Burmese Community Center for Education Inc.

“Bcce's executive director will review the 990 and request review by the organization's legal counsel if appropriate.”

“The organization has a conflict of interest disclosure form written and directors and offices are required to sign the conflict of interest disclosure form at the comencement of the officer's or director's service. The conflict of interest form is updated when necessary.”

“Compensation was determined through review of state level reports comparing salaries for similar roles in other non-profit organizations across indiana. The proposed salaries were approved by the bcce board of directors.”

“No documents available to the public”

“Our primary mission is to strengthen and empower the newly resettled refugee/immigrant communities from burma. It is through formal and informal education programs that our community will move forward their own self- realization, confidence and sufficiency. Community members will become informed, independent, and positive contribution members of the broader society in indianapolis areas and beyond.”

“High school students to volunteer and build leadership capacity. Through formal training and guidance from bcce staff and adult volunteers, the older students are able to put what they learn into practice. Moreover, bcce intends to instill in the new generation an ethic of giving back to the community. These students are able to do so by assisting and mentoring the younger ones. In spring 2014, the walk-in tutoring program was expanded to reach students on the west side of indianapolis. This expansion to west indianapolis - where a growing community of burmese families (mainly karen) reside - was in response to parents' growing and specific requests. In partnership with indianapolis public schools' english as a second language program, bcce's expanded walk-in tutoring program is hosted at carl wilde elementary school. In addition to approximately 70 students served by the walk-in tutoring program hosted at the first baptist church, there were 80 students participating in the walk-in program (west side) from april to december of 2016. 25 volunteer-students contributed to the educational advancement of younger students in the programs hosted at the first baptist church and carl wilde elementary school. Bcce believes that for education to serve both individual and community empowerment, it is essential that all involved engage in deep and critical reflection on their own practices as well as bcce's practices. Consequently, bcce has developed a series of leadership trainings for student volunteer early learning through empowerment: over the last year, bcce has conceptualized, pursued supports for, and begun to implement an early learning through empowerment (elte) program. The bcce conceived this program with three primary objectives in mind. First, childcare is a growing need in the community. Therefore, affordable and culturally and linguistically appropriate early care and learning services are sorely needed. Second, and relatedly, most families in our community rely on a single income to support households averaging 6 individuals. A full time worker in the meatpacking industry (where many of our community members work) earns only 17,000, which is 46% below the 31,590 federal poverty line for a household of six. To ensure that the program honors the heritage languages and cultures of the community as well as empowers adult community members, bcce inquired into the interests of stay-at-home mothers in the community in developing such a program which would draw on mothers' knowledge and skills as community assets. As a result of strong support for the program proposal, a number of mothers volunteered and were selected to participate in ongoing training in preparation for the implementation of the program (more on this in the workforce development section of the report). Women in the community who would otherwise be able to work outside the home would be able to entrust their children to individuals whom they trust and with whom they are able to fully communicate. Ultimately, we hope the mothers selected to co-teach in the elte program will attain home-based childcare licenses. A third objective of the program is to ease the transition of young children from the community into indiana schools. The mother co-teachers along with a lead teacher who is trained in montessori methods and has agreed to train the mother co-teachers, are preparing to offer a transitional program for 3 and 4 year olds focused on social and academic development. This project will build community capacity in terms of skills and economic resources and help to facilitate the transition into schools for young students. Further, it helps to maintain the heritage languages (karen & karenni) and cultures of young children in the community as a way to maintain the existing strong community fabric. Artreach partnership. Artreach is an art project of the bcce in partnership with the indianapolis art center. The project was designed to nurture the artistic ability of s”

“Families, bcce staff and volunteers, as well as the students bcce serves. Bcce contributes seeds, organic fertilizer, coordination, management, and the labor of students as service to the community. The families will tend to randomly assigned plots totaling about an acre of land across two sites. Indoor seed germination began this last quarter in the care of 10 families. The project operates on two sites and is made possible through strong partnerships. The primary site is located on the first baptist church of indianapolis grounds where the land, tilling, and water are made available through the church. The second site is maintained in partnership with the refugee resource and research institute (rrri). Through rrri's relationship with lafayette square mall landowners, approximately 1/3 acre is made available to burmese families. Rrri also contributes seeds and makes hand tools available to the families. The families contribute labor, seeds, tilling, and maintenance while bcce coordinates and manages the project and assumes costs of watering. Tilling began in the last quarter. Family walk-in program. In addition to specific programming efforts, bcce continues to see the need for "just-in-time" supports. As a result of the federal grant monies received in the last two quarters, bcce has been able to expand its office hours along with hours for "family walk-in" from monday through saturday. The family walk-in program is aimed at supporting immediate needs and concerns of families. Thus, there are a range of issues addressed from sorting through junk mail, to schooling issues, to housing concerns, to medical and health concerns, to more complex family matters that require ongoing support. Workforce development program domain: within the workforce development domain, bcce is currently focused on supporting community access to employment through a "just-in-time" approach. Similar to the family and social health domain, bcce's extended hours for the family walk-in program provide opportunity for individuals and families to work with bcce staff to resolve work-related issues. Employment related services provided based on individual and case by case needs includes: job applications, resume creations, transportation and interpretations for job orientation, understanding employment benefits and enrollments, etc. Partnership with potential employers willing to hire refugees were also fostered. Housing program domain: the program aims to increase community access to safe and stable housing through development and delivery of a home buying and home ownership workshop; provide continued just-in-time supports as families navigate what is a novel and complex process filled with legal and procedural aspects new to the community; seek out and pursue partnerships with property managers to enhance the safety and health of families; engage community members in a public forum focused on neighborhood safety. Work within the housing domain is largely addressed through a just-in-time approach through the bcce family walk-in program. However, as noted earlier, development of intervention strategies and workshops are informed by these conversations and interactions with community members. Through our ongoing engagement with families in this area of work, we see four primary types of issues emerging in the realm of housing: (1) occupancy standards; (2) unexplained fees and charges associated with rental housing; (3) maintenance and safety issues; and (4) financial literacy. We summarize these below along with a brief description of the bcce's efforts to partner with the fair housing center of central indiana to better understand these issues. In response to the concerns raised by community members, the bcce initiated discussions with the fair housing center of central indiana (fhcci) in february 2015. The fair housing center clarified rights and responsibilities of tenants and apartment management and also reviewed local occupancy standards. In the meet”

“Payroll processing fees 326 82 0 payroll processing fees 489 122 0 community consultant 13,130 0 0 community consultant 19,695 0 0 farm consultant 20,933 0 0 total 54,573 204 0”