Refugee Assistance Fund

Every day, your support of Gulf Coast JFCS is helping uplift lives by welcoming and newcomers of all faiths and ethnicities on their first steps on their paths to safety and stability across the State of Florida. Given the chance, refugees will continue to contribute to a stronger, safer, and more vibrant world. 

Gulf Coast JFCS is proud to partner with HIAS and ORR to welcome and assist refugees to successfully and safely resettle in our community.  Financial contributions directed toward the Refugee Assistance Fund will assist newcomers from other countries with vital food, housing, employment, and child care or school-entry support.  Together, we “welcome the stranger as our neighbor.”

Florida Center for Survivors of Torture

Florida Center for Survivors of Torture (FCST) is a regional treatment center (Tampa Bay and Miami-Dade) for survivors of torture and extreme trauma. As the lead agency, Gulf Coast JFCS collaborates with area resettlement agencies, the University of South Florida, and Florida International University to provide survivors with intensive case management.  Through FCST’s extensive provider network, eligible torture survivors can access medical, mental health, social, and legal assistance services from providers who have been specially trained by the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture to work effectively and sensitively with this population.

A center without walls, FCST’s multi-disciplinary network of providers including psychiatrists, psychologists, interpreters, social workers, attorneys, and physicians promoting healing through:

• In-home intake assessments complete with psychosocial evaluations
• Linkage to a network of medical, mental health, legal and social service providers trained to work sensitively with survivors of torture
• Professional interpreters to accompany clients to appointments as needed
• Ongoing intensive case management and culturally specific educational/support groups

Integrated Refugee Services provides social and economic integration services for refugees who have been in the US for less than five years. Services include employment coaching and placement, youth mentoring for academic and career success, as well as comprehensive case management to address a variety of complex needs.

National Partnership for Community Training

National Partnership for Community Training (NPCT) is the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s national mental health technical assistance program for refugee service providers. NPCT develops the capacity of resettlement and other refugee programs across the U.S. to help them meet the mental health needs of refugees. Working with a wide array of subject matter experts, NPCT promotes research into best practices for addressing refugee mental health and ensures that providers have the resources to implement trauma-informed holistic services for refugees.

Refugee Employment Match Grant Program

Refugee Employment Match Grant Program provides services in Pinellas County to help refugees, Asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and Special Immigrant Visa Holders (SIVs) to become economically self-sufficient within 120 to 180 days of program eligibility. Services provided are case management, employment services, maintenance assistance and cash allowance. Self-sufficiency must be achieved without accessing public cash assistance.

Refugee Micro-Enterprise Development

Refugee Micro-Enterprise Development promotes refugee women’s entrepreneurship and normalizes business ownership. This program benefits women who have owned or currently own micro-businesses, as well as those with little to no entrepreneurial or business experience, supporting them in navigating regulations and expanding on the skills that are critical to establishing and growing fiscally sound businesses in the U.S.

Refugee Preferred Communities

Refugee Preferred Communities provides intensive case management and supportive services to recently arrived refugees facing barriers to self-sufficiency.  Services include comprehensive case management and timely access to a wide range of community resources, employment services, and health care providers and medical treatment.

Refugee Resettlement & Placement

Refugee Resettlement & Placement resettles refugees from around the world who have been persecuted and fled their home country to come to Pinellas County with the dream of providing their families with a life of freedom, safety, and liberty.  With a goal to help refugees and their families become self-sufficient, services include case management, housing and household goods assistance, cultural orientation, referrals and follow up with a wide range of community service resources.

Top Ten Reasons to Hire Our Clients:

• Immediate Placement. We have documented, qualified candidates ready to go to work.
  
• Save Money. No need to pay for advertising, simply call us with your work order.
  
• No Paper Hassles. We will complete your company’s new hire paperwork and documentation.
  
• Tax Credits. Tax credits for employers.
  
• Workers With The Skills You Need. Our clients arrive with a wide variety of skills, from factory worker to professional.
  
• Flexibility. Employ flexible and loyal workers available immediately.
  
• Background Screening. Clients must pass a thorough background screening prior to coming to the US.
  
• Increase Your Productivity. Our clients bring with them an outstanding work ethic.
  
• Cultural Diversity. Increase the diversity of your staff by adding workers from around the world.
  
• Translators. We will provide a translator, if necessary, for initial training and orientation.

VOICES Interpreters & Training Services

VOICES Interpreters & Training Services provides interpretation for Gulf Coast JFCS clients who require verbal or written translation to access services. Gulf Coast JFCS maintains a pool of interpreters with more than 20 language capabilities to assist clients upon request. In addition to providing direct services, the VOICES Training program provides training in how to become an interpreter or translator and market your services in this fast-growing industry.

VOICES Interpreter & Translation Program provides professional in-person interpretation and document translations in multiple languages.

• VOICES interpreters are trained to be effective communicators and to exercise impartiality and neutrality when carrying out their duties.
• VOICES interpreters are trained to be effective communicators and to exercise impartiality and neutrality when carrying out their duties.
• Interpreters receive extensive instruction so that they may never counsel, advise, or interject personal opinion into the interpretation or translation.
• Interpreters utilize meaning-for-meaning approaches instead of word for word which promotes accurate, effective communication and increases staff productivity.
• Interpreters have all undergone criminal background screenings and drug testing.
• In the Fiscal Year 2014 Interpreters Provided over 2,000 hours of language interpretation.
• Scheduling is easy, efficient, and reliable.