Shownotes
Whether you’re a case manager, community member, or just eager to understand the forces shaping Central Ohio, this conversation is full of insights, untold stories, and a reminder of the relentless human spirit.
Welcome to Pretend I Know Nothing, where curiosity leads the way. In this episode, I sit down with Tariq Mohammed, Senior Director for Refugee Programming at Jewish Family Services (JFS), to demystify the realities of refugee resettlement and the journey of new Americans in Central Ohio.
Tariq and I talk about the origins and evolution of Jewish Family Services, highlighting its mission to serve not only the Jewish community, but anyone in need—from seniors and job seekers to newcomers navigating life in a foreign country.
Together, we unpack the difference between refugees and other immigrants, outline the complex global and federal systems that shape refugee resettlement, and reveal how the U.S. has long been a leader in providing new beginnings to those fleeing persecution.
You’ll get an inside look at the practical work JFS does, from employment support and digital literacy to school integration, health care access, and the profound importance of a welcoming environment.
Tariq also brings a personal perspective and shares how stories, photography, and lived experience help preserve the narratives of resilience and hope that new Americans bring to our communities.
Key Takeaways:
- JFS Welcomes All: While its roots are in serving the Jewish community, Jewish Family Services now supports people from every background and zip code. Their programs range from helping Holocaust survivors to workforce development and digital literacy for seniors and newcomers alike.
- Refugee Resettlement is Rigorous & Life-changing: Becoming a refugee is more than just crossing a border—it's a status defined by international law. The resettlement process can take up to 17–20 years for many, but the U.S. has been a global leader in providing a fresh start and supporting integration.
- Resilience & Contribution: Refugees “arrive with empty hands, but not empty heads.” They revitalize communities, contribute economically, and inspire a vibrant, diverse culture. Support systems like JFS are crucial in ensuring these new Americans thrive.
Moments
00:00 Jewish Family Services: Inclusive Mission
04:44 Supporting Community & Holocaust Survivors
08:47 "Refugee Definition Explained"
11:56 Seeking Asylum: Refugee Application Process
15:26 Refugee Resettlement Options Explained
18:05 Refugee Life: 20 Minutes, 20 Years
20:23 Churches' Role in Refugee Resettlement
25:31 Refugee School Integration Program
26:22 Supporting Refugee Families in Schools
31:23 Convincing Landlords Without Social Security
35:07 Expert Guidance Over Family Advice
37:10 U.S. Immigration Process Overview
40:41 Refugee Integration and Support Process
45:35 "America: Top Destination for Refugees"
47:06 Senior Companions: Generational Giving
52:33 Archival Photography for Future Generations
54:02 African Diaspora and Cuba Projects
Let me know what you think of this podcast, as well as any ideas you have for an episode. Email me at kwhite@coaaa.org!
Copyright 2025 Central Ohio Area Agency On Aging
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Transcripts
Welcome to Pretend I Know Nothing about. I'm Katie White, your host, administrator of coaa. Today we are joined by Tariq Mohammed from Jewish Family Services, and we'll be learning about all things refugees, resettlements and. And new Americans. Let's get into it. Good morning.
Tariq Mohammed [:Good morning.
Katie White [:I am excited to welcome you to the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging. We've got a special guest for the podcast today. Do you mind introducing yourself?
Tariq Mohammed [:My name is Tariq Mohammad. I am the senior director for refugee programming at Jewish Family Services.
Katie White [:Wonderful. Thank you so much for being here. I'm really excited about this conversation as our passport case management program heavily serves immigration and refugees. So this is a topic that's really important here at CRAA and a topic that our case managers identified that they wanted to learn more about on the podcast. So really appreciate you being here, and I think it would be a great place to start if you could just give an overview of Jewish Family Services and what you all do there.
Tariq Mohammed [:A lot of people always, when they hear the word Jewish Family Services, assume that the organization only serves Jewish community only. The organization's history is. Came from the idea of people fleeing Europe in the early 20th century to have a soft landing when they arrived in the United States, especially in central Ohio. And that subsequently, even though the organization is. The name is Jewish and who always, you know, historically helped the Jewish community, the organization expanded beyond that and to support the community in general. And it's not only for the Jewish community, even though it's the. The original idea was to help the Jewish community, and there's Jewish values as well, which is Tikon Olam, which is to prepare the world. Right.
Tariq Mohammed [:So that is who Jewish Family Service is. And it is an organization, honestly, like, I feel like every zip code in Central Ohio, every background, every socioeconomics, everybody gets assisted there if they need to help.
Katie White [:That's wonderful. I had the wonderful opportunity to tour not only your offices, but the Holocaust Museum.
Tariq Mohammed [:Absolutely.
Katie White [:And the executive director, Karen, is just amazing. And I got to meet Garrett. The museum is so powerful in it of its. And I feel like it's just a perfect example of how JFS just goes above and beyond to meet all kinds of needs and making sure that the history and the stories are preserved because what folks have been through needs to be remembered.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah. I mean, the idea is when you walk into a building that, you know, the building's called the Ebner Building, and the person named after is a Holocaust survivor, and it was very fitting for the community, the city, the county, to always remember the 6 million, you know, the Jewish community that you know perished in the Holocaust. So that in itself when people walk in, that is the basis of our organization is to help those who being persecuted just because they were different. So that is the ideal. When you come in, you're welcome no matter what.
Katie White [:Yes. And you definitely feel that when you walk in. And so give us the overview of types of services that Jewish Family Services offers.
Tariq Mohammed [:Well, the depth and breadth of what JFS does, it's almost impossible for me to. To talk about the whole time. But just to give you an overview, there's a huge employment workforce development. We believe in self sustainability and self sufficiency really starts with, you know, someone's job. So we are, we. Our programs are helping folks from CEO level, C suite level all the way to somebody who just graduated high school, who's looking for their first job, a refugee just arrived in the United States. Everybody gets assisted. And those are funded through private, government, you know, public, you name it.
Tariq Mohammed [:Those are the programs we do have. One of our, one of the most important programs that Jewish Family does is helping the Holocaust survivors in central Ohio. And yes, we still have Holocaust survivors thankfully living in dignity and respect that they deserve. And that's what Jewish Family Services also protects those individuals to live in dignity. We also have counseling. We have one of the best financial empowerment centers which helps folks to understand how you balance your finances. Another area after the pandemic or during the pandemic, we realized, and I think you and I talked about it before the recording, it was digital. How do you.
Tariq Mohammed [:Some folks were left behind understanding computers and how to like check your email and zoom and what have you.
Katie White [:So.
Tariq Mohammed [:So Jewish Family Service has a program called Digital Skills Access which is really incredible and a lot of seniors are taking advantage of it. So perhaps we should talk about that at some point to refer folks. I mean it's so many to list. But overall that is the making sure that the entire organization is approaching this holistically with clients, with individuals of making sure that if somebody is senior gets serviced and if somebody is a refugee that just arrived also gets supported and job seekers.
Katie White [:Yeah. And so the digital skills access, are you doing that in your offices, in homes and community centers? Where are you offering those services?
Tariq Mohammed [:I mean the incredible gentleman colleague that runs it, Chase is all over the city. He is and his team, they are in libraries. Columbus Public Library is one area that we do in our office. We do that. You know, how to set up your email, how to protect yourself, how to not fall for scams. A lot of seniors are falling a lot for that, as you know and I know. So there's a lot of education that Chase and his team does, and I really welcome. I love to introduce you to them.
Katie White [:That would be wonderful. Well, and especially because, you know, we're in the healthcare industry, essentially, we're providing in home case management for a number of insurance companies and through different waiver programs. And access to healthcare is now pretty much digital. You know, setting your appointments or having virtual visits required before you meet a new physician. Right. And so that digital divide is so important for lots of reasons, but especially as we're in this area trying to make sure that people are healthy and have access to their. To their medical needs.
Tariq Mohammed [:Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's everywhere in the last five years that I've ever wanted to interact with a human being. I couldn't just go online and apply. And even though I'm savvy enough for, I just need that human connection. I want to ask you questions. I want you to be on the phone. But companies are scaling back.
Tariq Mohammed [:Services are always with a, you know, chatbot like you just say what you need, the appointment that you need. A lot of seniors and a lot of people that unfortunately do not have the background to learn these things are left behind.
Katie White [:Yes.
Tariq Mohammed [:So that's what Jewish Family service is doing to make sure that those people always know how to access these things.
Katie White [:That's wonderful. So let's get into the services for refugees and new Americans. I was thinking maybe we'd start sort of at the federal level. And I know there are different programs and organizations that. That it seems like, set the tone for numbers and which countries folks can come from. So do you mind kind of laying out the federal level overview of refugee and new American services?
Tariq Mohammed [:So could I take it even further back, please? So first, let's define what refugee is. A lot of people really don't understand the differences, the nuance between a refugee and an immigrant. And, you know, all of these terminologies. Right. A refugee is a defined individual. Through the Geneva Convention of the early 1950s, after the Second World War, the world has decided never again. And we need to protect those people who have been persecuted so that those set of parameters are if you are being killed or harmed because of your religion, because of your ethnicity, because of your sexual orientation, if you belong to a political group, all of that qualifies you to be a refugee in the Geneva Convention standards.
Katie White [:Okay.
Tariq Mohammed [:So if you say, you know, I am fleeing this country because I am in Domestic violence, you don't qualify unfortunately for that, even though you've been hurt by it. It's not a state sponsored, it has to be a state sponsored violence against you in order for you to qualify for that. Does that make sense?
Katie White [:To qualify for a refugee?
Tariq Mohammed [:To be a refugee.
Katie White [:Okay.
Tariq Mohammed [:And on top of that, you have to cross that international border to be a refugee. Otherwise you'll be called an internally displaced person. So I'll give you an example. God forbid if America just falls apart today, right? God forbid. And if we move, if you and I move to Indiana, for example, we are internally displaced person because we're in the same country. If we cross the border to Canada or to Mexico, then we officially are refugees because we moved from our home to another country, internationally crossed the border to be asking for protection. And then we apply for asylum because we belong to a different group. Let's say you and I and we cross the border to Mexico or Canada and we apply for asylum, which we say we are refugees, please help us.
Tariq Mohammed [:If we go back, we'll be killed. Therefore, then Canada by international law has to grant you, has to hear your case, then has to weigh those well founded fear that if you go back you'll be killed. And Canada by international law has to give you documentation to work and pathway to citizenship.
Katie White [:Fascinating.
Tariq Mohammed [:So that's how the international law works.
Katie White [:Okay, so there's a difference between if you flee in our in a settlement camp first versus if you can financially get yourself to another country.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yes.
Katie White [:Okay, so do you mind explaining that too?
Tariq Mohammed [:So do you explain that? So for example, let's say you, you're a student attending, let's say you're from Somalia, you're attending school and you came at the student visa and you are in Ohio State University. The country falls apart. And if you go back, you'd be killed. So what you would do or persecuted. I should say if you apply for asylum within the United States, if you say if I go back, I'll be killed, I'd like to stay and be protected under the Refugee act or the international law. The judge will hear you, will hear your case, will hear the evidence, and then either grant you asylum and say, you know, welcome to the United States, and then you will have a refugee status. Okay, so it'll be the same status as somebody that will get into their resettlement, somebody who come from there. The difference is that person, the UN vetted them and the United States flew, officials flew from here and vetted that person and they came through a resettlement purpose.
Tariq Mohammed [:So the way they came to the United States is different, but the law, they qualify for the same refugee status.
Katie White [:Okay, right. Yes.
Tariq Mohammed [:So you're applying for asylum. That's why you hear the word asylee or somebody who's applying for asylum. But the idea is they're applying for refugee status. They are saying, if I go back, I'll be harmed. I would like to stay in the United States.
Katie White [:So even if they didn't come from a place where they were being persecuted or harmed because of the going back, the danger of going back, they can also get that refugee status.
Tariq Mohammed [:Exactly, exactly. Okay, can I go to the resettlement then? How it works?
Katie White [:Yes, please.
Tariq Mohammed [:So when a country goes into a chaos and everything falls apart and war starts, people obviously move from their own country, which they're fleeing from, to the neighboring country. So I'll give you an example about Somalia, since I'm from there. 91. The country falls apart completely. Most. And the wars became sort of ethnic, tribal, lawless. Everything was happening. People fled mainly to, I'll say, three countries.
Tariq Mohammed [:Ethiopia, which is a neighboring country. And then some people fled through, took the boats, a lot of boats, and fled to Yemen to be protected, because that's. The Gulf of Aden is right there. And then vast majority of people moved to Kenya. And a lot of people are always saying, why Kenya? But Kenya has also ethnically, a lot of Somalis. Because when the British was carving these African countries, they didn't respect ethnic lines. They respected just borderlines.
Katie White [:I see.
Tariq Mohammed [:So there's ethnic Somalis that living in Kenya. So there was kinship. There was all of that stuff. The United nations built a refugee camps to protect those from harm from other militias coming into Kenya and harming them. So those refugee camps were Dadaab refugee camp, Kakuma. They still exist, by the way. So the United nations will decide. They will give the refugees three options or there are three options.
Tariq Mohammed [:They don't give you refugees three options, but there are three options. Option one is repatriation, which is going back to your country once the country becomes safe. Second option is integration into the local community. Marrying a Kenyan, staying there, you know, just integrating, which is Kenya, is not allowing that. Third option, which is really the last resort is third country resettlement and that resettlement. Only few countries are doing that are allowing that. Mainly European countries, Canada, Australia, a few countries. But guess who's the number one country who provides the most amazing resettlement program? The United States.
Katie White [:The United States.
Tariq Mohammed [:United States of America. It has been the golden standard of how to process refugees how to bring them to this country safely and how to integrate them. No other country can even come close. Canada a little bit, but the United States really, really does it.
Katie White [:Well, hearing you say that is making me emotional and I'm not really sure why, except the fact that things are challenging for all kinds of reasons right now. And it's a lovely reminder.
Tariq Mohammed [:No, I'm being serious. And I appreciate you being. You know, we should be proud of this country because it really welcomes human beings to a different planet, a different place. So the process, the way it works is the unit will determine your story, will determine if you are fit, if you are really who you are. After this happened, actually before 9, 11, the US was really heavy on security, making sure that who you are is who you are, who your kids are, who they are. Like the family dynamic. Everything else, there's DNA testing, there was health screening, all of that stuff. So that bureaucracy took a very, very long time.
Katie White [:I was just going to ask how long.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah. So the average refugee stays in refugee camp between 17 and 20 years. So imagine that's a generation and a little bit. Right. Two generations even.
Katie White [:17 to 20 years on average.
Tariq Mohammed [:Right. So it takes a refugee to leave their home 20 minutes, right. When, when war starts, you have 20 minutes on average to leave your home and never return again. And you have 20 years in refugee camp before you come either to the west or you go back to your own homeland. So it is a very, very tough life. And I've been to many refugee camps, Europe, Greece, you know, a lot of places. And it is really, really hard on life. And the countries who are welcoming these refugees, Kenya, instance of Greece or Uganda, they're not giving you the best fertile land, they're putting refugees because those fertile lands is designated for the indigenous people, rightfully so.
Tariq Mohammed [:But now you have, Eric, desert area where refugees cannot farm, cannot do a lot. There's no job opportunities. And all of that stuff happens. So fast forward, let's say you get approved for coming to the United States. The U.S. welcomes roughly on a good year, on a good fiscal year. The most I've seen was during the Obama administration, for his last administration, 110,000.
Katie White [:And they literally set that number every year, as far as I understand it. Right. Like there are federal level in the US committees that talk about the number of individuals and where they can come from. Is that right?
Tariq Mohammed [:Right. Yeah. So the United States. So there are. I'm such a nerd and I don't want to bore your.
Katie White [:Oh, no, we love nerd stuff.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah, no, seriously. But there are something called voluntary agencies. Those agencies are called the volags, the acronym, I can't think of what it stands for. But Volax is voluntary agencies. Those agencies. There were 10. 10 agencies. One, they're all based on religious lines.
Tariq Mohammed [:So they were all churches that used to help refugees. So you have cws, Church World Service, you have Lutheran, you have Catholic Social services, you have HIAs, which we are affiliate of Hebrew Immigrant Aid society. So there's 10 of those Volags. They advise the State Department based on housing availability, employment, schools, and then they report back. When they report back, they'll ask someone like Jewish Family Services, for example, how many people can you handle this year? And then based on our budget, Jewish Family Services in central Ohio will look at how many houses we have available, the school systems, how many staff do we have? So it's a well run program. It's not anybody just come in here. So once we report back and Denver JFS reports back and all of these organizations report back to HIAs, hires them will submit what they can do, how many people they can resettle into the United States, and then the State Department will give that recommendations to the president and only the president can approve that or deny it. So arrival of refugees from all the way to Jimmy Carter in 1981, all the way till Obama.
Tariq Mohammed [:It was a bipartisan issue of welcoming refugees. And the bar was always between 60 and 80,000, whether it's bush, whether it's Clinton, whether it's anybody. It was all around that number of threshold to be. And the program was so successful that. And there's many studies that will show this refugees bring back those dollars that were assisted for them to be here.
Katie White [:So I read one, I read an article about that. It was, I think focused on Springfield, Ohio and the Haitians, but it talked about how they are economic drivers and small business owners. And yes, there's a huge, there's a huge reinvestment in the community.
Tariq Mohammed [:Absolutely. I mean, if you care about refugees because you're a human being and they're a human being and you want to make sure that people are protected, that's great. But if you also care about your country's economic mobility and how people are creating jobs and they're not using resources, they're giving back to the society, I think it's a win win.
Katie White [:Yes. In the case of Springfield too, they were losing population. They were essentially kind of a dying community for decades. And then because of the resettlement of the Haitians, now they're thriving. They're growing. Like I said, their economic development is growing as well.
Tariq Mohammed [:Absolutely.
Katie White [:Okay, so 60 to 80,000 a year. Is that still roughly what we are accepting in the US it's zero. It's zero.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah. There's no refugees that's come in since January 20, 2025. Well, Afrikaners, sorry, South African, white. I'll leave it at that. But anyway, those are the people that arrived. But refugees, traditional. What you and I would be, you know, from Ukraine, you know, from Rohingya, from Somalia, from, you know, South Sudan. None of those people.
Tariq Mohammed [:I mean, you know, what's going on in South Sudan right now? If you look at the news, it's horrifying. And no refugees are coming from there at all since January 20th. January 20th, 2025. Or there was executive order that stopped all refugees refugee programs and all refugee agencies have been in dire financial, you know, situations.
Katie White [:Were they defunded as well?
Tariq Mohammed [:Absolutely. Yeah.
Katie White [:Yes. Okay. Okay. So I knew it had changed. Maybe somewhere in my soul I knew it was zero, but I'm still feeling gobsmacked by the reality and having that number come out. So what does that mean for our current programming in central Ohio, for example?
Tariq Mohammed [:Very good question. I feel. So there are two types of. But there's many refugee programming. One is the resettlement that we just talked about. Others are the Office of Refugee Resettlement Funds. Many other programming. A.
Tariq Mohammed [:There's a program called Deferred Community, which is a program that helps clients who are dealing with either health issues, mental health issues, any of those things, a deeper case management and support for them.
Katie White [:To navigate the United States for someone who's already here. So we just. Can we continue to support and make.
Tariq Mohammed [:Sure we're not talking about somebody who is arriving? There's no arrival anymore. So that's one program. There's also. This is a programs that I. We run a Jewish time service. So I'm talking about it. So there's the school integration program, which helps young refugees also, like, manage school enrollments, immunizations, all the things that, you know, a parent, you know, I still have a problem with. When my kids were.
Tariq Mohammed [:Were little, I used to be. Thank God my wife is way better than I am in technology and following them in school ology or whatever those. You know, there's so much that you have to be aware of in order for your kids to progress.
Katie White [:You know, the school lunch portal's different than the bus portal is different than the homework portal.
Tariq Mohammed [:Don't get me started. Right. It's such a tough, tough, tough one. So how do you, if your English, English is not your first language, you never went to school and you have three kids that are attending Columbus public School and all this technology is needed. Well, that's where Jewish family services come in with our school integration program that helps the kids, help the families navigate what bus to take, what do you get off the bus. And every year the bus stop changes and how do you keep up with those things? So those programs are still funded by the federal government, especially the Office of Refugee Resettlements. So those programs are still, thank God with us, and we still have them. The employment program, we still also do that.
Tariq Mohammed [:So there's many other post arrival programming still continues.
Katie White [:Wonderful. And I've got a couple of notes here. So there's the integration, job search, family supports. So really you're here and whatever you need kind of ongoing or is it only for like the first year? How does that work?
Tariq Mohammed [:So the, so the grants are year by year, right. So if we are contracted by the state, for example, because some of the funds come through the, for the state, through the state and the state with either contract, the county or contract with us directly. So there's a year by year renewal of grants. So that's that. To answer your question about how long. But a refugee qualifies for service from the day they arrive all the way up to five years.
Katie White [:Oh, okay.
Tariq Mohammed [:So if a refugee, when we look at the arrival date, if they are greater than five years, we simply, you know, refer them to our American born programs.
Katie White [:Wonderful.
Tariq Mohammed [:So we still can help them, but they're no longer considered refugees, even though technically if they haven't applied for U.S. citizenship, then they're still a refugee, but they don't qualify for those services.
Katie White [:So if we go back in time a little bit, when we were accepting resettlement, when we were doing resettlement, walk me through what that process looks like. So we talked about the funding where you're saying this is how many we can resettle in our region. Kind of, you know, the nitty gritty. What does that look like? Do you get a phone call? How far in advance do you know? Are you working with the Red Cross? What does that look like?
Tariq Mohammed [:So I've been helping refugees for over 20 plus years. I tell you, refugee resettlement is the most rewarding and the toughest job at the same time. It is really, really tough job. So I'll give you an example. The way, system wise, the way it works is our affiliate or our HIAs will, there's a portal, they will give us notification Sometimes it's six weeks, sometimes it's, you know, two months. And for the case of Afghan refugees who are fleeing, I got a notification on a Thursday, and they were in Columbus on Monday. Wow. So no time at all.
Tariq Mohammed [:Right? So those are the kind of things where you like scrambling, like housing.
Katie White [:I was going to say, how do you even find. You can't find housing in years in Columbus right now.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah, it is. It really is tough. And so. So those are special cases. But generally the way it would work is there are two types of individuals, right? Two types of families that would be arriving. One, they have something called the US Thai they have somebody here already that part of their family could be a cousin, distant cousin. So they come into Columbus, they told the resettlement at the refugee camp when they had an option, where do you want to go? So they said, Columbus, for example. So for Jewish Family Services, when we get the notification, we have to approve the case that we can welcome them.
Tariq Mohammed [:So we sent back a note to hias. We say, yes, we can. If they are. If they have no case at all, if they have no connection to Columbus, then we definitely. We have to really, really work hard to make sure that there's housing, school, all the stuff is ready for them to go. But when they have somebody here already, we will welcome that person to Jewish Family Services, explain the relationship, what our jobs are, how they can help the family as well. So there's a mutual understanding. They will sign off, that they will be part of the welcoming.
Tariq Mohammed [:And then immediately after that, we'll send a note to Hayes, and they'll send a note to the people who are flying them over to here. So it takes about six weeks for that process this back and forth of like, hey, you know, did you guys, you know, look into this? Do we have housing? Do we talk to the landlord? And I tell you, Katie, the hardest thing is you lived in Columbus and you've rented before. Imagine convincing a landlord, you don't have a Social Security number yet, you don't have income, and you're new to the country, and I want you to rent it to me. Rent this apartment. The amount of salesmanship that we do is incredible. Because if every. Every landlord, I mean, if you own an apartment, imagine and I come to you and say, hey, I want you to rent to this family that have nothing, right? No income, no work, no work history.
Katie White [:No credit history, and please don't charge market rate. Please charge less. I would imagine. So do you have. I would imagine you have good relationships and networks with some of The. I won't ask you to share because those are probably, you know.
Tariq Mohammed [:No, I mean, it definitely is a. Making sure that when they arrive, when the refugees arrive, have soft landing. The better we set up these things for them, the faster the integration, the faster the employment, the faster that they can be amazing for our community and our society. Once imagine if somebody arrives here with no housing, they go to the homeless shelter, and then they don't get a job right away and they don't learn the language right away. All of these things. Agencies like us, we're making sure that within. Instead of taking them 12 months to integrate, we're making sure that it's only half of that.
Katie White [:Yeah. And I can't even imagine the mental and physical burden that would be on the individual coming here without having all of those supports.
Tariq Mohammed [:They're resilient people.
Katie White [:Oh, my God.
Tariq Mohammed [:Refugees are absolutely resilient.
Katie White [:And I love what JFS offers is autonomy and efficacy and independence and probably what each of these individuals wants anyway. Right. Like, I want to come to a country that will embrace me and that I can contribute to and that, you know, building community and kinship and all of those things.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah. What's unique with the work that we do, most of my team and my staff are. Have not only professional experience, but they do have also lived experience.
Katie White [:I see.
Tariq Mohammed [:So we've got, you know, folks that are from Afghanistan who literally fled the Taliban. When people are arriving here, there's a special bond of the human being who you and them have experienced the same thing. I've got a young lady that my colleague who's incredibly like, you know, she lived in Egypt, but speaks Arabic, speaks Swahili, have all these countries that they. She lived in. So when people arrive from different parts, she can relate to them. And it's not so much about case manager versus client and that's it. But there is. How do I do this? From a fellow countryman.
Katie White [:Yes.
Tariq Mohammed [:Right.
Katie White [:Yes.
Tariq Mohammed [:Sometimes the worst advice is from family members to these clients who want to cut corners or want to do this. But professionals like Jewish Family Services will tell them, will tell our clients, don't do this. This is the right way to do it. This is the way the process works in the United States. So that to me, is what I why we're successful. It's the lived experience, multilingual, tricultural. All of these things play a big role when refugees arrive, I'm sure. And also it gives them, like, when somebody sees my title and I'm Somali and they are also Somali, they're like you know, if he made it, if he's this, I think I can do it.
Tariq Mohammed [:Like, there's nothing like once you see somebody that look like you, your hope.
Katie White [:Your trust, your, your comfort, your safety.
Tariq Mohammed [:And, and not only me, but there's many other Somalis who are elected officials, who are folks who are, you know, running our companies. And it, this country provides that pathway for a refugee to be able to do this.
Katie White [:So you get the call, we can take however many folks and resettle them. Who's flying them here and are they just landing at CMH and then do you meet them there? What does that look like?
Tariq Mohammed [:Oh, I would invite, if we were welcoming refugees today, I would invite you.
Katie White [:I'd be there in a heartbeat.
Tariq Mohammed [:It is the most. If your ancestors came in the late 19th century, early 20th century at Alice island, that's exactly what it looks like. In fact, I have a photo that, a screenshot that I took from Ellis Island. Like I saw it on the computer and took it and people arriving, the way folks are hugging each other is almost identical.
Katie White [:Generations later, it's the same.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah. 100 plus years later, we're still America's, still welcoming people. Such an incredible thing. So the way it works is the United States approves this person for does all the background checks and everything in Africa. And then the United States and United nations hand off to an organization called the iom, International Organization for Migration. And that organization has about three days to five days of cultural orientation that they have to go through. What does America look like? What kind of jobs do you need to apply? How do you work with your case manager when you get to the United States? All the things like is it three day, five day type workshop that they show you the American streets and how do you cross the street and all the things you need to learn about as quickly as possible to the United States. And then you and your family do final checks and everything else straight to the airport.
Tariq Mohammed [:IOM takes you to the airport. Then if before, let's see, in the mid 2000s and early 2000s, every refugee family had somebody from IOM accompanying them so they don't get lost around the, you know, during the travel. And we do that. That got scaled back because the budget reasons. Unless you have severe health issues, then IOM person will be with you and I'll talk about the health issues there. But the family will arrive here. We will, during the flight, before they fly, we'll have the flight number, we'll have the arrival time and everything else. And then we will assign JFS will assign a staff member based on language, based on culture, to that individual.
Tariq Mohammed [:The JFS staff will be at the airport waiting and they'll have like an IOM badges that refugees, when they get off the airplane, will be there with them. We'll make sure that the three days before that, the housing is ready. Our volunteer coordinator, Julie Cohen, is incredible. She will have the apartment, like all the stuff purchased and pillows and everything.
Katie White [:Else if it's winter, probably coats and just anything they would need.
Tariq Mohammed [:This is mandatory, by the way. We need to have all that stuff. The government will. That's part of the check as well. Make sure that refugees arrive. We have weather, clothing ready to go. And right after that, immediately, once they get resettled, we have their phones ready. Emergencies.
Tariq Mohammed [:Then 24 hours later, less than 24 hours the next day, the case manager will go check on the family, make sure everything's food is there, everything's good. And after that, the process of assignment of case managers and jobs and Social Security and applications. It's a long, long process. And that begins that whole.
Katie White [:What about health insurance or access to health care?
Tariq Mohammed [:No. Good question. Yeah. So Franklin county has been incredible partner to Jewish Family Services and to other refugee agencies as well. Every Tuesday, there's a case worker from the county that arrives from 9am all the way till 5pm takes appointments.
Katie White [:That's great.
Tariq Mohammed [:So when somebody arrives, let's say on a Thursday, first thing Tuesday, we will have an appointment with them. Garrett actually signs, you know, is in charge of that, signing them up. So once we sign that person into the county, then their health insurance, their food stamps, their cash assistances begin. Refugees are very unique. They are the only immigrants or a few, only immigrant group that qualifies for the same thing as you qualify for. And by the way, immediately after, they'll get a job within 90 days. So they usually get off the, you know, unless they have a large family and there's kids still, and they have to be making a crazy amount of money in order for them not to qualify. But for the most part, if you are a three household family, usually the, you know, mother, father, they'll get jobs.
Tariq Mohammed [:And immediately, within 90 days, they won't need the food stamps and SNAP, I should say, okay, and cash assistance or what have you. So immediately, they don't even want it. They say, I just want to go to work. I'm like, you're not ready yet.
Katie White [:You don't have a.
Tariq Mohammed [:We need to get your transportation. We need to figure out, no, no, no, I need a job right Away. So.
Katie White [:So again, thinking back to how you described it earlier, these folks could have been in a camp for 15 years before this magical moment of touchdown in the United States that you're describing.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah, yeah. We have folks that have lived in refugee camps 20 years who arrived. And when you are in those countries, you're not allowed to work. So the skill sets that you need to have in this competitive job market of the United States, Imagine even a simple warehouse. You need to be able to, like, use scanners, figure out where to exit, how to ask for pto. When do you sign up, when do you clock in and clock out? Everything's computerized. So how do you figure all this stuff out? Right. So it's challenging, is very challenging.
Tariq Mohammed [:And this is why there's programs like ours who can bridge the gap between employers expectations and clients where they are. And how do you bridge that gap? Is something that we're very good at and make sure that the clients are. Understands when they get the job. This is what America demands. But also employers to have empathy and, you know, kind of figure out how to maximize output through somebody who's dedicated, wants to be here, wants to work. How do you bridge that gap? It's something we're always negotiating all the time.
Katie White [:I'm just so thankful to know that your work and organizations exist, because I think about being somewhere for 20 years and getting here, and if it wasn't a welcome, if it wasn't a welcoming environment, I just. I don't even have the words to describe how that might feel. Right. And so it's just you're painting such a powerful visual or experience in my brain. I just. I feel like I'm really settling into what someone might feel when they first get here.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah. I cannot tell you how. I mean, I came to this country. My English wasn't, you know, zero. But it was very, very difficult for me to understand how I remember the Midwest. Nice, nice Midwest, nice. Like, everyone's smiling, everyone's happy, and everyone's talking about weather. And I was like, what is this place? You think it's going to rain today? I'm like, I don't care.
Tariq Mohammed [:This is nowhere from. And I wanted to rain because I come from a country that rain was so important. So we celebrate rain. I don't know why you're getting angry about rain. And constantly football and all kinds of unnecessary things and, you know, sitcom phrases, you know, people quoting Seinfeld all the time. And I didn't understand who Seinfeld was. So it's. It really Is like crazy, like, to get used to a different, different culture.
Tariq Mohammed [:If you go to Nepal today, and Nepal expects you within three months after your arrival, you need to be self sufficient, even though you're educated women. Imagine, imagine what a person for 20 years in refugee camp with zero skills, both, you know, education and job skills that America requires.
Katie White [:Yeah.
Tariq Mohammed [:And also language and also different, you know, different culture and religion. Combine all of that into. We expect you to get a job within 90 days and we need you to move forward with your life. And it's tough. But I still think America is the best country for refugees. Despite everything that I just told you, I really think America is the best country for refugees. And data shows it. Refugees who arrive in this country versus, let's say Germany or Spain or any other European country.
Tariq Mohammed [:If you look at their integration, if you look at how much they have achieved economically, by far, refugees in the United States have done that. I'm talking about from, like Vietnam era. I'm talking about from, you know, the.
Katie White [:Well, we have a large older Russian population from.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah. Former Soviet Union.
Katie White [:From the Soviet Union. Yeah. Yeah.
Tariq Mohammed [:I mean, think about how the kids are attorneys now. And I know a lot who came as refugees who are really professionals. So you cannot tell me that's the ratio, for example, in Europe. Canada is close because we're allied in a lot of ways and our culture is similar. But I think America is doing something right.
Katie White [:I've had the honor of sitting down with the Senior Companions group, which is a large group of older adults that participate in a program with Catholic Social Services. And it's really unique here in central Ohio that it has become sort of this United nations type feel. But the whole. The whole purpose when you speak to these elders is that they want to help the next generation. And they want to help the next generation because somebody helped them. And so they want to make sure, you know, that they're passing along that welcoming spirit, that connection to things that they need. And this is, you know, folks that have been here for a really long time and still in their, you know, 60s and 70s and 80s are connected. Continuing to give back.
Tariq Mohammed [:Yeah, no, it's, it's. I always say refugees come with empty hands, but not empty heads. So they might come to you here with nothing, just an IOM bag and literally a plastic bag. That's all they have when they arrive at. At Columbus Airport. But what they bring to this, to the city and to this country, you don't have to believe me. Go around and look. What did Columbus look like? Especially The North End.
Tariq Mohammed [:And what does Columbus look like both in terms of commerce, in terms of cuisine, arts? What would Columbus be if we didn't energize our communities and neighbors and everything else? I think it would be boring.
Katie White [:I think so too.
Tariq Mohammed [:I really think it would be boring. And you could call me biased, sure, but this, like, look how lucky we are. When I grew up, when I was a kid in Somalia, in order for me to meet someone that looks different than I am, like an Indian or Korean or an American, it was almost impossible. It's like a unicorn. Like, I couldn't. There's no such thing as Chinese restaurant. There's no such thing as, like, let's go to a. Try this Vietnamese spot.
Tariq Mohammed [:You know, that's how we say all the time, right? Let's try this new thing. I never seen that. I'm not saying I had a bad childhood, but I'm saying I'd rather live in a place where there's differences. There is, you know, different ideas, different thoughts, different art, different religions, different. It really, really is important for us to grow as, as a nation, as a city. And where would Columbus be without that energy? Right?
Katie White [:So well said. And before we end, I want to make sure that we talk about your photography, if that's okay. So. So for those listening, Tariq has an incredible talent that I'll have him describe, but also definitely worth a follow on Instagram. So share your Instagram handle or any of your social medias, but tell us about this photography and this work that you do.
Tariq Mohammed [:Briefly, two things have happened that led me to, to take photos of things that I care about. One was I met this incredible gentleman named Abdi Roble, who is an incredible photographer, Somali, and also me working at Jewish Family Services. So both, when we decided to do the Somali documentary project was an idea for us to give a record for future generations, you know, 100 years from now. What did the Somalis look like right now? You're looking at. If you look at the American civil war, for example, there's a record that was kept proof that the atrocities that have happened. Every record is important for future generations to study. We don't do that anymore. On the way we used to do it in the United States.
Tariq Mohammed [:There used to be a department called the Farmer and Security Administration. There used to be a lot of photographers who go out photograph the Dust bowl, for example. There's a record keeping that America used to do quite a lot. There's all these magazines used to do, long story form, to keep records of individuals and what have you. And also working at Jewish Family Services. When I walk in there is that Holocaust memorial that we talked about. There's a record. My goal is for future generation to look back what the refugees in central Ohio look like 100 years from now, 150 years from now.
Tariq Mohammed [:You know, I don't. And by the way, I still shoot film. And that's one of the reasons why I still shoot film. Because 100 years ago, Black and white negatives are still around. Do you mind the floppy disk?
Katie White [:I do.
Tariq Mohammed [:What happened to it? I've never seen it. CDs.
Katie White [:Yeah.
Tariq Mohammed [:So this technology of digital, things are changing, but what is guaranteed that it's been around is, is the black and white negative. So my goal is to photograph things that I care about in a long term archival for future generations to study. Yes, it's beautiful, it's art and it's great. But the purpose for it, for my photography and my way of thinking is I want to be able our kids and our grandkids and everything else to look back and say, what did Somalis, what did Congolese, what did Rwandese look like when they arrived? What do their clothes will look like? What do they talk about? And I also have a lot of recordings of like audio and things like that for. So I'm thinking in a way that to keep things for the future, are.
Katie White [:You photographing folks right when they arrive or within those first five years or. No timeline, really.
Tariq Mohammed [:No timeline, but. So there are several projects I'm working on. There's the Congolese and Great Lakes of Africa project, which is Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda. I'm basically photographing them in a portrait style and keeping their story, sort of recording their story about who they are. Why did they come to the U.S. how's the U.S. what do they feel like sort of a snapshot of today's feeling. So that's one project.
Tariq Mohammed [:And also there's many other African, you know, diaspora projects such as the Fulani people who are from, you know, West Africa, Mauritania, guinea, that area, Senegal. So that's one project. And also there's other fun projects that I do, which I'm working on a book about Cuba. I'm fascinated about Cuba because I grew up in a socialist country and Cuba has that sort of historical in my head, like how, how I was as a child.
Katie White [:Okay.
Tariq Mohammed [:And how. And also I'm experimenting with, like how race relations within the communist countries feel like. So there's a lot of, a lot of things that I travel quite a bit and Enjoy.
Katie White [:Thank you so much for sharing that. And thank you so much for being here for your work, for being the safety, the hope, the inspiration, everything for those coming to central Ohio and beyond. Obviously, your work has no bounds. So thank you.
Tariq Mohammed [:Thank you. I had fun.
Katie White [:I hope now you know something about refugee resettlement in central Ohio and the US.
