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Refugees deserve warm welcome

By Staff | May 10, 2013

Mayor Donnalee Lozeau concluded her annual State of the City address in February, as she often does, praising the community’s collective spirit. The city rates among the country’s best, she said, because community members share common goals and neighbors look out for each other.

Now, with a new group of residents ready to call Nashua home, it’s more important than ever to prove the mayor’s words true.

As many as 50 refugees are set to move to Nashua before the end of September. These refugees have fled persecution in their home countries of Bhutan, Burma and Iraq, and the U.S. State Department is sending them here as part of a federal resettlement program.

Lozeau and other city leaders have greeted the news of the refugees’ arrival with questions and concerns. Where will they live? Where will the children attend school? Does the city have the appropriate services in place?

These are all valid questions, but to focus on these concerns rather than the opportunities the city can provide the refugees and contributions the refugess can provide the city, dishonors Nashua’s community spirit.

This group of refugees won’t be the city’s first. Nashua welcomed 128 refugees between 2002 and 2012. A number of them moved on to other cities and states. Many remain in the city contributing every day to the local economy and the community as a whole.

Refugees, like other immigrants welcomed throughout the city’s history, work all sorts of jobs essential to the local economy. Some work service and custodial jobs that support our schools, hospitals and restaurants. Others enroll in graduate school, become social workers and help support their fellow refugees and other citizens in need.

Supporters and resettlement groups point out refugees have a strong work ethic and are extremely devoted to their new communities. The resettlement groups work to ease their transition and ensure their success by helping the refugees secure housing. They provide funds for a downpayment and offer a range of case management, job training and placement services, among others.

Admittedly, the resettlements could come at a cost to Nashua taxpayers if these safety nets fail. Some of the refugees, like members of the population at-large, could end up seeking public assistance, either in the form of welfare or subsidized housing, which already face steep waitlists and budget constraints.

Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas cited these challenges, among others, two years ago when he requested a moratorium on new refugees coming to the city. After taking in 200-300 refugees a year for more than a decade, city officials were struggling to provide essential services, and many refugees were having a hard time finding housing and jobs, Gatsas said at the time.

Those may be valid concerns in Manchester, which welcomed 2,577 refugees between 2002 and 2012 – more than the rest of the state combined. These issues are less pressing in Nashua, where the count will reach 178 at most when the refugees arrive later this year. Those are manageable numbers in a city of almost 87,000. Greeting our new neighbors with open arms is the only response fit for a city as open, supportive and welcoming as our own.

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