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 Asylum Seekers Assistance Network, urged lawmakers to move the bill forward and described how volunteer networks have been filling gaps. “We really need people to be sponsors for families that are coming, similar to what refugees have,” Steinbauer said, recounting local efforts to find housing, legal help and job training for asylum seekers who do not receive federal resettlement funding.

Jill Martin Diaz, executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, framed the proposal as an efficiency and access-to-justice measure. “Vermont has a demographic problem,” Martin Diaz said, arguing that better coordination could help retain and integrate working-age immigrants who contribute to the tax base and fill labor shortages. Martin Diaz described multiple organizations simultaneously conducting intake for the same people and said a central coordinator could reduce duplicate intake and improve referrals.

Business and regional development witnesses told the committee the proposal would help meet acute workforce needs. Austin Davis, director of government affairs for the Lake Champlain Chamber, said employers and training providers struggle to connect non-English-speaking new residents to housing and jobs and that Vermont needs to grow its working-age population. Alex Beck, welcoming communities manager at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, said rural regions are “making things up as we go” and lack a mechanism to spread effective local solutions statewide.

Mike Zimmer of World Education Services summarized national experience: about 22 states now have offices or administrative units that serve as convener and coordinating points. Zimmer said models vary by state — some emphasize workforce recruitment, others focus on policy and services — and that Vermont’s proposed study committee is an appropriate first step to analyze options.

Witnesses gave the committee several quantitative snapshots and operational details. Dolan offered approximate population estimates based on agency and community contacts: about 6,000 refugees have arrived in Vermont over time, an estimated 30,000 foreign-born Vermonters overall, roughly 1,000 dairy workers (plus families) in some agricultural estimates and a migrant-justice estimate of 3,000–4,000 agricultural workers. Steinbauer said volunteers and small nonprofits have used short-term emergency funds to provide motel rooms and other immediate housing support while awaiting legal decisions; she described typical work-permit wait times of nine months to a year and said some asylum cases can take years (one example she cited had been pending about eight years).

No formal vote or committee action on S.56 was recorded during the portion of the hearing covered by the transcript; testimony was the only action on the agenda during this segment. Committee members asked for examples and clarifications; witnesses repeatedly identified language access, employer engagement and legal coordination as service gaps that a state-level office or coordinator could help address.

The hearing combined statewide and regional perspectives: witnesses named Chittenden County, Windham County and broader Southern Vermont as places experiencing distinct challenges, and they listed partners such as the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV), Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, World Education Services, the Vermont Department of Labor, VSAC (Vermont Student Assistance Corporation), UVM Medical Center, and local refugee service providers. Several witnesses favored calling the entity an Office of New Americans but noted other states use different names and urged the study to include stakeholder input from immigrant and refugee communities themselves.

What’s next: S.56 would create a study process to examine models used in other states and to recommend whether Vermont should establish an Office of New Americans or a similar coordinating entity. Committee members did not take a vote on the bill during the transcripted portion of the hearing; the committee will decide next steps according to its regular agenda process.