 So we could just start Tracy Dolan by introducing you as Vermont state refugee director and that is a state agency. Is that right? So I'm in the agency of human services. Right. And within that agency, this is an office within that agency. So it's the state refugee office and it's within the agency of human services of the state. Okay, that sounds good. And if you have your laptop on your lap, it moves when you move, so just so you know, just so it's still. So Tracy Dolan as the state refugee director, you are responsible for welcoming our newest residents to the state and tell us just quickly the brief of the state refugee office because it is, I wouldn't say wide ranging, but it's broader than one might at first imagine. Yeah, well you know it's a small office. It's me and a refugee health coordinator. And it's a little, it's interesting in that we have refugee resettlement agencies, and they do the day to day work of welcoming refugees providing those direct services. The office is responsible for overall coordination of private and public resources making sure that they're connected, and then overall assuring that the services happen for refugees arriving in Vermont. And we also receive state funding through our office and then grant that funding out so we monitor those activities as well. And I would say another piece of it is really an important communication piece making sure people understand what refugee programs are the benefit to our state of receiving refugees, and, and the humanitarian aspect and the importance of having a refugee program in Vermont. Now you have quite a lot of international experience I think that brings you to this position. Am I right. Yeah, I have a lot of public health experience, which I find very helpful and overall international experience. And the folks who are coming to Vermont in 2022. I think we all are generally aware that there are Afghan refugees, but can you just describe the profile of the families that are coming to our state this year. So, in this fiscal year 2022 you're right a lot of our refugees will be Afghans. And, and that's of course, due to the crisis that was created when the US withdrew from Afghanistan and we saw a lot of people suddenly needing to leave because the Taliban stepped in. And so a lot of folks who had worked with our military or worked in the humanitarian field worked in journalism or with any of our organizations, they were all at risk, because they were seen as enemies by the Taliban. And so they suddenly were at risk and needed to leave. And so a lot of them were not yet granted special immigrant visas, which would be a visa which would allow you to leave in a more orderly way, come to the United States you have a visa. So, instead, the government moved a lot of people directly to a status called humanitarian parolee, which really allows for us to have that rapid movement of people into the US, not so rapid that we weren't able to do security checks so everyone had to leave for security vetting. So what you're seeing is Afghan families, many of whom have had some kind of connection with the US military, and their extended families coming in. Well over 60,000 at risk Afghans were evacuated, and many of them landing at military bases here in the US where they waited they were vetted. And their vaccinations including COVID vaccination they were screened and eventually then getting placed with resettlement agencies all over the country. And how was it decided how many families would come to Vermont. So they just back up a little bit and explain how that works in general. So, with refugee resettlement, the government of a state doesn't necessarily determine how many will come. We certainly coordinate, but it's really the refugee resettlement agencies that say hey this is how much we think we can take this is how many we think we can take in terms of capacity, and then they work with my office to say does that make sense to you based on what you think about the state, and where the government is and where our services are. So before the Afghan crisis, our plan was to take 300 refugees this year. And then with the Afghan crisis, the Afghans were placed in a slightly different category, and the request was how many Afghans can you take, in addition to what we hope are the other refugees as well. And they were going to come very quickly, as opposed to a little at a time over a year. And so we have two agencies here in Vermont. We have US CRI in Chittenden County, and we have a new agency in Brattleboro called ECDC. So eventually US CRI said we think we can take up to 160 Afghans and ECDC said we can take up to 100. So right now, our goal is to settle 260 Afghans in Vermont, but likely we will probably go higher than that if we're able to continue to find housing, continue to find employment. And then of course, other refugees are coming in, probably not in the numbers that we originally thought, because the Afghans in some ways are replacing some of those numbers with the efforts of the State Department. And so we will see other refugees. I think we just received a family from the Congo last week, but we will see other families as well. And so part of your brief is to make this transition safe and welcoming. And I wonder what goes into that. You mentioned housing, you mentioned jobs. Just, you know, a quick profile so people understand how this transition works for families coming into Vermont. Sure, yeah. So families are assigned to an agency before they arrive. So the agency knows they're arriving. And a refugee resettlement agency will pick them up. And the refugee resettlement agency is provided some funding and required to do some really basic things but of course many of them go beyond that. They're required to pick them up, give them their first warm meal, assure that they can find housing, preferably longer term housing, help them get a job. They're required to give them English language learning, because the refugees are required to take English lessons if they need them if they're if their English isn't already proficient in order to access the services. And then refugees can get services that many other lower income Vermonters can get based on their income so they can get Medicaid. They're also given a special domestic health screening when they arrive, because they may have some unique health issues. They are signed up for food benefits, like three squares Vermont, or SNAP. They also, many of them receive reach up in the same way that other lower income Vermonters would. If they can't, if they aren't eligible for that, there is a special program called refugee cash assistance, which is federal money that offers the same amount as you would get with reach up for up to eight months. And then there are citizenship services often to help them. If you show up and you are with a regular refugee status, then you can start moving toward getting a green card or moving towards citizenship. But if you show up right now, under this humanitarian parole status, as most of the Afghans are not all, they are in a slightly different situation. They have two years on that status, and all of them can work by the way they all arrive with work authorization, but during that two years you need to apply for asylum. And, and that's a little unfortunate because that is a longer more tricky pathway because once you get asylum, then there's a longer road to getting citizenship. It's helpful that the federal government may pass an adjustment to that to allow for a smoother pathway to citizenship. But in the meantime, right now that is the pathway and so they would be applying for asylum. So when a refugee comes including the Afghans they do have a variety of services available. There's a case manager assigned to them from a resettlement agency. There are volunteers that are often assigned to them here in Chittenden, you have a volunteer, maybe called a family friend, who will do a lot of accompanying. And you may have a host family. That's not so usual but it is with the Afghans because so many came, and it takes a little while to find housing up in Brattleboro. So we can go into that in a few minutes but they have a lot more of a community sponsorship model, still similar in the services but a lot more community members engaging in some of those key services. You know, I'm glad you mentioned the case worker because even the kind of long living person who's lived in the United States for a long time doesn't have to always encounter these levels of bureaucracy that you're describing, which sounds really daunting. So sort of at every turn every aspect of your domestic life and your jobs you, there's a whole bureaucratic structure behind what you're describing so to the case managers have enough time to work with all these folks I mean I know that the agencies have said we can handle a certain number but it seems like a lot of work and a lot of support would be required. There's a lot of work. There's no doubt about it. You know, however, the state has all really also stepped in in making sure we make those pathways as smooth as smooth as possible. So for example at Medicaid they have a special team that's trained that understands how to help sign up refugees, because they might not have the paperwork that a Vermont citizen, you know who was born here might have. So some processes and people specially trained to make that a little easier, even with the other benefits. We have folks who get an orientation at the state level, so that they understand how to sign people up. And sometimes those applications might be expedited, because in this case, people might be arriving with almost nothing. And so we might need to move a little more quickly on their benefits because they don't have, you know, a family background or any actual network yet. So it is but it is a lot. You know and that can take some time both with our state partners and then of course the agencies like USCRI, AALV, the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, well they don't do the initial welcome. They work with people later on when they've been here for about a year, but also again case managers and doing a lot of the same kind of work so it is it can be time intensive some for some people, it can be very quick for others. People may show up who've never been in an education system and might be illiterate in their own language. So it's not as easy as saying well we just have a translated version. And that may not work either if you don't have a literate population, or people we may give out computers and a lot of cases you know folks are given a Chromebook, a lot of them, but they may never have used one before so it is a lot of hand holding. It's very gratifying work in that, you know you can often see a lot of bang for your buck early on people getting a place getting jobs kids getting enrolled in school. And it can help things so much more quickly kids can show up at school in kindergarten and not have any English and by the end of the year they're speaking pretty well. So that that's very exciting so our schools are great partners as well. And what about the mental health needs of these families I imagine they've been through something very difficult leaving your home and then coming to a new place must. I could just see how that would be very challenging. And, and so even that so leaving your home and coming to a new place but then often the reason behind leaving your home. They may have been persecuted, or been on the run, or hiding for a long time so there's the trauma there. And then for these Afghan arrivals, or for other refugees, living in a camp for years, you know, many refugees are living in some sort of displaced persons camp or in some limbo like that for 1015 years. You know so just extreme instability for a long period and dire poverty in those camps. In the case of the Iraqi evacuees arriving here in the States and then they stayed at a military base for months where they really couldn't leave. No access to really much of anything I mean they were fed and you know the basics. So all kinds of trauma going on. And so when they arrive. They're given a health assessment and they're referred for mental health services that they need it. Of course we also have people coming from countries where it is not part of the culture to have any kind of mental health service the idea of mental health isn't a concept that necessarily translates. And so you might need to have a little time and trust and convincing to encourage people. But we do have mental health supports, just like for any other Vermonter. It's limited, you know, I don't know if you know anyone who's tried to get mental health services here especially younger people, but there can be quite a wait time. The unique thing that we do have that we're able to get people in more quickly is a trauma response program connecting cultures, which does provide services, especially to those who have gone through violence in their own country, and, you know, survivors of rape and other atrocities like that. And so that program is federally funded and that's a successful program. So we do have some but we're really trying to build it up. Make sure that more people get training and how to deal with people from other cultures. And coming from a trauma that we might not recognize or be familiar with here in the US. You had mentioned Brattleboro as an interesting model for the reception of these families do you want to say a little more about what's happening in Brattleboro. Yeah, so our new refugee resettlement agency there is the Ethiopian Community Development Council. It's one of nine resettlement agencies nationally. So there are nine US CRI and ECD are two of the nine. And, and although their title says Ethiopian, they, they resettle and work with everyone. And so they're in Brattleboro, they are piloting in Brattleboro and a few other communities, something called community co sponsorship. And so, in the same way that US CRI has case managers and welcomes people they have that, but then the community members come together in a group between five and 10 people, and they raise money. And so they raise about half the money required when people first arrive. And their job is to help bring people to appointments. They play a significant role in those early days, and then often will stay ideally, you know this is a pilot but often will stay connected, you know, for a full year or more. And they, they raise funds to in order to be part of that more formal network they receive some extensive training. And so that's a that's a great models. Again, it's meant to really ground people in the community and to get from both the Afghans to feel that connection but also for the community to feel that connection. I mean, you, you've raised this community engagement part for people that are watching this that might want to be helpful. How do they connect and do they go to US CRI or. Yeah, they can be helpful. Yeah, yeah, they can go to the US CRI website, and there should be some information there or they can go to the ECDC website. They can send you information afterwards if it's helpful for you to put that up somewhere. There are websites and there are email addresses unique to whether or not you want to volunteer or donate. I don't have them right in front of me. But if you like I can take a moment look them up and save on air now. We'll just put us, you just send them will put a subtitle underneath and okay that's great. Yeah, that's fine so that'd be helpful for people to know where they can help they can volunteer or donate which sound like the two ways. And also I imagine, you know just quite simply to be aware it's easier in the spring I imagine to see who your neighbors are because you may be, I remember we were living right across the street from some Armenian, an Armenian family who had come in the 90s and you know they came out of their apartment in the spring and where I mean and they're Armenian and we, you know we've been friends ever since and we were able to be, you know, at least helpful in that Armenian kind of way. You know what I mean, like the social network. Yeah, and so I think they're sort of sort of simple ways that people can also help even if it isn't overt. So, just sort of in conclusion before we wrap up. I know that one of the areas it is in your daily WIC is the issue of human trafficking and the people that I mean I read that in the description and I'm not sure if I read that right or people who have come here, or have been trafficked here and then you know, yes. Yeah, so yeah all of the populations that are served through the refugee program. Human victims of human trafficking is one of those subgroups. That's correct. Yes. And I know that in the legislature they're considering some legislation around that and I wondered if that was something you were aware of or could comment on. I'm not exactly sure with what the legislation is so I just wanted to check on that. I probably have to get back to you on that. We have relatively few numbers coming through from the refugee program connected to that, but certainly, you know, sadly, we have of course human trafficking Vermont, and a lot of folks who are involved in human trafficking are Vermonters, who are, you know, victimized in part, mixed up with addiction, and, you know, women, obviously primarily women young women with huge power differentials. And, and so, so while you know it does touch on the work that I do, the, the refugee side of it people who are trafficked here is relatively minimal compared to the larger number who are engaged in trafficking who are actually, you know, American born as many of them. And I think though that's an important thing for people to understand because I think people think of trafficking and they think of a big moving van and you open it up and there's a whole bunch of you know, desperate women inside or something like that. And that does happen, obviously, but a lot of it is a lot less glamorous and more. Not that that's glamorous but less, less foreign and a lot more homegrown. And I think that there are times when it may not pluck at people's heartstrings as much when it's not as dramatic a story, but it is a very insidious and terrible story and it can often happen over time and not necessarily in one very quick moment. And so I think we have to continue to have compassion for all of the harms that come through substance use disorder and that is one of the drivers of human trafficking. Just in conclusion, maybe you could just restate for us the importance and value of refugees and immigrants coming to Vermont and why it is a benefit to the state and to the nation to have people come from different places to enrich our experience and our, our own opportunities. Well, you know, Vermont has a long history of welcoming refugees here we've had refugee resettlement here for decades. And up until a few years ago we were regularly receiving 350 plus per year from all over the world. From 2008 to 2016, those were our numbers that number drop precipitously during the Trump administration, but they had a stated goal of really minimizing the refugee program and they were successful in doing that. A year and a half ago we had maybe 23 people arrive. And so it had a huge humanitarian impact as well. Most refugees are never resettled. So, what we do here in the United States is wonderful. When we resettle people, but it is a drop in the bucket of the need internationally. Most of the help. And I know a lot of people say, Well, why don't their neighbors help them, you know, if this is Muslims looking for help in some countries stepping up those countries do step up 70% of resettlement happens in middle or lower income countries that are nearby these countries in conflict so just really want to highlight that. But back to your question. So many reasons we should do it and I would say and I think the governor would agree here primarily because it is the right thing to do because we are all brothers and sisters on this planet. And we would hope that if we were in dire straits and had to leave because of persecution and needed a place for our children to go that somebody would take us in. People don't leave their country people don't put their children in a boat, unless it's safer than what they were running away from and can imagine how scary it would be to put your child in a boat in the ocean and cross your fingers that they're going to make it to the other side. It's the right thing to do is humanitarian thing to do and then what do we benefit entrepreneurs, you know we have an entrepreneurial rate that is actually higher among refugees and immigrants than it is among native born Americans so a really strong business drive, and then a workforce that is excited to work. When the Afghans arrive here, one of their first things that they asked about one of their first priorities is not what benefits can I get or how much cash can I get it is where where can I work. Where what job can I get. I need to support my family and I need to send money back home. So a real drive to work. Yes, we do need a workforce now more than ever. So many companies reaching out saying we have vacancies and we have a workforce that is ready to strong work ethic. And then all the enrichment that we get culturally, you know, it just makes it a more interesting place to live. We learn and they learn from us I mean, you know when when refugees come here they learn something about our culture that they can benefit from. They may learn more about engaging and the outdoors in different ways or how to enjoy winter or, and you know, one thing I think about that we really can learn from a lot of cultures coming over. I think about our elderly and how other cultures engage with their elderly and how we engage with their elderly. It's just one example but I see so much celebration of the elderly and keeping folks within the family and engaged. And I think wouldn't that be a collective learning for a lot of us with our Western culture of not seeing it that way so there's just so much to learn there's the obvious ones with food and music. But then there's these deeper cultural connections around how do you engage with people. How do you have fun together. How do you talk together how do you respect each other. And so so we get so much. And I feel very lucky and blessed to have this job. Well Tracy I can really tell that you get joy from this work and gratification and, as you said in the beginning, you, you don't think you're working any harder than other people. I believe that but also the work that you're doing and with the partners is really essential and very pressing at this time so thank you very much Tracy Dolan, state refugee director for your time today, and for the work that you're doing we really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. Thank you and I'll pass that thanks to all the partners doing the work. Please do. Okay. Thanks. Thanks.