Horn of Africa Community Center Inc.
Full Service - New American Residence Center
Mussah Farah President
Mussah Farah President
Somali Service Center
Tel: 614-337-4346 Fax: 614-471-1248 or email mfarah@hooa.org
Tel: 614-337-4346 Fax: 614-471-1248 or email mfarah@hooa.org
Mussah Farah and Community Garden
Funded by Columbus Foundation
Funded by Columbus Foundation
Parent Education:
A majority of the refugee parents are either educated in their language or have no education. In the USA they need to learn a new language and culture, here is where the need for parent education arises. HOACC provides parenting classes that cover the following:
How to deal with school rules and regulations.
How to contact school staff.
How to answer school forms and letters, if the
child is sick or absent.
How to raise your children in a multi (cultural, lingual and ethnic) environment.
Parent rights and obligations in a child's education and homework.
Intra-family communication-how to deal with your new neighbors.
Referrals to ESL and computer classes.
Cultural Orientation:
The refugee community consists of educated, uneducated, seniors, women, children, and youth. These varying social groups have different needs and ways of adopting the new culture. Here is where HOACC and similar organizations help the new refugees to avoid boredom and frustration, give them guidance to what is appropriate and what is not. The role of HOACC is to educate the community members about the advantages and disadvantages of each culture, and to respect the culture and beliefs of others to attain mutual respect in the society at large.
Counseling and Case Management:
HOACC case managers study the concerns of the clients and provide appropriate solutions, referrals, and assistance based on the need type:
Immigration requirements
Health and hospital referral
Filling out forms and applications
Translation and interpretation
Cultural and behavioral orientations
After School Program:
Many Somali children did not have a schooling opportunity before coming to the USA. They are graded based on their age not academic level. The need to help the child develop language skills and an academic background is indispensable to the future of the children. The program has the following advantages:
Appropriate environment, culturally
Bilingual staff in English and Somali
Emphasis on academic success
Parents are pleased with the program
Substantial change in the students' performance
Building students’ confidence
Parent School Connection project:
The schools like to give some time to the parents of their students but due to lack of resources, it is difficult to get funds for bilingual staff to communicate with the parents. This project is setup to meet this need without funds from the school system.
Most parents are either illiterate or educated in their own language, not English, and are not able to communicate with the school. Furthermore, families may depend on their children as the sources of information, when it comes reading the report cards and school correspondence. In many occasions, it happened that the parents received the incorrect information. The need was identified for a third party, a neutral stakeholder, to come in and help both the school and the parents, and also find solutions for the needs of the students. The HOACC is in this role as a grass roots and community based organization, to think about the future of the up coming generation and make them useful to the community instead of a burden.
HOACC started building relationships with the schools through introducing the HOACC program coordinator at area schools. Schools call the HOACC and give the list of the students who have problems, when they need their parents to become aware of or intervene to help the child.
The program coordinator calls the homes and visits the homes. That visit paves the way for a new relationship between the parents and the schools and also HOACC community center. The parents become aware of the situation of their children in the schools. The school gets help from HOACC in communicating with the parent in an appropriate way culturally and linguistically. Parents are referred to our parenting program based on the assessment of the coordinator in one or two visits. This parenting program helps parents understand the American education system and how it works, and they learn their role and the how they can help their children. The project also covers school tours. A group of parents are organized and taken to school for tour. They will get an opportunity to meet with the teachers of their children and see the classrooms and where their children spend 7 to 8 hours daily.
The project also makes it possible for individual parents to make appointments with the schools that their children go to and meet with the administration or the teacher. It is an empowering tool for many parents who have remained helpless for a long time to have an opportunity to sit with teachers of their children and share ideas and concerns. The HOACC role has two dimensions: one in transporting the parent to and from the school and the second in helping the parent speak his/her language and communicate with the teachers. The project coordinator helps parents and the schools find bilingual after school programs for the poorly- performing students in order to help them improve. This is a pilot project. Soon the project gets near to completion and a structured questionnaire shall be formed and filled out with the number of parents served. The schools that the project served shall also be asked to give feed back about the difference they felt during the period of cooperation with HOACC. A consolidated report will be developed comprising the input of the service recipients, the schools and the experience of HOACC throughout the year.
Contact: Mussa Farah
614 975 8967
A majority of the refugee parents are either educated in their language or have no education. In the USA they need to learn a new language and culture, here is where the need for parent education arises. HOACC provides parenting classes that cover the following:
How to deal with school rules and regulations.
How to contact school staff.
How to answer school forms and letters, if the
child is sick or absent.
How to raise your children in a multi (cultural, lingual and ethnic) environment.
Parent rights and obligations in a child's education and homework.
Intra-family communication-how to deal with your new neighbors.
Referrals to ESL and computer classes.
Cultural Orientation:
The refugee community consists of educated, uneducated, seniors, women, children, and youth. These varying social groups have different needs and ways of adopting the new culture. Here is where HOACC and similar organizations help the new refugees to avoid boredom and frustration, give them guidance to what is appropriate and what is not. The role of HOACC is to educate the community members about the advantages and disadvantages of each culture, and to respect the culture and beliefs of others to attain mutual respect in the society at large.
Counseling and Case Management:
HOACC case managers study the concerns of the clients and provide appropriate solutions, referrals, and assistance based on the need type:
Immigration requirements
Health and hospital referral
Filling out forms and applications
Translation and interpretation
Cultural and behavioral orientations
After School Program:
Many Somali children did not have a schooling opportunity before coming to the USA. They are graded based on their age not academic level. The need to help the child develop language skills and an academic background is indispensable to the future of the children. The program has the following advantages:
Appropriate environment, culturally
Bilingual staff in English and Somali
Emphasis on academic success
Parents are pleased with the program
Substantial change in the students' performance
Building students’ confidence
Parent School Connection project:
The schools like to give some time to the parents of their students but due to lack of resources, it is difficult to get funds for bilingual staff to communicate with the parents. This project is setup to meet this need without funds from the school system.
Most parents are either illiterate or educated in their own language, not English, and are not able to communicate with the school. Furthermore, families may depend on their children as the sources of information, when it comes reading the report cards and school correspondence. In many occasions, it happened that the parents received the incorrect information. The need was identified for a third party, a neutral stakeholder, to come in and help both the school and the parents, and also find solutions for the needs of the students. The HOACC is in this role as a grass roots and community based organization, to think about the future of the up coming generation and make them useful to the community instead of a burden.
HOACC started building relationships with the schools through introducing the HOACC program coordinator at area schools. Schools call the HOACC and give the list of the students who have problems, when they need their parents to become aware of or intervene to help the child.
The program coordinator calls the homes and visits the homes. That visit paves the way for a new relationship between the parents and the schools and also HOACC community center. The parents become aware of the situation of their children in the schools. The school gets help from HOACC in communicating with the parent in an appropriate way culturally and linguistically. Parents are referred to our parenting program based on the assessment of the coordinator in one or two visits. This parenting program helps parents understand the American education system and how it works, and they learn their role and the how they can help their children. The project also covers school tours. A group of parents are organized and taken to school for tour. They will get an opportunity to meet with the teachers of their children and see the classrooms and where their children spend 7 to 8 hours daily.
The project also makes it possible for individual parents to make appointments with the schools that their children go to and meet with the administration or the teacher. It is an empowering tool for many parents who have remained helpless for a long time to have an opportunity to sit with teachers of their children and share ideas and concerns. The HOACC role has two dimensions: one in transporting the parent to and from the school and the second in helping the parent speak his/her language and communicate with the teachers. The project coordinator helps parents and the schools find bilingual after school programs for the poorly- performing students in order to help them improve. This is a pilot project. Soon the project gets near to completion and a structured questionnaire shall be formed and filled out with the number of parents served. The schools that the project served shall also be asked to give feed back about the difference they felt during the period of cooperation with HOACC. A consolidated report will be developed comprising the input of the service recipients, the schools and the experience of HOACC throughout the year.
Contact: Mussa Farah
614 975 8967
