As a case manager intern at RefugeeOne, a refugee resettlement agency in Chicago, Elisabeth Skiles spent her summer helping refugees, asylees, parolees and secondary migrants resettle in the city. She worked with a diverse and global population of people from Burma, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Syria and other countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Elisabeth helped many people move toward self-sufficiency by assisting them in applying for Social Security, applying and collecting their benefits (food, medical and cash) from the Department of Health Services, making and bringing them to their medical appointments and helping them learn how to navigate the public transit system on their own as well as with administrative tasks to keep the agency running.
After a summer of recording case notes, she wrote a brief assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the resettlement and placement process used to resettle refugees in the city of Chicago. This policy brief was directed to the Governor of Illinois and the Mayor of Chicago. The opportunity to witness many profound moments of resiliency, especially among children confirmed for Elisabeth that a career in resettlement is the direction she would like to pursue with her MPH degree.