2006 Community Report

Report On The Somali Community

The SCAO staff, continues to work diligently to meet new needs by providing additional services in the coming year.

The Somali Community Association of Ohio opened its doors and started providing services since 2000. Many individuals and groups from a wide range of Somali political and geographical locations work with the SCAO to provide services to the Somali community in Central Ohio. Dedicated and skilled staff from their own country, who knows their language and culture, has helped thousands of individuals and families to learn about the culture and lifestyle in America. Our organization is proven to be invaluable to the Central Ohio community by designing our services to provide a truly unique environment.

As a 100% non profit organization, we rely entirely upon funding and resources received from the government, foundations and other non profit organizations to sustain our services. Many of SCAO’s programs are run and staffed by volunteers, who donate their time and energy to assist the community’s neediest individuals. However, in order to continue these valuable services and add to our capabilities to offer others, we must receive additional funding at a greater level. This is only possible by partnering with government agencies and others who are willing to share responsibility and resources.

Over the past six years, we have assisted over 60,000 people with various services. The following table shows the number of people helped in each area by year:
 

Services Offered 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
ESL Classes 500 350 462 280 420 500 600
After-School Program 750 150 7172 196 265 400 425
Job Training 250 85 120 60 85 250 300
Job Retention 128 43 36 25 42 165 175
Translation/Interpretation 1800 1200 1500 900 700 1860 2000
Case Management 300 385 356 250 380 400 600
Senior Program 140 80 120 85 102 260 350
Housing 758 282 260 256 780 1250 1500
Referral 1580 1985 326 1456 1856 2395 2425
Legal and Advocacy 693 458 325 520 182 745 850
Health Department 1220 900 135 192 136 832 972
Walk-In Service 1350 1750 1235 1125 1025 2563 2600
Telephone Services 1250 1000 1458 1365 1852 2491 2600

Year Totals

 11269 8568 6505 6910 8062 15269 16522

The Future of the SCAO

As the Somali community continues to grow, so will the needs of the community. Unless decisive action is taken now, serious issues could easily arise. In order to prevent future problems, our staff is working diligently with law enforcement, political action groups, community organizations and government agencies to improve and maximize the services we currently offer. Most of the contracts we received were only based on performance and the results show that we have exceeded the required contract allowed numbers. Therefore, if are able to receive more support this organization will able to expanded its services and its capacity.

Following is a list of crucial services we have determined must be provided in order to overcome the daily challenges this community faces so the community can become viable productive members of the mainstream Americans:

• Expanded educational opportunities for adults and children
• In-house legal services
• Immigration and citizenship
• Housing availability and affordability
• Transportation
• Day care
• Senior citizen services

We believe that it is in the united power of SCAO’s committed staff, volunteers and funding partners to fulfill this organization’s mission of self sufficiency, economic empowerment and productive citizenship for every member of our community.