The Garden City Telegram

  Add Your Comment | Read (5) Comments

Board formed to help organize, empower minority groups

Published 2/13/2010 in Local News

By SHAJIA AHMAD

sahmad@gctelegram.com

When Jonathan Galia was first given the task to assist Garden City's newest residents as they assimilated into the community, the chaplain of the local meat-packing plant said he had little idea how to overcome the language and cultural barriers that exist between him and members of Somalian, Burmese and other ethnic groups.

Now, about four years after becoming the chaplain at the Tyson Fresh Meats beef plant, Galia is encouraging them to organize and identify community leaders to represent their ethnic groups, so they can effectively communicate among themselves, across different ethnic groups and with local government and community leaders.

Most recently, the chaplain said he has been meeting with Garden City residents who are Oromos, members of an ethnic group primarily from Ethiopia who are about a few dozen strong in the community and often mistaken for being Somalian, Galia said.

"But the first question was, 'How do we organize?' Many have no concept of democracy!" Galia said to a room full of community and government representatives he brought together Friday evening from USD 457, the Garden City Police Department, Social and Rehabilitation Services and the city commission.

Galia and the representatives met for the first time to form a board that will meet with designated leaders of ethnic minority groups, hopefully next month, they planned.

To be coined the Coalition of Ethnic Minority Leaders, the board has already outlined a vision to "create and maintain an environment of mutual respect, understanding and cooperation among ethnic minority groups and empower them to responsibly participate in building a healthier Garden City."

Several of the representatives Friday, including Garden City Mayor Nancy Harness, said they recognize that leaders and elders of many of Garden City's various ethnic groups feel a level of responsibility to their respective communities and that there is a "hunger for information" among the city's newest residents, whether it is about American life, culture, or the workings of local law enforcement and government.

The coalition would serve a new and much-needed service that would allow the newest communities to "embrace Garden City" rather than groups like their own which aim to help "the community embrace its newest resident," said Lee Ann Shrader, a representative from SRS and the local Refugee Task Force.

The same sentiment was echoed by Galia.

"One of the hardest things to recognize is that (they're) no longer refugees — they're Kansans," Galia said. "It's about them empowering themselves, rather than the community enabling them. This way our community is organized to listen to them and serve them based on their agenda, rather than our own agenda."

The coalition is an idea welcomed by Garden City resident Abdul Kabdir Mohammed, who also was present Friday and spoke on behalf of several of Garden City's Somalians. Mohammed said many members of his community are out of work, need help finding jobs to support their families when jobs at Tyson are unavailable, overcoming language barriers, and understanding their rights as tenants of rental properties.

In addition, Robert Scrivner, a community response officer from the GCPD, told members of the board Friday that his department is still asked by many of Garden City's newest residents how much it will cost them to seek assistance from the police and often encounters residents who are wary and suspicious of the police department.

The GCPD official, who will also sit on the coalition's board, said as far as crime prevention goes, the new partnership would greatly benefit his department because it would allow a point of contact between Garden City's newest residents and law enforcement.

Galia said he hopes the coalition will encompass as many different groups as possible.

The board plans to meet with leaders of these groups in March, they said.

Welcome!    

Today's events • Weekly Events

Submit An Event