Sociological perspectives

A Qualitative Comparison of the Effectiveness of Private and Public Refugee Resettlement Programs: The San Diego Case Author(s): Paul Sargent, Charles F. Hohm, Robert Moser Source: Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Autumn, 1999), pp. 403-420 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1389695 Accessed: 23/06/2010 15:23
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Association Copyright? 1999PacificSociological

Perspectives Sociological

Vol.42, No. 3, pp. 403-420 ISSN0731-1214

A QUALITATIVE COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAMS: THE SAN DIEGO CASE
PAUL SARGENT* San Diego State University CHARLES F HOHM San Diego State University ROBERT MOSER San Diego CatholicCharities

ABSTRACT: Thisarticle the evaluation, reports results a qualitative of Catholic Chariinterviews, San DiegoCounty's through ethnographic of ties'Wilson/Fish Demonstration (WF).Thenarratives refugees Project of whohadbeenresettled theWFwerecompared thoseresettled San to by by SerDiegoCounty's Department SocialServices' of Refugee Employment vices System(RESS).In general,WFrefugeesreported gainingemploymentsooner receiving paymentsfor shorter and cash a WF period. refugees also reported in WF fewerproblems gainingaccessto agencypersonnel. indicated networks into refugees greater integration existingcommunity of the agency's RESSrefugees educaprocedures. reported higherattained tionallevelsanda greater orientation. "future"

In this article we present some important themes thatarose from interviews with a group of refugees. The interviews were conducted as the qualitative portion of a larger research effort undertaken to compare an alternative refugee resettlement program with a standard program. The alternative program, in this instance, is a private concern: San Diego County's Catholic Charities' Wilson/Fish Demonstration Project (WF). The standard program is SanDiego County's Department of Social Services' Refugee Employment Services System (RESS). In general, the comparison was to be in terms of refugees' success in finding employment and in becoming free from the need of receiving cash assistance. The overall evaluation has both a quantitative and a qualitative component, with the bulk of the assess92182; e-mail:sargent@mail.sdsu.edu.

*Directallcorrespondence Paul Sargent,Departmentof Sociology,San Diego StateUniversity,San Diego, CA to:

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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume42, Number3,1999

ment, for policy purposes, coming from the quantitative data. The purposes of this article are to (1) present the major themes that arose from the ethnographic interviews with seventeen refugees; (2) compare the emerging themes with the results...