LANSING, Mich. – The Syrian conflict is a monumental humanitarian crises with decades of social and human development lost since it began in 2011.

A Michigan social worker is spearheading a plan to rebuild the country.

Social workers are the backbone of civil society, says Marijo Upshaw of Detroit, who is a member of National Association of Social Workers-Michigan.

So she and her Syrian-born husband had an idea to train Syrians in the field. She explains that Syrian social workers, as opposed to those from other countries, would have knowledge of what's happening on the ground.

"Half of the country is living in extreme poverty,” she points out. “Fifty percent of Syrian children are out of school. The health care institution and educational system are in absolute crisis. Half of the hospitals in Syria have been damaged if not completely destroyed."

Upshaw discovered the International Community Action Network (ICAN) program at McGill University in Montreal, which trains Middle Eastern activists in rights-based social work practices.

Together they launched a project to establish the profession of social work in Syria. The initial goal is to recruit and train 24 Syrian nationals.

Funds were privately raised to train the first fellow at McGill in the fall of 2014. Upshaw says it's an engineer-turned-activist who faced dire circumstances fleeing Syria.

"He had to walk four days by foot, in cars and caravans that carry animals,” she relates. “At one point he had to walk through ISIS country. He was detained by ISIS. He was released and he made it into Turkey and had to spend a week recuperating physically."

The program cannot currently get into Syria, but is working to establish training in nearby Jordan. The trained fellows eventually will build a social work academic program inside Syria post-conflict.

Upshaw says Syrians are willing to fight for their basic dignity and freedom, but need more support.

"One of the things that was so sad to see in this recent crisis is the Syrian people who've been the victims over the last four years have now been re-victimized by some of the policies in the United States – some of the anti-refugee and anti-Muslim sentiment," she states.

About 11 million Syrians have been forcibly displaced and nearly 250,000 killed in the conflict.




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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Hispanic Heritage Month began this week, and will be celebrated through Oct. 15.

Oregon has a rapidly growing Hispanic population, according to census data, increasing from 450,000 in 2010 to nearly 590,000 in 2020.

Dr. Carlos Romo, a volunteer for AARP Oregon with a Ph.D. in foreign languages and literatures, said the month is a time to reflect.

"I think we simply have to stop and pause to recognize the contributions, the needs that Hispanics have made, are making and are going to be making for our society, for our community in the United States," Romo explained.

Romo noted the Hispanic population is expected to double in Oregon over the next three decades. Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated starting on Sep. 15 because the date coincides with five countries gaining their independence from Spain: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico celebrates its independence today, Sep. 16.

Romo pointed out Spaniards visited Oregon's coast as early as the 16th century. Cowboys from Mexico came to the state in the 19th century, and in the 1940s, the bracero farmworker program brought a Latino workforce to the state.

Romo emphasized Oregon's Hispanic population works in all kinds of sectors today.

"The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis estimates that there's 3,250 Hispanic-owned firms in Oregon," Romo observed. "So there's a rich history, a rich contribution that Hispanics have made here in Oregon."

DENVER - The rate of people experiencing hunger in Colorado and across the U.S. remained statistically steady overall during 2020, according to initial data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But people of color and low-income workers experienced food insecurity at dramatically higher rates during the pandemic.

Geri Henchy, director of nutrition policy at the Food Research and Action Center, said 40% of single-parent households headed by women did not know where their next meal was coming from.

"A lot of single moms were working at jobs that you couldn't do at home," said Henchy. "They lost their jobs during COVID, and some of them can't find child care so they can go back to work. And so all of this results in these households really struggling to put enough food on the table."

Government aid packages boosting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and other programs passed with bipartisan support, are credited for keeping overall hunger rates steady as the economy shed some 20 million jobs.

Critics of proposals making their way through Congress to permanently expand supports for struggling families argue that additional spending is not needed, because overall rates remained at just over 10% of U.S. households.

Henchy said she isn't sure the initial data tells the whole story, in part because getting people to respond to surveyors going door to door during a global pandemic was no easy feat. Even if overall hunger rates did remain steady, Henchy said the need continues to be significant.

"There were already unacceptably high rates of food insecurity in the U.S, and those have continued," said Henchy. "So that's 38 million hungry people and hungry households."

Communities of color were also disproportionately impacted in 2020. Black households experienced hunger at three times the rate of white households.

"Basically 22% of black families, and 17% of Latinx households, were impacted by food insecurity," said Henchy. "And that's considerably higher than the rate of white households, which was only 7%."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As the nation marks the 20th anniversary of the Sep. 11 attacks, Muslim groups are reflecting on progress in the treatment of American Muslims.

According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the "War on Terror" in the aftermath of 9/11 created a culture that framed Muslims as suspects and taught them to fear the government.

Amina Barhumi, outreach director, Council on American-Islamic Relations-Ohio, said two decades later, many prejudices linger.

"Anti-Muslim discrimination still exists in policies," Barhumi explained. "Secret watch lists still exist. Muslims are oftentimes spoken of from the framework of national security, rather than being ordinary citizens, that just want to live their ordinary American lives."

Roughly 60% of American Muslims reported experiencing religious discrimination between 2016 and 2020. However, a recently released survey of American mosque leaders found fewer than one in five felt American society is hostile to Islam.

There are 1.5 million more Muslims in the U.S. now than in 2007, who account for 1.1% of the overall U.S. population.

Barhumi explained even young Muslims, who weren't alive on 9/11, often face bullying and anti-Muslim content in the classroom. She argued it is important these youths are supported in their religious and cultural identities.

"Young Muslims see themselves as both American and Muslim," Barhumi pointed out. "They no longer should bear the burden of carrying any sort of guilt or shame around 9/11, which is oftentimes how the conversation is being had."

The Family and Youth Institute created an online toolkit to help parents and educators navigate challenging conversations about 9/11 and Islamophobia with young people. It includes information on how to create a safe space for Muslim students, counter bias and better understand the identifies of Muslim youths.

Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.