State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015

EDUCATION LEVEL22%Finished high school intheir home country13%13%8%4%Completed secondaryeducation in their homecountryReceived a BA/BS degreein their home countryReceived their postgraduatedegree from theirhome countryReceived their master’sdegree from their homecountryBETTER SURVEY & DATACOLLECTIONThis survey had certain limitationsdue to a lack of sufficient resourcesand time. First, it was availableonly in English with the intentionof working with communitytranslators—which proved morechallenging than anticipated dueto lack of funding and communitytranslators. Consequently,the results are biased towardimmigrants able to read and write inEnglish.Future surveys/data collectionshould be translated into one ormore languages spoken by Africanimmigrants. Additionally, translatorsand/or community members shouldbe recruited to support collectionof data from non-English-speakersas well as those with limited readingabilities.COMMUNITY & HEALTH36%33%13%The majority of participantshad a strong religious communityaround them+Go to direct services organizationsfor healthcare or servicesGo to their respective communityleaders for healthcare or servicesSeek advice about healthcarefrom other immigrantsDue to limited access tocomputers and other technology,it is critical that adequatefunding be allocated for survey/data collection. The survey wasstatewide, but due to our limitedabilities to travel, a majorityof responses came from thePortland metro region. In orderto capture a statewide snapshotof African immigrant and refugeecommunities, resources should beallocated in additional geographicareas.77