St. Louis group struggles to help refugees

ST. LOUIS -- For immigrants like Sadiyo Maalim, it's the details that matter in building a new life.

A native of Somalia, Maalim struggled to find a job when she moved from her homeland to St. Louis. Even filling out basic applications was tough. Maalim said she didn't even know what a ZIP code was when she arrived.

For decades, Maalim and other African immigrants got help from the African Mutual Assistance Association of Missouri, a not-for-profit group based in south St. Louis.

The group helps immigrants and war refugees find a new home in the Midwest. But funding cuts and a lack of grant money have the organization fighting for its survival, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Unless the group can raise at least $75,000 to pay rent, salaries and expenses through the end of the year, it might have to close this month.

The group found out in September it will lose $93,000 in federal funds. The agencies usually receives $150,000 annually in federal funds and other grants, said Gedlu Metaferia, the group's founder and executive director.

Despite financial uncertainties, Metaferia said AMAAM will press on.

"I don't think our friends will abandon us," he said.

The agency isn't alone, according to Anna Crosslin, CEO and president of the International Institute, which provides social services for new Americans.

Immigrant assistance agencies that have long relied on the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement are being hard hit by budget cutbacks, Crosslin said.

St. Louis is home to about 6,400 African refugees and immigrants, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The city has also absorbed about 40,000 Bosnians and Croatians who fled the genocide in their home countries during the 1990s.

Assistance agencies are crucial to help refugees get their footing, Metaferia said.

"Our work is vital because we're involved in mediation, education about civic participation, what voting means. We come as an extended family offering complementary services. We play a great role in absorption and integration," he said.

AMAAM was established in 1983 to help Ethiopian arrivals in St. Louis. The agency eventually grew to help immigrants from all of Africa. Staff members are fluent in several languages, including Amharic, Arabic, Somali, Swahili and Tigrinya.

The agency estimates it has helped 15,000 immigrants and refugees gain a foothold in the United States.

"They're one of the safety nets out there for people," Crosslin said. "They keep an element of humanity in the resettlement of these families."