Witnesses urge study of S.56 to weigh creating Vermont Office of New Americans

Lawmakers heard more than an hour of testimony April 8 on S.56, a bill to study creating a state Office of New Americans to coordinate services for refugees, asylum seekers and other immigrants. Witnesses from refugee services, legal aid, economic-development groups and chambers of commerce told the House Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs that Vermont lacks a single point of contact to streamline language access, workforce connections and legal referrals.

The bill would form a study commission to examine models in other states and recommend whether Vermont should establish an Office of New Americans (ONA) or a similar entity. Supporters told the committee the ONA could reduce duplication among nonprofits and state agencies and improve outcomes for employers, schools and immigrant families.

Tracy Dolan, director of the State Refugee Office at the Vermont Agency of Human Services, told the panel that “one of the big things that they have found is that it's allowed them to put more emphasis on labor and workforce.” Dolan described how an office with a broader remit than the refugee program could provide consistent scanning of state policy and programs — for example, identifying when proposed housing renovations would not meet the needs of larger refugee or immigrant families.

Jan Steinbauer, a retired educator who said she chairs the Chittenden…