By Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register
Des Moines, IA-An Iowa nonprofit coalition headquartered in Des Moines that empowers refugees, immigrants and organizations they lead to improve health care, economic opportunities and education has launched a magazine to empower its own voice and the voices of the people it serves.
Henny Ohr, the executive director of Refugee and Immigrant Voices in Action, or RIVA, said it’s especially important that the nonprofit do that in the present moment. Part of the reason is name recognition, which Ohr said RIVA still does not have enough of after officially changing its name in 2023 from Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center, or EMBARC.
The organization’s work has expanded since 2012, when it started helping Burmese refugees as EMBARC. The expansion since is reflected in the ethnic heritage of staff sitting around a table with Ohr at RIVA’s office, and in the stories of community leaders and other staff of RIVA and partner organizations across the state featured in the first print edition of its magazine: Afghan, Beninese, Bhutanese, Burmese, Haitian, Latinx, Liberian, Mexican, Micronesian, Saudi, Sudanese, Zambian, and Zimbabwean.
But Ohr said the annual print edition of the magazine and its ongoing digitally published stories also will be useful in cutting through some of the rhetoric being used against immigrants and refugees, to instead highlight shared humanity and opportunities for collaboration.
“Those we serve are also potential leaders. You get help now so you can help others later. There’s this misconception that (immigrants and refugees are) maybe just here to take. We’re here to give,” Ohr said.
RIVA launched the magazine in December.
The immigrant and refugee communities RIVA serves want to show to state agencies, federal representatives, nonprofit leaders, schools, the public at large and themselves that they are resources, full of ideas and talent but not necessarily with opportunities to share them, Ohr said.
“We’re your neighbors. We care about Iowa. We care about our families. We want the same things,” she added.
Success of the magazine will be measured in the numbers of people who start to support RIVA, want to volunteer or otherwise develop a relationship with the organization, Ohr said.
“If more people are willing to listen and have conversations with you, that means you’ve developed some trust,” she said.
She also wants the magazine to be a showcase for the work of members and staff, to potentially open more doors to further opportunities for them.
The cover of the first print edition has already provided special recognition for the family of one staff member, office coordinator Mya Thway-Saddler. Her father’s artwork is on the cover “and I’m really proud of it,” Thway-Saddler said.
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