had medical insurance, although it was more common for the factory workers. Those without insurance used a State hospital, University Medical Center in Lafayette. A New Iberia hospital had two Lao speakers on its staff. There were Filipino and Vietnamese physicians in the area.
OTHER SERVICES:
Migration and Refugee Services has provided reception and placement services for newly-arrived refugees, and assistance to refugees who need help finding jobs. It had a Lao on its staff. Its telephone number is (318) 261-5535.
The Lao MAA, which provided, on a volunteer basis, some social services and arranged community events, is listed below. The temple provided both cultural and religious services and at the time had two or three monks in residence.
For more information contact:
Mr. Khamsone Phoumilay, President, Lao Acadiana Association, 122 Vientiane Street, Broussard, LA, 70518; (318) 367-5708.
LOCATION:MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND
SUMMARY:
This Lao community liked the easy access to jobs, the good wages, the good services and pleasant suburban environment of this area, but worried about the high cost of housing.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 150 Lao families, totaling 1,000 to 1,200 individuals, living in Montgomery County. There was a Lao MAA with a small federal grant in the county, and a major Lao temple about 40 miles away in Manassas, Virginia. Most of the Lao lived in the outer part of the county, in Germantown and Gaithersburg. The community was founded in 1978 and had grown in recent years.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Montgomery County, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, lies north and west of Washington, DC. Many of its residents work in Washington, while others are employed in services or in light industry, particularly in electronics. Residents of the area have easy access to the nation's capital, its mall and its museums. Montgomery County is one of the few suburban areas in the nation served by a subway system; the Lao find the transportation system a convenient one.
Montgomery County's economic signals wee very good. The unemployment rate, at 2.4 percent, was less than half the national average, while the average resident earned $24,580, well above the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
Self-sufficiency among the Lao was estimated at 95 percent and more than nine out of ten households included two
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in the State during 1988 was $5.70. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $5.13 and $6.27 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $5.70 average). Refugees with the least skills tended to be hired at or near the lower end of the range, and those with more skills at the top of the range.
The principal agency finding jobs for refugees, the Refugee Services Program, an arm of county government, was able to enforce a minimum wage of its own. Employers had to offer refugees at least $5.00 an hour, plus health benefits, or the agency would not refer refugees to them.
Although hard data are lacking, it was estimated that experienced male refugees earned about $7.00 an hour, and that experienced female refugees earned about $6.00 an hour. Lao men and women tended to work in factories, in hotels, and convenience stores. Solarex, Pulse, Penrill, and Fairchild Electronics were all employers of Lao workers as was the Elrich Poultry Farm.
Lao leaders said that no one has a problem getting a job, with or without English speaking skills.
HOUSING:
High income rates, however, often lead to high rentals, which was the case in Montgomery County. Many refugee families paid $600 or more a month to rent a two-bedroom apartment.
Only a handful of families, six or seven, have been able to
SCHOOLS:
Partially because foreign diplomats and employees of the World Bank have lived for years in Montgomery County, the local schools have been more sensitive to the needs of foreign-born students than some school systems elsewhere. The Lao community apparently appreciated what they regard as high standards in the system. Unlike some other areas, however, there were no bilingual programs for Lao in the schools, and no Lao teacher aides.
ESL has been provided by the public schools for years. Newly-arrived refugees were given an intense, but short-lived ESL course. They were taught for three hours a day, five days a week, but for no more than six months, at which time they were encouraged to get jobs. Morning and afternoon sessions were available; parents with small children were encouraged to take turns going to class while the other cares for the children.
There were about 15 Lao attending college in the area.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
More than 80 percent of the Lao had private medical insurance, secured through their employers. There were no special programs for Lao in the hospitals, but the community seemed content with the collection of hospitals, clinics, and other medical services. Several Asian doctors practice in the area.
OTHER SERVICES:
Public services, including those for refugees, were generally of high quality in this county. Half a dozen voluntary agencies handled initial reception and placement
Working with a part-time staff member, and a network of volunteers, the Lao MAA provided transportation, translation, and outreach services.
For more information contact: Mr. Bounthinh Thao, Refugee Services Program, Montgomery County Department of Social Services, 8818 Georgia Avenue., Silver Spring, MD, 20910; (301) 565-7913 and/or Wath Phimmakaysone, President, Lao Family Association of Maryland, 4400 Judith Street, Rockville, MD 20853; (301) 933-1645.
LOCATION: ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
SUMMARY:
The Lao community in St. Louis has been particularly successful in securing government and university support for the preservation of the Lao cultural heritage. Jobs were readily available, rents were low, but so were wages.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 100 Lao families, totaling about 500 individuals, in St. Louis, Mo. The community, founded in 1979, and stable in size, had a funded MAA, and three Lao-owned businesses (two groceries and a restaurant). While local Lao have encouraged their relatives to move to the city, they were aware of some community tensions, with, for example, other minority groups. There was no Lao temple in the area, but some Lao have used the local Thai Buddhist temple
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Named for a French saint, this city of 450,000 is on the Mississippi River (America's largest). Although its factories are not as busy as they once were, St. Louis' current economic signs were good: the unemployment rate for residents generally was 5.0 percent, more than a point below the U.S. average, and average individual earnings were $22,380, two thousand dollars above the average.
EMPLOYMENT:
There is a high rate of Lao self-sufficiency, and very few families, other than some very recent arrivals, were on cash assistance. Approximately 80 percent of the families had two or more workers.
Wages for newly-hired refugees in the state, at $4.15 an hour, were among the lowest recorded in Exhibit One. This suggests a range of refugee starting salaries from $3.74 to $4.56
Most of the Lao men worked in factories, and most of the Lao women in sewing plants. Jobs were said to be reasonably easy to secure, even for those with little English. Wages for experienced refugee male workers averaged around $5.00 an hour with some making $7.00 an hour; wages for established refugee women workers were in the $4.00 to $5.00 an hour range.
Many of the Lao worked for Crown Diversified Industries, where a member of the Lao community held a supervisory position; Crown sometimes has helped its Lao workers find housing.
HOUSING:
Since the general population of St. Louis is smaller now than it was twenty years ago, housing was not expensive. Some families paid apartment rents of $275 to $300; others decided to take less attractive apartments at around $225 a month, to save towards buying a house. It was possible to secure a small and not very attractive apartment here for as little as $180 a month. About one-quarter of the Lao families owned their own homes. Public housing was not used by the Lao in St. Louis.
SCHOOLS:
There was a Lao teacher aide on the staff of the local school system. ESL was offered by the International Institute. There were about half a dozen Lao attending college in the area.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Virtually all Lao who worked in factories
OTHER SERVICES:
The principal providers of services to Lao refugees were the Lao Mutual Aid Association and the International Institute. Offices of both organizations were in the same building. The MAA provided general social and outreach services, while the International Institute did housing and job placement work, and offered resettlement services to newly-arriving refugees.
The Lao community has been remarkably successful in securing funding for a series of cultural preservation projects. For example, it encouraged the creation of a traditional Lao dance troupe, which then presented a number of performances. A small grant was secured so that a master Lao musician could teach the playing of the traditional Lao wind instrument, the khen. Similarly, a master weaver has instructed others in traditional Lao weaving. Scheduled, in the summer of 1989, were an exhibit of Lao and other refugee needlework, at the St. Louis public library and the State Capital in Jefferson City, Missouri.
For more information contact:
Mr. Sing Phannarath, President, Lao Mutual Aid Association, 3800 Park Ave., St. Louis, MO, 63110; (314) 773-9090. (This is also the address of the International Institute of St. Louis.)
LOCATION: GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA
SUMMARY:
Jobs at above-average wages were readily available for those speaking little or no English in this meat-packing community; but the work was hard and sometimes dangerous. Housing was reasonable; most refugees lived in apartments (as opposed to mobile homes in some similar communities). Refugee services were available.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
The Lao community in Grand Island was established in 1980, and has grown steadily since then. There were between 140 and 150 Lao families, with a total of approximately 800 people.
There was a multi-ethnic MAA (based in Omaha) with a Lao-staffed branch office in Grand Island. There were two Lao-owned grocery stores. The nearest Lao Buddhist temples are some four hours' drive away, in Des Moines, Iowa and Wichita, Kansas.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Grand Island, with a population of about 33,000, is the third largest city in Nebraska. It is located in Hall County in the gently rolling hills about 125 miles west of Omaha, Nebraska's largest city. Grand Island is on the banks of the Platte River, which reminds refugees of some of the large rivers of Laos. The Lao enjoy fishing in the Platte.
Grand Island is one of those middlewestern small cities that provides stores and services for a large surrounding area of farms, often corn and cattle-feeding establishments.
The average annual income for people who worked in Hall County was $16,018. This was somewhat below the national average ($20,855). A different and perhaps more useful measure of the economy was the jobless rate; it was 5.6 percent, also below the
EMPLOYMENT:
The Lao families in the area had a high degree of self-sufficiency Only 4 of the 140 or so families received cash assistance. In three-quarters of the families there were two or more workers.
Grand Island, like Garden City, Kansas, is one of those cities that is a one-industry town for refugees. Virtually all of the refugees worked in the Montfort meat-packing plant where cattle are killed and meat is cut for delivery to supermarkets. Work has been organized along assembly lines, and the jobs were demanding and could be dangerous. The danger, now under study, comes because most workers make the same hand and arm motions again and again, and this leads to what are called “repetitious work injuries”.
The work, however, was relatively well paid. Entry-level wages for men and women both were about $6.00 an hour, and some Lao, after several years on the job, made as much as $9.40 an hour. The average refugee wage in the packing house was $7.90 an hour. There were day and evening shifts in the plant, with the evening shift being paid ten cents an hour more than the day shift.
Perhaps 10 percent of the Lao hold jobs outside the meat plant. Some Lao worked in restaurants. It is easy to get work, particularly in the meat plant, but Grand Island was a not a good place for securing a professional position.
HOUSING:
Most Lao families in Grand Island lived in houses
A family with three or four children could rent an apartment for about $300 a month; about 20 percent of the Lao families have purchased their own homes.
SCHOOLS:
Unlike some communities where Lao live, there were no Lao employed as aides in the local public school system. This made education difficult, particularly for the newly-arrived Lao who were placed in the higher grades of the school system. The Lao community was trying to convince the school system to provide better services to such students at the time of the study.
Despite these difficulties there were about a dozen Lao attending Hastings College or Kearney State College.
The Indochina Cultural Center and the Central Community College provided ESL instruction for adults. The classes at the Cultural Center took place three times a week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) and were timed so that people working the evening shift could take morning classes, and people on the day shift could take evening classes.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
After three months in the meat-packing plant, the families of workers became eligible for health insurance. There were some limited health services available through the Hall County health clinic during this waiting period.
OTHER SERVICES:
The Indochinese Cultural Center in Grand Island, a branch of the Refugee Service Center operated by the
For more information contact:
Mr. Lorhmong Laohmong Lo or Mr. Tahnousin Nawsycodt, Refugee Service Center, 4831 Dodge St., Omaha, NB, 68132; (402) 551-0454 and/or Ms. Dar Keomysay, The Indochinese Cultural Center, Rooms 216-218, 504 N. Elm Street, Grand Island, NB, 68801; (308) 381-7615.
LOCATION: NEWMARKET, NEW HAMPSHIRE
SUMMARY:
Excellent wages and a friendly atmosphere have brought Lao to southern New Hampshire despite the cold winters and high rents.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were 300 Lao living in southern New Hampshire, most of them in the little town of Newmarket, some ten miles from the Atlantic Coast. The community had a funded MAA. The Lao liked the good wages, the quiet atmosphere, and the lack of crime. The community was formed in 1979 and has been growing steadily since. The nearest Lao temple was in Lowell, Massachusetts, about an hour's drive to the south.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Newmarket is a town of 3,000 or so, near Portsmouth, a city of 28,000. Southern New Hampshire, generally, is a booming place because some of the computer-and-electronics businesses around Boston moved into nearby southern New Hampshire, where taxes are lower than in Massachusetts.
The basic economic signals for the area were strong. The unemployment rate, at 2.5 percent, was less than half the national average, and the average resident's earnings were nearly $24,000, which was $3,000 over the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
All Lao families in the State were self-sufficient and nearly all families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in New Hampshire during 1988 was $6.00. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $5.40 and $6.60 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $6.00 average).
Refugees with the most skills tended to be hired at or near the top of this range, and those with fewer skills at the lower end.
The $6.00 average wage rate for newly-hired refugees is one of the highest in the nation (among the communities covered by the profiles).
Lao in New Hampshire worked in factories, such as those of the Kingston-Warren Corporation and Apollo Company. These were mostly high-tech, light industries, so while the work was often demanding, it was seldom unpleasant or dangerous. Local employers appeared to like the Lao as workers, and many of the refugees who have been there for a while earned as much as $8.00 an hour for women and $10.00 for the men. Lao have found it easy to locate work in New Hampshire.
HOUSING:
There were two drawbacks to the area, the high cost of housing and the cold winters. The economic expansion from Boston, plus some housing speculation, has driven up the cost of housing. Many refugees paid as much as $600 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, and families often have to put up as much as $20,000 for a down payment on even a small house. About 20 percent of the families owned their own homes.
Few Lao have done what many residents of New Hampshire have done; they moved 30 or so miles north of their jobs where housing costs were much more reasonable. Such workers saved a great deal of money (and used some of their leisure time) as they commuted to their jobs. The Lao have tended to stay in the Newmarket area where housing was more costly than it was further
SCHOOLS:
The Lao seemed content with the local school systems which had no bi-lingual programs and no Lao teacher aides, as was the case in some locations where there were larger Lao communities. There was a Lao, who speaks several languages, working in an office job at the University of New Hampshire at Durham.
ESL is offered by the adult basic education programs of the state's public schools. There were six Lao college students in New Hampshire.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
All or nearly all Lao families in New Hampshire had medical insurance secured through their employers. There appeared to be no medical programs specifically for the Lao.
OTHER SERVICES:
Reception and placement services for newly-arrived refugees were provided by the Catholic Charities office in Manchester, by a Lutheran Church in Exeter and by the Presiding Bishop's Fund in North Hampton.
Employment services were provided by the Lao Association of New Hampshire and by the State Refugee Coordinator's Office in Concord. The Lao Association has a small grant from the State to help it provide services to refugees. The grant takes care of office expenses and fees paid for translations, and other services as they are needed.
For more information contact:
Mr. Khot Nachampasak, President, Lao Association of New Hampshire, 379 Sherburne Road, Portsmouth, NH, 03801; (603) 431-2036.
LOCATION: ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
SUMMARY:
There were good jobs available in this upstate New York location, good services, and both a Lao temple and a funded Lao MAA; there were, however, cold winters and higher-than-average rents.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were approximately 1,500 to 2,000 Lao living in the Rochester area. The community was a strong one. There were half a dozen Lao-owned groceries and restaurants, a Lao temple and a funded Lao MAA. The community was founded in 1975 and has grown slowly in recent years.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Rochester, a city of 250,000, is in the northern part of New York State, some 250 miles north and west of New York City. It is in Monroe County on Lake Ontario and it is a manufacturing center. The economic signs for the host community were excellent. Unemployment, at 3.9 percent, was two points lower than the national average, and the average earnings for host area workers were $23,507, well above the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
About 85 percent of the families were self-sufficient, and of these families, about 90 percent had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in New York State during 1988 was $5.92. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $5.33 and $6.51 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $5.92 average).
Wages paid to specific refugees usually reflect their level of skills and experience, with those with the best skills being paid more than those with fewer skills.
Over time wages rise as skills increase, and as employers pay more to workers who have stayed on the job. It was estimated that the average wage for established Lao refugee workers in Rochester was more than $6.00 an hour.
As elsewhere, most refugees worked in factories. Men and women worked in electronic assembly plants, while many of the women were in garment plants. Even for workers were little or no English skills, jobs were easy to obtain because of the low unemployment rate. Wages were best in some of the high-tech corporations, such as Xerox, Kodak, and Bousch & Lomb.
Some Lao in Rochester gathered earth worms in the springtime to secure extra money. This work was done at night with the refugees wearing miner's lights attached to their heads. The piece rates for this work related to the weather; if it had been dry a three-pound coffee can full of worms sold for $25; if it had been wet, they were priced at $8. A good worker could fill two, or sometimes three, coffee cans a night. It is not quite clear what happened to the worms, some were used as bait for fishing, and some were sold to a Canadian firm, which may have used them in cosmetics.
HOUSING:
Rent for a modest two-bedroom apartment was quoted at $350 to $450 a month plus utilities. About 20 percent of the families owned their homes, and a few were believed to be in
SCHOOLS:
The Lao community liked the schools in Rochester's suburbs better than those in the city. The city school system employed five Lao to work full-time with Lao children.
ESL program for adults were available at the West Side Adult Learning Center. In addition, vocational training was available from the city schools.
About 27 Lao in the area were attending college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
About 90 percent of the employed families had their own medical insurance secured through their employers.
OTHER SERVICES:
There was a strong collection of social services available to refugees provided by several agencies. The Interchurch Refugee/Entrant Assistance Program helped refugees find jobs and provided general social services, including transportation, translation and other outreach services. It had three Lao on its staff.
The Lao MAA (see address below) also provided employment and outreach services, transporting refugees without cars to appointments, and translating for those who needed it.
For more information contact:
Mr. Noukane Sourignavongsa, President, Lao Association of Rochester, 16 Heayden St., Henrietta, NY, 14467; (716) 359-1912. Another phone for the Lao Association, with an answering machine, if no one is there, is (716) 254-6165.
LOCATION: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
SUMMARY:
Mild weather, plentiful jobs and a funded Lao MAA were part of the scene in Raleigh, North Carolina.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
The Lao community, founded in 1978, has grown from five to 30 to 50 families, with a total population of about 200.
There was a government-funded MAA, the Home Lao Association, which, along with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) provided a wide range of refugee services. There was no Lao Buddhist temple in the area, but there was one in Wilmington, North Carolina, two hours' drive to the south. There were no Lao-owned businesses in the area.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Raleigh, the State capital, is a city of 150,000 located about 50 miles south of the Virginia State line in Wake County. Raleigh, like other cities in the middle south, such as Nashville and Atlanta, has a moderate climate – warmer than Boston and New York, and cooler than Florida.
The economic signs were excellent. Raleigh had a remarkably low general unemployment rate, only 2.8 percent, less than half the national average. The average resident worker in Raleigh earned $21,697, a little above the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
The Lao community was very self-sufficient, with only one family receiving cash assistance. About 90 percent of the families had two or more workers.
The average wage for newly-hired refugees in Raleigh was $4.88, a little above the national average. This means that most
There were many different kinds of jobs available in Raleigh because of the diversity of its economy. Lao men worked in factories as assemblers or welders, or did landscaping or carpentry, while some others were salesmen and computer programers. The women also did assembly work, and many worked in a plant producing Donald Duck hats. Generally it was quite easy to secure a job.
The average wage of experienced refugee male workers was more than $7.00 an hour, while that of the Lao women was between $6.00 and $7.00 an hour.
HOUSING:
About half of the Lao families in the area owned their homes. The average price of homes purchased by Lao refugees in the last few years was estimated at $75,000; down payments averaged $10,000 and monthly payments $750. Many of the newly-purchased houses were damaged in a recent tornado, but they were being rebuilt with insurance funds.
For a typical family with three children, renting an apartment, the rate was about $400 a month. Public or other subsidized housing was really not available in the area. By the time a refugee family has reached the top of the waiting list they usually have become ineligible because of their earnings.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao appeared satisfied with the school system.
ESL was provided to adult refugees by Wake Technical College and by volunteers working with the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). There were about five Lao attending college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Paying for medical services could be a problem for newly-arrived refugees, not yet covered by private insurance. But if major medical emergencies occur, LIRS knows how to make use of the State's program for retroactive Medicaid eligibility. About 70 percent of the Lao families had private medical insurance usually arranged through their jobs.
OTHER SERVICES:
In an interesting arrangement, the Home Lao Association and LIRS jointly hired two Lao women to do casework for the community. Each worked about half time for each agency. The two agencies provided a range of job and housing placement services, as well as outreach. LIRS used the church sponsorship model of refugee resettlement, and has used church connections to secure jobs, housing, and furniture for refugees.
For more information contact: Thiep Samountry, Home Lao Assn., 5512 Farley Drive, Raleigh, NC, 27609; (919) 783-5453 and/or Ms. Judy Goyer, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, PO Box 12287, Raleigh, NC, 27605; (919) 833-9723.
LOCATION: OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
SUMMARY:
Warm weather, inexpensive housing, easy access to entry-level jobs, and a brand-new temple were characteristics of Oklahoma City; wages, however, were below average.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were 600 to 700 Lao in Oklahoma City, several Lao MAAs (including one of the few organized by Lao women), and a newly-opened Lao temple. There was a Lao-owned grocery and a dress-alteration shop. The community, which was founded in 1976, was smaller in 1989 than it was during the years of high oil prices.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Oklahoma City, which lies in the middle of the State, is its capital. A city of 404,000, its economy is closely tied to the price of oil, which was lower in the 1980s than it was in the 1970s. Its basic economic measures, however, were not bad. It had a 5.9 percent unemployment rate in 1987, a little under the national average, and the average annual earnings of its resident workers, $20,389, were only a few hundred dollars below the U.S. average.
EMPLOYMENT:
More than 90 percent of the Lao families were self-sufficient, and about 90 percent of the families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in this State during 1988 was $4.26. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $3.83 and $4.69 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $4.26 average). Refugees with the least skills were likely to be paid at the
The average hourly wage for Lao refugees who had been in the area for a while was reported at $5.00 for the men, and $4.50 for the women. Most of the Lao worked in factories, as machine operators or assemblers. Some women worked in sewing plants or in restaurants, and some men had jobs as janitors and cleaners. A few of the Lao were working in the local General Motors plant making cars at wages of $12.00-an-hour. These jobs demanded some English. The biggest single employer of Lao in the area was Ted Davis Manufacturing, an assembler of electronic products.
HOUSING:
As in other low-wage areas, rent was reasonable. Newly-arrived refugees could often rent a modest (and not new) two-bedroom house for as little as $200. Several Lao families found inexpensive apartments in the local public housing projects. About half the Lao families owned their own homes.
The housing market has been depressed here, and refugees could buy homes at low cost. In the southwest part of the city, a working class area, a new three-bedroom house could be purchased for $40,000 and an old one for under $20,000. One refugee recently bought a 60-year-old, three-bedroom house for $12,000. The down payment for a $40,000 house would be around $2,000, and the monthly payments would be $400 to $450.
SCHOOLS:
There was at least one Lao teacher aide working in the Oklahoma City Schools with Lao children. The Lao community appeared to be content with the schools.
ESL was provided by the Refugee Center, an agency funded by
MEDICAL SERVICES:
About 80 percent of the families had private medical insurance obtained through their employers. The Lao tended to use Asian physicians who practice in the area.
OTHER SERVICES:
The two principal providers of services to refugees were the Refugee Center, a Vietnamese MAA which served all refugees and has a Lao staff member, and Catholic Social Ministries. The Refugee Center, in addition to its ESL work, provided employment and some social services. Its telephone number is (405) 524-3088. Catholic Social Ministries, provided reception and placement services for newly-arrived refugees, as well as employment, housing, immigration and family services. Its telephone number is (405) 232-8514.
The Lao Women's Association provided social services to women and children in the community, accompanying them, for example, on visits to doctors and hospitals. The Lao-American Association and the New Lao Friendship Club sponsored community events and provided other services.
In addition, the Trinity Baptist Church has a Lao minister who helps refugees, and there are the cultural and religious services provided by the temple, which was opened in December, 1988.
For more information contact:
Mr. Phoukhong Thephachanh, President, New Lao Friendship Club, 1805 N.W. 33rd St., Oklahoma City, OK, 73118; (405) 524-
Ms. Visithi Sengdara, President, The Lao Women's Association, 3332 N.W. 27th St. Oklahoma City, OK, 73107; (405) 947-5426
Mr. Boutkeo Siripanya, President, Lao-American Association, (405) 789-8911
Wat Lao Buddharam of Oklahoma, 2137 S.W. 21st St., Oklahoma City, OK, 73108; (405) 525-9615.
LOCATION: PORTLAND, OREGON
SUMMARY:
Jobs were plentiful, wages were good, and there was an unusual array of educational and other services available to the Lao community in Portland, Oregon.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were several thousand Lao living in the Portland area, with estimates varying from 2,500 up to 7,000. The community had several MAAs
*. The names and addresses of the MAAs are shown at the end of this profile.
and a Lao temple. It was large enough to support several Lao businesses, such as groceries and restaurants There was also a Lao bank officer and a Lao life insurance agent. There was a Lao radio program every third Monday evening The community was founded in 1976, and had decreased in size in recent years.THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Portland is a city of 370,000 in Multnomah County, Oregon. It is the largest city in the state, and is a manufacturing and trading center. It has a moderate climate and there is a lot of rainfall but not much snow.
Portland's economic signs were about average for the U.S.. Its unemployment rate, 6.3 percent, was slightly above the national average, as were the average earnings for resident workers, $21,104.
EMPLOYMENT:
Approximately 85 percent of the families were self-sufficient, and 90 percent of the self-sufficient families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in the State during 1988 was $4.82. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.34 and $5.30 per hour, in other words, in the 10 percent range on either side of $4.82. Those with the least skills were likely to be paid at the bottom of the range, those with the most skills at its top.
As time passes, and as refugees acquire more skills, wages rise. An average of about $6.00 an hour was estimated for experienced Lao male workers, and about $5.50 an hour for experienced women workers.
As elsewhere, most Portland area Lao worked in factories, many worked in electronic assembly plants. Some of the men worked as janitors and in other building maintenance jobs, and some of the women worked in hotels and sewing factories. Approximately 25 bi-lingual Lao had jobs in public or private agencies helping other Lao refugees.
One of the attractions of the Portland area was the collection of employment services provided to refugees by the International Refugee Center of Oregon (IRCO). There was, for instance, the Refugee Early Employment Program (REEP), which focused on obtaining the right first job for refugees soon after their arrival. In a highly coordinated program, an individual refugee's previous education, prior work experience, manual skills, and interests were evaluated, and then an employment plan was created for that refugee written in his or her own language. Sometimes the plan called for immediate employment, and sometimes
IRCO had a pre-employment training program which operated for four to six weeks and served only newly-arrived refugees. It gave them a sound introduction to how Americans work, and what employers expect of their workers. IRCO also had a pre-industrial skills training program. This was for both newly-arrived refugees and others needing it. The program taught workers about tools and machines used in factories. IRCO had a large number of employees, five of whom spoke Lao; this included three Lao and two Hmong.
Given these programs and a reasonably healthy local economy, Lao refugees reported having little trouble finding work in Portland.
HOUSING:
Most Lao in Portland were renters. Perhaps one-quarter had bought their homes, and only a handful lived in public housing. A modest two-bedroom apartment could be rented for $300 a month; $400-a-month was a more common fee for apartment rental.
SCHOOLS:
Portland had one of the country's few bi-lingual programs (supported by Federal funds) for Lao children. This program taught newly-arrived children in Lao as they learned English. In Portland it also taught grade school and high school students how to read and write Lao. This was an unusual program and was designed to preserve the Lao language and culture.
The program was supervised by a Lao, and was staffed by a group of seven Lao-speakers, three fully-credentialed teachers and four teacher aides.
ESL for adults was provided by the Portland, Mt. Hood, and Clackamas Community Colleges. (The name of the Portland College's ESL program supervisor, a Lao, and his address, are shown at the end of this profile.) There were about 100 Lao attending colleges in the area.
Although the Portland schools have made special efforts on behalf of Lao children, it is a big city school system, and, as in some other large cities, some Lao parents said they were worried about ethnic tensions between their children and those from other minority groups.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
The health systems in the area appeared to pay more attention to refugee health needs than some systems elsewhere in the country. For example, within the Multnomah County Health Department there were Lao working as medical case manager/interpreters, whose task is see to it that Lao patients receive the care they need. The University of Oregon Medical School provided medical care for low-income families including refugees. The Multnomah County Hospital operated on a sliding scale fee system for refugees without medical insurance. Further, there was a Southeast Asian Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Oregon Health Services Center, with a Lao counselor on its staff. The County Health Department had a network of eight Multicare health clinics, and a special refugee program.
OTHER SERVICES:
Reception and placement services for newly-arrived refugees were provided by a Catholic agency, a Lutheran one and another, SOAR, (Sponsors Organized to Assist Refugees) which worked with Church World Service. Usually these agencies had one or more Lao staff members. There were also Lao on the staff of the State Department of Social Services, which administered the cash assistance programs.
IRCO secured a grant from the Ford Foundation and the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust to provide technical assistance and a loan fund program to refugee-owned businesses; IRCO also had an International Language Bank offering interpretation, translation, information and referral in 25 languages, including Lao and English. Lao were employed in both programs.
For more information contact: Mr. Non Soulatha, Refugee ESL Program, Portland Community College, 12000 S.W. 49th St., Portland, OR, 97219; (503) 244-6111, ext. 2592 or (503) 273-2812.
and/or the following MAAs:
Lao Association of Oregon, 11995 S. W. Burnett Lane, Beaverton, OR, 97005
Lao Buddhist Organization, 2830 S. E. 115th St., Portland, OR, 97266
Lao Women's Association, 809 N.E. 116th Court, Portland, OR,97220
Organization of Lao Brotherhood of Oregon, 1740A S.E. 139th St., Portland, OR, 97233
Sai Leuad Lao Association, #177, N.E. 131st Place, Portland, OR, 97230
LOCATION: PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
SUMMARY:
High wages and good services brought Lao families to Providence despite cold winters and above-average rents.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were about 3,000 Lao in the state, with most of them in the Providence area. There are Lao-owned groceries, a beauty parlor and a clothing store, a Lao temple, and an unfunded Lao MAA. The Lao community was founded in 1975 and has been growing At the time of the study it was smaller than the local Cambodian and Hmong communities.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, is one of America's oldest cities. Its population is 160,000. In addition to State government, and the provision of services, Providence is a manufacturing town, with an emphasis on costume jewelry and electronic assembly. It is also the location of Brown University, one of the nation's oldest educational institutions.
The economic signals for Providence were mixed. The unemployment rate, at 4.2 percent, was two points below the American average, but the average salary for resident workers was $19,115, some $1,500 under the American average.
EMPLOYMENT:
About 94 percent of the Lao families were self-supporting and about 80 percent of the families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in the State during 1988 was $5.85. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $5.26 and $6.44 per hour,
The $5.85 per hour rate is one of the highest in the country. Only four cities described in this report (Garden City, Grand Island, Newmarket, and Rochester) reported higher average wages for recently-employed refugees.
Given the low rate of unemployment, it has been easy for refugees to get jobs in Providence, even without good English skills. Most refugees worked in manufacturing plants, in textiles, jewelry, electronic assembly, and garments. While the work was often demanding, and required particularly good eye-and-hand skills in jewelry and electronics, it was not dangerous.
One of the agencies which places refugees in jobs knows that refugees are good workers and that there is a strong demand for them. Since that is the case, this agency, the New England Farm Workers Council, with the support of the State Refugee Coordinator's Office, has insisted that employers pay new workers at least $5.00 an hour, and that medical benefits be available. (The agency's telephone number is (401) 728-2070.)
Many employers, however, continued to pay less than $5.00 an hour; the average wage for experienced Lao workers was estimated at $6.00 an hour.
HOUSING:
Rents were higher in Providence than in many of the southern and middlewestern cities, but lower than in some other east coast locations. A one-bedroom apartment rented for
Most of the Lao families rented apartments or single-family houses. About 20 percent of the Lao families were thought to be homeowners.
The Roger Williams Park area in South Providence, and Smith Hill Center, near the State capital, are Lao neighborhoods. The houses there tended to be fifty years old or more: and are three-story, wooden structures, with one apartment on each floor.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao community appeared to like the school system, which has hired several Lao teacher aides.
Providence has a particularly strong ESL program. Genesis School, for example, provided transportation to ESL classes, and, when needed, day care for the children of those studying. Tutors have been recruited from Brown University to provide ESL for house-bound people. Other providers of ESL included the public school system, Community College of Rhode Island, and several churches and other organizations. With a variety of providers, one needing ESL could pick and choose among times and places of instruction.
The number of Lao college students in the Providence area could not be determined.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
More than 90 percent of the working families have their own health insurance which is routinely available after three months employment, and sometimes after only one month.
Several of the health providers have made special
OTHER SERVICES:
Reception and placement services for refugees coming from the camps were provided by the International Institute which had a Lao staff member, and by Catholic Social Services. Both agencies also provided other services to Lao and other refugees.
The Socio-Economic Development Center for Southeast Asians (SEDC) is a multi-ethnic organization, with Lao on its board and on its staff, which provided many services to refugees. In addition to ESL, SEDC provided a wide variety of social, translation and referral services. SEDC has secured funding from several different entities, including such non-government sources as United Way and the Rhode Island Foundation.
In addition to direct job placement and employment case management, the New England Farmworker's Council provided short-term skills training in jewelry-making and electronic assembly.
Newest of the refugee employment programs was the Refugee Employment Assistance Program, operated directly by the State of Rhode Island's Refugee Coordination Office. It provided intensive services to make it possible to upgrade the jobs and wages of working refugees.
The local welfare department and the Providence Police
The MAA, the Laotian Association of Rhode Island, provided volunteer social services and sponsored community events.
The previously mentioned temple furnished both cultural and religious services. Three Lao monks were in residence at the temple at the time of the study.
For more information contact:
Ms. Sirinath Lanphouthacoul, Project Director, Socio-Economic Center for Southeast Asians of Rhode Island, 620 Potters Ave., Providence, RI, 02907; (401) 941-8422 and/or Mr. Lang Souphida, President, Laotian Association of Rhode Island, (401) 941-1337.
LOCATION: SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA
SUMMARY:
A good supply of jobs, pleasant weather, and low rents have attracted Lao to this area; wages were below average, however.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were between 800 and 900 Lao refugees in South Carolina, with 500-600 of them living in Spartanburg. There were two Lao MAAs which worked with other MAAs in the Spartanburg Refugee Council to provide services to refugees. There was a Lao-owned grocery in the area. The Lao community was formed in 1975 and has grown slightly in recent years. There is no Lao temple in the State of South Carolina.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Spartanburg, a city of 43,000, is in the hills of northwestern South Carolina where there are warm summers and mild winters. It is primarily a textile town.
The basic economic signals for the area were mixed: unemployment, at 5.0 percent, was below the national average but so were the average earnings of the residents, at $18,224 (about $2,000 below the national average).
EMPLOYMENT:
Every Lao family except one was self-sufficient; 98 percent of the families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in this State during 1988 was $4.53. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.08 and $4.98 per hour, a range of 10 percent on either side of the $4.53 average. Refugees with many skills tended to be paid at the upper end of that range, those with few skills at the bottom.
Virtually all the Lao in the area worked in the textile mills, as weavers, spinners, and machine tenders. The work was less dangerous, in the short term, than some other work done by Lao factory workers, but there is the long-term problem of dust in the air, leading to a condition called “Brown Lung”. The principal employers of Lao in Spartanburg are Milliken & Co., Mayfair Mill, Spartan Mill, and TNS Mill.
Jobs are readily available in the mills and experienced refugee workers had average hourly wages of $6.00 an hour or so.
HOUSING:
Housing, as is often the case in low-wage areas, was reasonable. A modest two-bedroom apartment or house could be rented in the $200-$270 per month range, plus utilities.
About half the Lao families in the area own their homes; none are in public housing. The price range for refugees buying houses here was $40,000 to $65,000; the down payment usually ran 5 percent to 10 percent of the total price (from $2,000 to $6,500), and the monthly payment about 1 percent of the purchase price on a 30-year mortgage, or from $400 to $650.
SCHOOLS:
The Lao appeared to be content with the local school system; there were no bi-lingual programs and no Lao teacher aides.
ESL was provided by Spartanburg Technical College. The course is given 9-11 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
There were five Lao in the area attending college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
About 95 percent of the Lao families had private medical insurance, secured through their employers. No
OTHER SERVICES:
Given the small size of the refugee community, there were not very many services available for refugees. The two Lao MAAs (listed below) have joined a Cambodian MAA and a Vietnamese one to form the Spartanburg County Refugee Council. That organization has subcontracted with the St. Francis Church, (803) 579-3079), to provide adjustment, translation, and other social services to refugees. This work was done by church staff and volunteers. The only Lao employed in the State to work with refugees did so for the State Refugee Coordinators's Office in Columbia, the State capital, some 90 miles from Spartanburg.
Job placements were handled by the South Carolina State Job Service.
For more information contact:
Mr. Somkhouane Koupaxa, President, Lao Friendship Association, 811 Cedar Spring Rd., Spartanburg, SC, 29303; (803) 573-5787 and/or Mr. Prasith Pooagith, President, Lao Family Association, 301A West Croft Circle, Spartanburg, SC, 29302; (803) 582-1798.
LOCATION: MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE
SUMMARY:
Some excellent factory jobs, many average ones, good services, low rents, and a small-city atmosphere have drawn the Lao to this city; wages, generally, were slightly below average.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were 150 to 200 Lao families in the area, with a total population of between 1,000 and 1,200. The area had a Lao temple and a funded Lao MAA. There was a Lao language news broadcast once a week on station WMOT (FM 89.5), and there were some Lao-owned groceries and restaurants. The community, founded in 1976, has been expanding.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a city of 33,000 is in the middle of Tennessee, some 25 miles south and east of Nashville which also has a substantial Lao community. Murfreesboro is in Rutherford County, as is the town of Smyrna, site of the new Nissan auto plant. The economic signs were good; Rutherford County had a 5.0 percent unemployment rate, well below the national average, and average resident earnings of $20,457, were just a few hundred dollars below the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
More than 95 percent of the families were self-sufficient and more than 90 percent of the families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in this area during 1988 was $4.70; this suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.23 and $5.17 per hour (a range of 10 percent on either side of the $4.70 average). Refugees with few skills and little U.S. work experience tended
The best-paid of the area's factory workers were some 30 Lao refugees who had secured jobs on the Nissan assembly line where they made from $10 to $14 an hour, excellent wages for Lao anywhere in the nation, and unusually good wages for this area, if not for the auto industry in Detroit. Nissan liked these Lao workers, most of whom spoke enough English to cope with manufacturing instructions, and has reached out to the Lao community by making a grant to the Lao MAA. The Nissan grant helped the MAA expand its community services.
Experienced refugee workers, other than those working for Nissan, made between $5.00 and $7.00 an hour. The refugee community has found, generally, that it is not difficult to secure a job in the area.
HOUSING:
Apartments were relatively inexpensive here, with two-bedroom apartments renting for $180 to $300 a month. Many Lao owned their own homes; exact figures are not available, however.
Many newly-arriving refugees have spent their first year or two in Murfreesboro's public housing units, which are said to be exceptionally good ones. As their incomes rose, so did the rents and after a while it made sense for these families to move into privately-owned apartments or houses.
SCHOOLS:
Murfreesboro's school system is well regarded by the Lao community. It has a Lao teacher and an unusually large number of Lao teacher aides (eight or ten) and the drop-out rate
As many as a third of the high school graduates have enrolled in college. Most could not afford to go full time, so they held jobs and took a partial schedule of classes at the same time. One Young Lao, who was studying ESL in Murfreesboro, took the high school equivalency test (GED) in English, passed it on the first try, and subsequently was admitted to college. Among the colleges attended by Murfreesboro Lao are Middle Tennessee University, which is in the city, and Nashville Technical College and Tennessee Technical College, both some distance from the city.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
Nearly all the Lao in the area had their own medical insurance, secured through their employers, for which there is the usual three-month waiting period.
Lao families tended to go either to an Indian physician (an obstetrician) or to an American physician who has hired a Lao woman as a nursing aide and interpreter. Similarly, the Middle Tennessee Medical Center, the local public hospital, had Lao on its maintenance and clerical staffs who are used, as needed, as interpreters.
OTHER SERVICES:
The principal refugee-serving agencies in the area were the MAA (see address below) and the Mid-Cumberland Community Action Agency.
The community action agency, which has two Lao on its staff, provided job placement, social adjustment, and ESL programs. The ESL program included individualized instruction for Lao with specific language needs, such as the need to know enough driving-related English to pass the auto license test, or the need to know specific words for working in a factory.
The MAA also had a full-time Lao staff member, and provided employment, emotional support and outreach services. The MAA, in addition to producing the radio programs, also had a periodic newsletter written in Lao, and published a community directory, in both Lao and English.
The Lao temple, which is staffed by several monks and nuns, offered cultural and religious services.
For more information contact:
Mr. Soy Chanthara, President, Laotian Refugee Resettlement Association, 1987 Ransom Court, Murfreesboro, TN, 37130; (615) 890-9346 and/or Ms. Rita Gardener, Mid-Cumberland Community Action Agency, 211 Bridge Ave., Murfreesboro, TN, 37129; (615) 896-3520.
LOCATION: NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
SUMMARY:
Many jobs, good services and a moderate climate have attracted Lao to Nashville; wages, however, were low.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
There were 400 or so Lao families in Nashville, with a total population of about 3,000. The Lao have an unfunded MAA, and a dozen Lao-owned businesses, mostly groceries. There is a Lao temple about 25 miles away in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The community was formed in 1975 and has been growing rapidly.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Nashville and surrounding Davidson County have become the Nashville Metro area which has a population of 455,000. It is a major entertainment center and the country-and-western music capital of the nation. It is also the capital of the State of Tennessee.
Nashville is a low-wage, low-unemployment town, with an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent, well below the U.S. average. Average yearly earnings for the population generally were $20,297, somewhat below the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
More than 95 percent of the Lao were self-sufficient and it was estimated that more than 90 percent of the families had two or more workers.
The average hourly wage for newly-employed refugees in the State during 1988 was $4.48. This suggests that most newly-hired refugees had hourly wages between $4.03 and $4.93 per hour, a range of 10 percent more and less than the average of $4.48. Unskilled refugees tended to be paid at the bottom of the range;
About 90 percent of the Lao worked in factories, with the rest employed in services such as in the big Opryland Hotel. The Lao said that they prefer factory work to hotel work because factory hours were more predictable, and one was less likely to have to work on weekends. Major employers of the Lao are Northern Telecom, Equity Group, Inc., and Harrison System Electronics. A fortunate group of Lao worked in the Nissan car factory in nearby Smyrna, where wages often exceed $10 an hour.
Average hourly wages for Lao in Nashville were probably a little over $5.00 for the men and $4.00 to $4.50 for the women. Refugees, even those with little English, had no trouble securing entry-level jobs.
HOUSING:
Decent apartments could be obtained for $375 to $400 a month, but many Lao were living in less attractive apartments at lower rents; one could rent a small two-bedroom apartment in a low-income area for $250. Only seven of the Lao families lived in public housing but many others lived in dwellings subsidized by the Section 8 program. About half the Lao families had purchased their own homes.
The average price of a newly-purchased refugee home in this area was in the $45,000 to $65,000 range. Down payments ran from $2,000 to $15,000 and monthly payments averaged around $500.
Refugee-serving agencies worked closely with the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, part of the State government, to secure easy financing and slightly below-market interest rates
SCHOOLS:
The local Lao community seemed content with the school system, which has designated five bi-lingual schools and has hired three Lao teacher aides.
ESL for adults was provided by the Nashville public schools, at, among other locations, the Adult Learning Center. Opryland Hotel also provided ESL training for its refugee employees. Vocational training was available at the Nashville Area Vocational-Technical School.
There were about ten local Lao enrolled in college.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
The large majority of the Lao in Nashville had private medical insurance. Metro General Hospital and Metro Lentz Health Department provided health care for Lao families who had low incomes and/or who are without health insurance.
Newly-arrived refugees from the camps have gone through a medical screening at the Lentz Health Center, where there was a Lao staff member. There was a maternal and infant care clinic at the Metropolitan General Hospital which paid special attention to refugee women, and other mothers and mothers-to-be who are regarded as “at risk.” A Lao woman worked at the Metro Social Services Refugee Assistance Program spending part of her workweek at the clinic, translating for Lao women with limited English, providing parenting classes, and well-baby care.
OTHER SERVICES:
Reception and placement of newly-arrived refugees was handled by the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, as
Another major provider of services was the Metro Social Services Refugee Assistance Program, an office of the Metropolitan Nashville Government, which also employed two Lao staff members. The Refugee Program was unusual in that it is supported with both local government and federal funds.
The Refugee Program worked with secondary migrant refugees, as well as newcomers to the United States. It provided a variety of housing, employment, health care, citizenship, and other services. It had a program in which its staff members helped Lao fill out their income tax returns, making sure that the refugees made use of such tax-breaks as earned income credits, and deductions for day care expenses. The Refugee Program telephone number is (615) 259-5381.
The Lao MAA (see address below) provided voluntary social services to refugees, and arranged community events. Although it once had government funds to run an ESL program, it was not funded at the time of the study.
For more information contact:
Mr. Peng Bandith, President, Lao Friendship Association, 1016 8th Ave. S., Nashville, TN, 37203; (615) 255-9082.
LOCATION: SALT LAKE CITY AND OGDEN, UTAH
SUMMARY:
Easy access to jobs, a joint Lao-Cambodian Buddhist temple, and well-organized Lao soccer teams were some of the aspects of Lao life in Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah; wages, however, were below average.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
The Lao communities in Utah, first formed in 1975, had about 320 families of about 2,500 individuals. There were close to 2,000 Lao in Salt Lake City, 400 or so in Ogden and perhaps another 100 or so in Provo. These communities were stable in size.
The Lao and Cambodian communities both used a Buddhist temple in Riverton, a suburb of Salt Lake City. There was a Lao MAA but it has been unfunded in recent years. There were two Lao-owned groceries in the area. The young men in the Lao community have formed several soccer teams which play other Utah teams, as well as Lao teams from Idaho.
Most Lao residents of Utah said that they liked the atmosphere of peace and the low crime rate.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah, a largely desert State surrounded by mountains. Utah was founded by members of the Mormon Church in the last century, and the Church continues to play a strong role in the state.
Salt Lake City is a city of about 165,000; Provo and Ogden lie, respectively, about 30 miles south and north of Salt Lake City, and each has a population half as large as that city.
The basic economic indicators for the area were mixed. Unemployment was a little below the national average, at 5.5
EMPLOYMENT:
The Lao community was economically self-sufficient, with no more than 4 percent to 8 percent of the families on cash assistance. Some Lao felt that the assistance system was not generous enough, and some have moved to other areas as a result. Roughly 80 percent of the families had two or more workers.
Newly-hired refugee workers in Utah were paid an average of $4.45 an hour in 1988, a relatively low wage for the cities described in this document. This suggests that most such refugees were paid in a range of $4.00 to $4.90 an hour (a range of 10 percent more and less than the $4.45 average). Low skilled refugees were likely to be hired at the low end of the range, and skilled workers high in the range.
Most Lao in the State, worked for semi-conductor (computer-related) firms or for Deseret Medical Co.. Most of these jobs do not require English language skills.
Wages for established male refugee workers were estimated at $5.00 to $7.00 an hour, and for women, $5.00 to $6.00 per hour. Jobs are regarded as easy to secure. Recruitment is usually done through friends who already hold factory jobs.
HOUSING:
The Lao in Utah lived in apartments and free-standing houses, with about 40 percent owning their own residences. For those who rent, the monthly rate ranged from $240 to $300. None lived in public housing.
Buying a modest house in Utah is not expensive. One source said that the average refugee house was purchased for $50,000 with down payments of $5,000 and monthly payments of $370. Another source said that refugees were buying houses for $1,000 down and $400 a month. (The low down payment houses may have been those that had been repossessed by the Veteran's Administration. Such houses often require very small down payments.)
SCHOOLS:
The Lao community appeared to be content with the local school system. Utah schools, unlike those of, for example, Elgin, Illinois, (see that profile) provided no bilingual instruction, and have a limited Lao-speaking staff (apparently only one person). Salt Lake Community High School provided ESL to Lao adults.
The number of college students, for this community of some 2,500, was variously estimated at 10, 40 and 50.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
About 80 percent of the Lao families have medical insurance provided by their employers. The medical insurance becomes available after the worker has been on the job for two to three months. There were no reports of any health or medical program that had hired Lao staff, but there were some non-Lao Asian physicians in the area.
OTHER SERVICES:
Refugee services in Utah were supplied by four multi-ethnic centers set up after the State decided not to continue to fund MAA-provided services. These centers did outreach and other social services, and provided various
The Utah State Jobs Service (employment service) has hired three Lao, in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Provo, to find jobs for Lao and other refugees. Vocational Training was available from the Utah Technical Skills Center in Salt Lake City.
For more information contact: Mr. Khampraseut Voravong, 3235 W. 6667 S.,
*. This may look like an unusual address, but it is a typical Utah address.
West Jordan, UT, 84084; (801) 966-5057.LOCATION: ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
SUMMARY:
There were good services for Lao, good schools, fairly good jobs, but high rents. Since factory jobs were scarce, some knowledge of English was usually needed on the job. There was a Lao Buddhist temple some 30 miles to the west.
THE REFUGEE COMMUNITY:
The Lao community was established in 1975. There were about 100 families totaling about 400 individuals in Arlington, and another 21 families, with 120 individuals about 20 miles away in Manassas, Virginia. The Arlington community has shrunk a little in recent years, with a little more out-migration to California and Massachusetts than in-migration from other States and the camps.
The nation's leading Lao Buddhist temple was located some 30 miles west of Arlington (and a dozen miles west of Manassas) in a rural area near Catlett, Virginia. Some Lao in Arlington belonged to the Lao Association of the Washington Metropolitan Area.
THE HOST COMMUNITY:
Arlington is a community of about 150,000 just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. As such it is a pleasant suburb, many of whose residents hold jobs in the U.S. Government. Manassas, at the far edge of the Washington suburbs, is a small but fast-growing city of 16,000.
Arlington, partially because of a large Southeast Asian population, and partially because of an enlightened local government, has a greater concentration of refugee services than most American cities. It is one of the few cities in the country that carries a message in Vietnamese on its tax bills.
Arlington had a remarkably low unemployment rate of 2.0 percent, about one-third that of the nation. It also had high average earnings, $28,811, about $8,000 above the national average.
EMPLOYMENT:
The Lao community is highly self-sufficient. At last count only seven of the 100 or so families received cash assistance and 90 percent of the families were said to have two or more workers.
The average wage for newly-hired refugees in Virginia in 1988 was $5.37. This suggests that most such refugees were earning within 10 percent of that figure (from $4.83 to $5.91 an hour). Unskilled refugees were likely to be paid in the lower part of the range, and more skilled ones higher in the range.
Unlike many other communities described in this report, Arlington is not a factory town. There are many government offices, high-tech computer firms and the Pentagon (the headquarters of America's armed forces) in Arlington County, as well as stores, restaurants, and hotels. As a consequence some knowledge of English is needed for most jobs.
The jobs refugee men held included those of janitor, mechanic, cab driver, and waiter; women worked in restaurants, as secretaries, and in housekeeping. Average wages for men were about $7.00 an hour and for women about $6.50 to $6.75 an hour. In addition to the blue collar opportunities, a few of the Lao in
HOUSING:
Rents in Arlington for a family with three children ran from $600 to $800 a month, and there were few vacancies. In Manassas, further from Washington, similar apartments were usually available for $590 a month. Public and subsidized housing were rare in the area, and waiting lists were about two years long for the few units that did exist.
Lao families in Arlington tended to live in apartments, with a number of them living in the Larchmont, Greenbrier, and Park Warren apartment complexes. Twenty to twenty-five families owned their own homes.
SCHOOLS:
The Arlington school system had an unusual number of Lao-speaking teacher aides. Five of them worked in different elementary and secondary schools. There was no bilingual program, however.
ESL courses were supplied to adults during the day and in the evening by the Arlington school system. There were more than 25 Lao attending college in the area.
MEDICAL SERVICES:
The presence of a large Asian community meant that Lao residents of Arlington had ready access to a number of Vietnamese and Thai physicians and other Asian health professionals. Further, an employee who speaks Lao worked at the Arlington Health clinic.
About 80 percent of the Lao families in Arlington had private medical insurance obtained through their employers, a somewhat
OTHER SERVICES:
Arlington County provided (usually directly) a series of services to Lao and other refugees. The Arlington Central Entry for Refugees provided social adjustment and orientation services, as did several of the voluntary agencies, such as the YMCA. Job Training was provided by the Career Center, a part of the Arlington school system which has been providing vocational training for refugees for more than a dozen years. Job placement was handled by the County's Bureau of Labor and Training.
Arlington County voted County funds to these program in addition to its use of federal funds. This is unusual.
In addition to the five Lao employed by the Arlington school system, there were other Lao in the County's Housing Division, in the Extension Service office (dealing with homemaking matters), and in the health clinic.
For more information contact:
Mr. Kingsavanh Pathammavong, Housing Division, Arlington County Department of Community Planning, 2100 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 709, Arlington, VA, 22201; (703) 358-3888.
Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives. The UC Irvine Libraries, Main Library 5th Floor, PO Box 19557, Irvine, CA 92623-9557; http://www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/collections/special/special.html
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb800008dk&brand=oac4
Title: Profiles of some good places for the Lao to live in the United States
By: North, David S, Author, Ditthavong, Voradeth, Author, United States. Office of Refugee Resettlement, Author
Date: 1989
Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives. The UC Irvine Libraries, Main Library 5th Floor, PO Box 19557, Irvine, CA 92623-9557; http://www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/collections/special/special.html
Copyright Note:
Material in public domain. No restrictions on use