Daniel Krotz's blog

 
Our friend and colleague Maria Beltran-Figueroa and her co author Rey Ty have produced an award winning paper that has been honored by the Academy of Human Resource Development. Many of you know Maria's work with several refugee groups at training farms she manages near Indianpolis, Indiana.

Dr. Teena Hayden (R) with a RAPP Community Garden participant.
 
We have received the sad news that Teena Hayden is leaving the International Institute of New England (formerly II New Hampshire) to spend more time with her family in Vermont. While we know that IINE's RAPP program will be in good hands as it goes forward, Teena will be missed by her RAPP colleagues and clients.
 

 
The Refugee
 
From a different world they are,
From suffering and shame they fled
Feelings of hope and fear they carry...
Down roads others could not tread
 
These people are called refugees
Members of a world-wide cast
Arriving with no material goods
Believing they have freedom at last.
 
They add to our diversity
Thought by some as our strength

Community Garden at the Louisville, KY RAPP Program
 
A Cultural Cornucopia —
Many Worlds, One Market
 

Larry Laverentz (R), with Dr. Teena Hayden, at the IINH RAPP Project in Manchester, NH
 
 
The Significance & Impact of RAPP
By Larry Laverentz
Office of Refugee Resettlement
 

ISED, along with the Rural America Foundation International (RAFI) and Hmong National Development (HND) has provided organizing services to Hmong poultry operators in the Ozark Mountains (Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri) to address unfair business practices by poultry integrators and financial institutions.
 
After a long struggle some of that work is beginning to bear fruit. Read all about it here:
 
Farmers Win Challenge to Damage Award for Company’s Unfair Practices
NSAC – October 15, 2010
 

Josie Weldon, RAPP Program Specialist, The Association of Africans Living in Vermont
 
RAPP Report from the USDA 2010
Cooperators Conference
 
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LEGACY FOR THE USDA?
By Josie Weldon
Program Specialist
 

Wayne Meyer, Project Director (ISED) with partner Chema Makni, Managing Director of the Center for Applied Training, in Casablanca.
 

Larry Laverentz, visiting a RAPP project's production site.
 
Technical assistance organizations, like ISED, seldom get or take the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about the people who manage their program activities. We'd like to do so now by mentioning Larry Laverentz. Larry is the Refugee Agricultural Promotion Program's Program Manager for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).