About REN, Inc.

About the Refugee Educators’ Network, Inc.,
(a 501(c)(3) corporation to serve as a clearinghouse for information and resources and to promote the education of both refugee and receiving communities. Employer ID 68-0389552.

Recent REN, Inc. Meeting Agenda and minutes|

OUR PHILOSOPHY
It is the philosophy of the REFUGEE EDUCATORS’ NETWORK that in this increasingly diverse state it is necessary for people to have ready access to information about the backgrounds, cultures, languages, histories, and peoples who have arrived recently as refugees, immigrants, and other newcomers. As it is difficult to locate information concerning some of those who have recently arrived in the United States, the REFUGEE EDUCATORS’ NETWORK’s primary role is to serve as a clearinghouse for information and as a place at which persons interested in these issues can meet to share resources and information and to promote the education of both newcomers and their receiving communities. Further, the members of the REFUGEE EDUCATORS’ NETWORK believe that it is necessary to specialize in selected areas to become valuable as a resource for others, and to encourage others to form similar groups to specialize in the peoples of other backgrounds, cultures, and histories. Given this scope, the REFUGEE EDUCATORS’ NETWORK has as its primary focus Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, refugee/immigrant issues, current events in the homeland and the U.S., first and second language learning, and successful acculturation within the wider American society.

OUR PURPOSE
It shall be the purpose of the REFUGEE EDUCATORS’ NETWORK:

•To organize an annual conference on topics related to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, newcomer students, refugees/immigrants, language acquisition, acculturation, background, research and teaching strategies.

•To uncover, select, and gather information resources related to the peoples who come to the United States as refugees, with a primary focus on Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

•To make information easily accessible to interested persons.

•To trigger greater general interest in learning about the newcomer communities.

•To increase the quantity and quality of educational and informational resources available to educators, students, and others.

•To promote among the children of refugees greater understanding of and identification with their cultural and linguistic heritages.

•To encourage the development of quality educational programs for newcomer students and their classmates.

•To promote the continuation and transmission of traditional arts and skills, and to preserve examples of traditional techniques on video.

•To network throughout the nation professionals, specialists, and experts in all the fields serving the interests of refugees, immigrants, and other newcomers.

The Refugee Educators' Network, Inc., provides educators and others interested in the success of refugees, immigrants, and sojourners to our communities and schools to share information and experiences.

The Refugee Educators’ Network, Inc., established in 1992, owns and manages the collection of the Southeast Asia Community Resource Center (SEACRC), begun in 1984. Folsom Cordova Unified School District provides space and overhead. Outside grant and earned income supports the single employee, a part-time library clerk. In 2001, the Refugee Educators’ Network began the process of dissociation from the Folsom Cordova Unified School District in search of funding that would support its goals and expand its past accomplishments. The goal is to provide easily accessible and accurate information on the languages, backgrounds, cultures, and acculturation of the peoples who have come to this country as refugees, with a primary focus on those from Vietnam, Cambodia,
and Laos.

In addition to a collection of 7,000 items for checkout, the Refugee Educators’ Network has published several handbooks for teachers and others interested in these newcomers to our country and state. The primary vehicle for communication of information has been Context: Newcomers in California’s Classrooms, published and distributed for 22 years. The REN is now focusing on building internet access to the information and materials of the collection
and creating connections between refugee communities and educators. The Refugee Educators’ Network has participated in other projects as well, carrying out and documenting funders’ objectives. The Center was one of five sites funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, through the Chippewa Valley Museum, to provide a lecture series, community-built Hmong exhibit at the local university, and exhibition of twenty quality panels illustrating the Hmong journey from China, through Laos, to the United States.

The Refugee Educators’ Network has sponsored 14 annual conferences, from 1983 to 2002, with attendance from 250 to 1,200. The proceeds from the conference funded the purchase of materials for the collection, and along with proceeds from subscriptions to Context funded a library clerk, website development, and mailing.

The Network has also, with foundation funding, developed and printed a Hmong Literacy Development Kit for groups or individuals to use in teaching children and adults to read and understand written Hmong. This “kit”contains a primer, twenty-five desktop-printed “little readers” for practicing reading (based on Aesop’s fable equivalents, illustrated by a young Hmong artist), and a glossary of the 400 high frequency words in Hmong. Future plans include development and posting online lesson plans associated with kits of materials from the REN collection. The Refugee Educators’ Network provides the vehicle for parent support of the very successful Community Heritage Language Schools for Ukrainian, Armenian, Russian, and Spanish. These Saturday School programs are organized by the community and district-funded bilingual aides and held in the schools. An example of the outcome is passing a an exam in Ukrainian to earn 12 university credits from New York University extension after completion of 8 levels (each level is 32 Saturdays, or about 1,000 hours). The Refugee Educators’ Network is especially interested obtaining funding for the following:

• Expand the website and information access.
• Develop and distribute literacy development materials for Hmong, Mienh, Khmu, and other less commonly known languages with low levels of prior literacy.
• Create bridges between parents and school staffs, and provide children of those who came to this country with the means to understand and appreciate their parents’ world.

Our goal is to establish the Refugee Educators’ Network, Inc., as an independent and thriving non-profit agency linking the linguistic and cultural worlds of newcomers with schools. Our current annual budget is $50,000, and our goal is to increase that to $250,000 within two years. With that level of support we will be able to support staff to carry out activities and attract new sources of
support.

Publications of the Southeast Asia Community Resource Center
Hmong Literacy Development Kit, Lewis & Vang, 1999.
Tawm Lostsuas Mus (Out of Laos: A Story of War and Exodus, Told in Photographs).
Roger Warner. English/Hmong, 1996.
Introduction to Vietnamese Culture, Te, 1996.
Handbook for Teaching Armenian Speaking Students, Avakian, Ghazarian, 1995.
Amerasians from Vietnam: A California Study, Chung & Le, 1994.
Proceedings on the Conference on Champa, Translated from French by Huynh Dinh Te, 1994.
Minority Cultures of Laos: Kammu, Lua’, Lahu, Hmong, and Mien. Lewis; Kam Raw, Vang, Elliott,
Matisoff, Yang, Crystal, Saepharn, 1992.
Handbook for Teaching Hmong-Speaking Students. Bliatout, Downing, Lewis, Yang, 1988.
Handbook for Teaching Khmer-Speaking Students. Ouk, Huffman, Lewis, 1988.
Handbook for Teaching Lao-Speaking Students. Luangpraseut, Lewis 1989.
Introduction to the Indochinese and their Cultures. Chhim, Luangpraseut, Te, 1989, 1994.
English-Hmong Bilingual Dictionary of School Terminology, Cov Lus Mis Kuj Txhais ua Lus Hmoob.
Huynh D Te, translated by Lue Vang, 1988.
Context: Newcomers in California’s Classrooms, Lewis, editor (vol. 21 currently)