Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007280339
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

REFUGEE OFFICE SERVES AS SAFETY NET FOR RESETTLEMENTS

Almost all are Southeast Asians fleeing repressive governments, war and genocide.

They came to Roanoke largely through the efforts of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, which set up a refugee resettlement office in Roanoke in 1979, in cooperation with the U.S. Departments of State and of Health and Human Services.

That office handles almost all refugee resettlements in Roanoke and much of Western Virginia; a few are handled by other church organizations and volunteer groups. The Catholic Church and 11 other church and volunteer agencies around the country receive federal grants of $525 per refugee for resettlement. The federal government decided to work through church and volunteer agencies because "they have the best infrastructure," Pam Lewis, a State Department spokeswoman, said.

The various church and volunteer agencies use the resettlement money as they choose, with review by federal officials. Some spend it on administration, counseling services and payments for food and rent. Others give lump-sum payments to the refugees.

Roanoke was selected for refugee resettlement because it has a sufficient number of social service agencies, jobs and housing.

The idea is to start refugees off in an area that has a safety net, but get them into society as fast as possible, says Barbara Smith, director of the Roanoke refugee office.

"This is America. They're here. They're free. We're just trying to help them get on their own quickly," Smith says.

So far the office has been successful at that goal, mainly because the refugees have such a strong desire to succeed, she says.

All but a handful of the refugees who have settled in the Roanoke area since 1979 have come through Smith's agency. Almost all of the families are now on their own - and are not dependent on welfare benefits. Some still receive food stamps or subsidized housing, but only two families get direct welfare payments, Smith says.

Since 1979, the Roanoke refugee office has settled 448 Vietnamese, 180 Laotians, 156 Cambodians, 31 Haitians, 80 Poles, one Hungarian, five Ethiopians, two Romanians, two Afghans and four Iranians.

Nationally more than 1.3 million refugees settled in the U.S. between 1975 and the beginning of 1990. More than 930,000 of that number were from Asia, and most of those are Vietnamese.

Most of the more than 900 refugees resettled by Smith's office live in the Roanoke area. A few live in Martinsville, Lynchburg and in the Shenandoah Valley.

Fifteen Amerasians have settled in Roanoke. All arrived in the last year and a half, bringing along 48 family members. Eight of the 11 families with Amerasians are single parent families, headed by women.