The Clarkston Community Center Refugee Senior Program brings elderly refugees together for recreational activities, such as gardening, games, singing, refreshments, shared meals, celebrations, reading of native materials, etc. The program provides helpful socialization with informative presentations on such topics as public transportation, health availability, translation services, housing, fraud, finance, immigration and citizenship, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. Informative health presentations on such topics as diabetes, strokes, diet and caloric intake, cholesterol, exercise, oral hygiene, etc. are provided and participants also benefit from medical screening, flu inoculations, eye exams and calisthenics. The current program serves a Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Sudanese and Somali populations. In the past it was home to a Russian population as well.
The CCC Senior Refugee Program now provides English as a Second Language instruction as well as introduction to the computer.
The CCC Senior Refugee Program won the 2004 Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations and was the longest running program of its type in the state. It is funded through the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Georgia Department of Human Resources Office of Refugee Resettlement and the DeKalb County Office of Senior Affairs.
Our Senior Refugee Program is assisted by a program called Project SHINE (Students Helping In The Naturalization Of Elders). Project SHINE is a grant program through Temple University providing service learning opportunities in the academic arena that engage the classroom in real world applications. This Program; a partnership between the Clarkston Community Center, Georgia Perimeter College and Emory University, requires students to fulfill service learning hours to meet course requirements. This provides volunteers to the Clarkston Community Center Senior Program where elderly citizens are trying to learn English and meet citizenship requirements. Students pair up with refugee elderly adults to assist with tutoring in these domains and in turn get real world experience that they can take back to the classroom. In many cases the students themselves are second generation immigrants.
The Senior Refugee Program is headed by Almaz Alkalewold, Senior Refugee Program Coordinator, who has directed the program since 2003. She is an Ethiopian immigrant and U.S. Citizen.
