Women in Action: Refugee is now a lifeline for other newcomers in RI
Patricia Andreu
When Aline Binyungu founded Women’s Refugee Care in Providence in 2016, it was an audacious move. The 48-year old and her husband, Clement Shabani, were themselves refugees, having fled their native Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.
While the couple and their six children were grateful to have been resettled in Rhode Island in 2014, the transition to life in America was extremely challenging.
“It was very hard to get adjusted, to rebuild your life,” Aline remembered of her first year here. “Especially being a refugee with a heavy history of trauma, leaving your country unwillingly and coming here.”
Apr 23, 2021, by Staff Writer
SMITHFIELD, RI – Two Bryant economists, President Ross Gittell, Ph.D., and Faculty Fellow and incoming Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategy Edinaldo Tebaldi, Ph.D., are joining the Rhode Island Foundation’s new initiative, “Make it Happen: Investing for Rhode Island’s Future,” to help develop recommendations for spending up to $1 billion in broad new stimulus funding the state is projected to receive from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARP).
“We are proud that members of the Bryant University community are able to contribute to this important initiative.
Prominent Bryant alumni, Jessica David 10MBA, consultant and former executive vice president of strategy and community investments at the Rhode Island Foundation, and John Galvin ’91MBA, President & CEO at AAA Northeast, are also among the top Rhode Island leaders who will contribute to the effort. Rhode Island Foundat
U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. clearly remembers the first time he met Nora Tyer-Witek. It was 2016, and Tyer-Witek was a finalist for the position of clerk of court.
“She was the most prepared person I have ever interviewed for any job at any time in my 62 years of life,” said McConnell.
Tyer-Witek, 46, didn’t fit the typical profile for the post. Rather than rising through the ranks of the court system, she had built a formidable 20-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, where she became a senior lawyer.
That intrigued both McConnell and then-Chief Judge William E. Smith.
Some states train jobless for post-pandemic workforce
Aaron Huntley quit a job as a fast food manufacturer for training as a welder.
Renato Queiroz used to be a catering manager for a hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, a historic town known for its yachts and Gilded Age mansions. “I dealt with a lot of weddings,” he said recently.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and Queiroz, 31, decided to quit the floundering hospitality industry and try something new.
He enrolled in a free community college course that trains people to use chemical processing equipment. Now he’s looking for manufacturing jobs and plans to earn a bachelor’s degree. “Going through this program opened up a different world for me,” he said.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and Queiroz, 31, decided to quit the floundering hospitality industry and try something new.
He enrolled in a free community college course that trains people to use chemical processing equipment. Now he’s looking for manufacturing jobs and plans to earn a bachelor’s degree. “Going through this program opened up a different world for me,” he said.
Amid high unemployment, governors and legislatures are spending some federal coronavirus relief dollars on short-term training programs, such as the 10-week program Queiroz completed last week, that they hope can help workers find new jobs quickly.
Leaders in at least nine states, including Rhode Island, are expanding grants for weeks- and months-long training in fields such as health care and information technology; paying employers to provide on-the-job training; and in some cases, paying for trainees’ textbooks and transportation.