Ethnocultural Initiatives: Presentations

Family Unification and Resettlement Initiative

Mission Statement

The mission of Family Unification and Resettlement Initiative (FURI) is to assist eligible Caribbean nationals who are being or have been deported to their homeland through providing effective services and means to facilitate their social reintegration and their contact with their families from whom they have been separated.

Understanding the Issues

FURI is a 501-C-3 not-for-profit organization established in May of 2002 to provide assistance to Caribbean nationals being deported.

FURI was established in response to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) legislated by the Untied States Congress in 1996.

Most of the deportees affected by this immigration act are not violent offenders. Many are deported after being convicted and sentenced for non-violent drug offenses. Some are deported because of immigration violations, not criminal activity.

The “hands off” attitude of the deporting countries (e.g. USA) and the home countries towards deportee resettlement has resulted in many deportees living on the streets in their home countries and forced into recidivism or new illegal activity as a means of survival.

FURI – Jamaica

In 2001, the Salvation Army of Jamaica saw a number of deportees coming to its door, and so, under the leadership of Captain Rueben Phillips, put in place a program to provide assistance.

The program included accommodation (5 beds), meals, job-training, as well as counseling. The program was limited in scope due to a lack of resources.

FURI - Jamaica

In 2002, FURI began to collaborate with the Salvation Army of Jamaica by assisting in their efforts through monthly contributions. FURI also provided information brochures whereby Returnees could get information on where and how to obtain services.

In 2006, Capitan Phillips, the former director of the Salvation Army of Jamaica program, became the executive director of FURI–Jamaica.

FURI–Jamaica was formally launched, December 4, 2006 in Kingston, Jamaica.

In 2007, FURI–Jamaica began negotiations with the Government of Jamaica to launch the nation’s first formalized deportee reintegration program.

The FURI Returnee Resettlement Program

FURI, with help of the Jamaican consul general office in New York, distributes brochures to detainees waiting for deportation. FURI representatives go into prisons to speak on reintegration issues at organized events. Detainees are encouraged to make decisions about family contacts and resettlement needs prior to deportation.

The FURI program provides assistance in locating or providing support e.g. shelter or room and board, clothing, counseling and shared experience meeting, and job retraining in exchange for a commitment to drug-free and non-criminal activity living.

Prior to leaving the program each “returnee” will learn skills to establish him or her as a productive citizen. FURI works in close collaboration with Jamaica’s HEART Trust, which provides vocational / skills training.

FURI’s collaboration with HEART helps in allowing new vocational training options to returnees including women.

FURI-Jamaica Office & Drop in Center

FURI-Jamaica’s office and drop in center helps to convey an assurance of services to returnees

The goal is to have an intake facility that can cater to the needs for interim accommodations and expanded support services.

Currently returnees can receive meals, individual counseling, and group meetings at the drop in facility. They receive care packages, food supplies, and where possible start up funds for small entrepreneur initiatives.

The FURI Phase II - Farming Village

FURI, in collaboration with agricultural agencies of the Jamaican government has established a farming village composed of 100 acres. The farm will provide returnees working on the farm with a residential base.

The agricultural community will also have a processing unit and packaging facility.

FURI is looking into feasibility of using green technology on the farming village.

Clinical research supports the value of farming as a therapeutic activity to reengage disenfranchised people into community participation.

As a cooperative farming village, each member of the community will be able to share in the farm’s profits.

FURI’s share of the faming village profits will go towards on-going operations.

Caribbean African Unity

Inmates that will be deported are looking at ways in which they can be successfully reintegrated in their home countries.

Caribbean African Unity (CAU) a prison-based not-for-profit organization that was founded in 1986, has taken an interest in the deportation issue as it relates to deportations for Caribbean nationals from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The group has fostered an advocacy movement and endorsed FURI inside the prison system and made monetary contributions.

The CAU has brought attention to the potential dire effects of deportation on the Caribbean as a whole.

Many CAU members who have reached out to FURI, have indicated a desire for productive living and nation building and are hopeful that they will be provided with the tools and opportunity to be contributing members of society.

Through CAU, FURI understood that Caribbean nationals from countries throughout the region wanted a FURI-style program to which they can go in their own countries.

The FURI Phase III – Service Expansion

FURI looks forward to the expansion of its successful programs to other Caribbean nations.

Many nations throughout the Caribbean lack the fundamental resources to effectively manage the influx of deportees returning to native countries.

FURI’s programs effectively place the deportee in a position where he or she can make fundamental changes and become a functional part of the social matrix of any nation.

FURI Contact Information

FURI – New York

144 West 127th St.
New York, New York, 10027
Phone: 646-698-2172/4
Facsimile: 646-698-2184
E-mail: familyunif@hotmail.com