June 28, 2012 slideshow presented to Building Stronger Neighbohoods committee chaired by Donna Newton. For the images below, examples of what Americans tend to see (left) and what they need to see (right) for transformative change to take place.
Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA) is a method for controlling rapidly changing situations such as what we see happening in refugee communities. Successful response is premised on readiness to adjust our views in the face of new facts and conditions, to correctly appraise them and to intervene decisively before they change or spin out of our control.
Not responding and
not changing are American recipes for continued strife, social inequality and failure we see in too many refugee families and communities.
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| Left: What Americans see. Right: What they need to see to save money and transform refugee health. |
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| Refugee doctors with low-pay jobs have talents urgently needed in the community. The conventional wisdom that needs to be transformed? That US doctors don’t need to know anything about the language, culture, or medical traditions of newcomers to solve out-of-control health problems. |
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| When they grow up, they will need solid advice about college and careers. Include the parents. Transformational moment? Any local college or university willing to invest a small amount of time could have the pick of the brightest, sharpest and highest performing refugee kids graduating each year. |
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| Contrasting American and refugee solutions. In almost all examples of health, education and security, comparable savings can be achieved through modest up-front costs and long term commitment to community-building in which investment dollars are recovered through health savings, economic growth and safe and stable neighborhoods. Rain barrels reduce water bills and promote more productive backyard gardens. Add a 25¢ goldfish to each rain barrel eliminates mosquito larvae. BSN money paid for barrels and fish. |
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| Americans see Martha Stewart gardens; refugees see affordable, familiar food. Last summer, moms and dads reported skipping meals so kids could eat. BSN money paid for soil mix to boost food yields. |
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| American services based on forms unreadable to preliterate refugees. BSN money helps pay for lapdesks, notebooks and pencils for teaching English. Since reading and writing are long term goals, families still need the help of community health workers to get “into the system”. Until they are “in the system”, they will remain invisible and under-served. |
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| American medicine, the most advanced in the world, from two views. Women’s Learning Group organizers teach their neighbors about preventive care, healthy lifestyles, and strategies for making stronger families. |
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| Two refugee perceptions about the ability to access information. Until the economic downturn, the cost of sprawl remained hidden while gas was cheap and jobs were plentiful. The BSN-supported neighborhood class is also a site at which CNNC community health workers, Planned Parenthood representatives, and other agencies can deliver accurate information. |
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| Refugee perceptions about an inaccessible health system and the merits of a local information, health, and learning center. Many refugee former doctors and US-trained health professionals from their communities are ready to help but lack the resources to organize. |
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Refugee-based solutions to multiple, complex problems they themselves recognize and identified. Supporting affordable, accessible and culturally appropriate language classes and productive backyard gardens generates a web of positive behaviors that quickly become known and imitated by others in the community.
Conclusions
As inconsequential as some of these changes might seem now, over time they produce lasting benefits for everyone. For example, one year ago, one community health worker who became a Women’s Learning Group organizer began jogging in her neighborhood after extensive discussions we held about wellness, exercise and the consequences of poor diet. Now several of her neighbors do the same, while others regularly walk circuits around the neighborhood park. Undoing bad habits in order to promote long-lasting good health is the goal of many US projects costing billions of dollars. The Women’s Learning Group project suggests that the way to communicate to hard-to-reach communities is on the neighborhood level through grassroots efforts that are low-cost. Effectively addressing community-defined problems is a powerful strategy to building strong, stable and safe neighborhoods. |
