Grant helps SAU support refugee resettlement efforts

By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger

DAVENPORT — St. Ambrose University’s Institute for Person-Centered Care and World Relief Quad Cities have received a $41,000 grant to improve refugee resettlement efforts in the Quad-City area.

The Supporting Higher Education in Refugee Resettlement (SHERR) grant supports engagement in refugee resettlement on the part of higher education institutions. St. Ambrose University’s Institute for Person-Centered Care and its Master of Public Health program are involved in this effort, said Ann Garton, the institute’s director.

St. Ambrose University (SAU) students, faculty and staff will work with refugees to map out affordable housing options, incorporate person-centered refugee health care into existing curricula, and develop and provide career-focused English as a Second Language (ESL) to resettled families. Meanwhile, the university will continuing to work with the refugee family living on campus as part of SAU’s Every Campus a Refugee (ECAR) program.

Currently, St. Ambrose offers an ESL course for 7-10 refugee families identified by Tapestry Farms and World Relief. This effort, through the grant, provides career readiness and practical English-speaking skills and field trips for adults and play-based English learning activities for the children of the families.

SAU’s nursing program also has integrated into its curriculum learning about the refugee journey and will offer a health science kids camp this summer. For students and community members, these efforts help broaden an understanding of the long, arduous journeys each family must take before resettling in their new country, Garton said.

The grant and ECAR programs are complementary, said Melissa Sharer, an assistant professor and director of SAU’s Master of Public Health program. “The grant will directly benefit the ECAR family and many other families in the Quad-City area,” she said.

“Both World Relief and SAU were inspired to apply for the SHERR grant because of our ECAR family and wanting to create more linkages between our university and our refugee resettlement agencies and our community,” Sharer said. “St. Ambrose is diocesan, meaning what we do should directly impact and improve our community.”

Erin Sodawasser-Hermiston, a clinical instructor for the applied practicum experience in the Master of Public Health program, said the mission of that program aligns with that of the Institute for Person-Centered Care. The overarching mission of St. Ambrose University is to create an inclusive community of learners to pursue excellence and service in all facets of life, she said. Social justice and service are at the root of the programs, as well.

Students also will have the opportunity to understand and respond to the specific needs of newly arrived and resettled refugees by engaging with and listening to the voices and leadership of the refugee community in the Quad Cities, Sharer said.

Campus ministry provided helpful insight. “SAU’s campus ministry thinks big, taking the local and making it global,” Garton said. “This helps the larger newcomer populations within our community and inspires others to act.  Campus ministry was responsible for securing housing for ECAR, which was perceived very favorably in our SHERR application.”

The SHERR grant bolsters the mission of St. Ambrose and the Institute for Person-Centered Care to promote interdisciplinary collaboration through a person-centered lens, reshaping systems of care and service delivery into environments where everyone can thrive, Garton said. “Our students will acquire skill sets that contribute to a healthier and more just world.”

Sharer added, “This grant opportunity fits our values perfectly. This social justice work is linked to those most marginalized and isolated globally — refugees.”