Social Services

UCCW conducts youth seminars designed with the purpose of educating refugee and immigrant youth about the following: importance of high school graduation, importance of higher education and career and job possibilities after education. In addition, we also provide information about resources available to youth for successful high school graduation, college graduation and beyond. Some of the resources available for refugee youth are: financial aid, tutoring centers, college advisory departments and others. Ultimately, our goal is to encourage them to complete high school and get a higher education for a successful career in the U.S.

The overall goal of the program is to involve teenagers into positive after school activities and also to bridge an existing generational gap between youth and elderly. The program focuses on the improvement of youth’s academic performance, increase of positive perception, reduction in participation of high risk behaviors, knowledge about Ukrainian/Russian heritage, improvement of communication skills, and self-esteem establishment.

UCCW facilitates civic engagement within refugee and immigrant youth. Youth volunteering proofs its effect on productivity and behaviors. Being engaged in a civic activities increases confidence in youth and subsequently raises interest in education and community involvement. As a result, many of refugee and immigrant youth will make new social connections that would lead them to the new involvements in advocacy efforts for higher education. UCCW civic engagement program attracts youth by promoting volunteering as a pathway to other engagements, including work, social, and educational.

UCCW provides Early Learning which helps refugee and immigrant parents to gain knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary for their children’s success in school and beyond. Parents gain skills for engagement in activities with their children early in their lives. In the group setting along with their child(ren), parents learn to engage into age appropriate activities. Also, parents and children are given the time to socialize with others in the group and learn from them or teach others who are struggling.

UCCW provides parenting education and support through workshops and support groups. Their ultimate goal is to help refugee and immigrant parents learn about and implement positive parenting into their daily routine. Also, parents learn about the differences between punishment and discipline, negative outcomes of corporal punishment, and information on child development. During support groups, parents are able to share experiences and knowledge of raising children in the new country, culture, and norms. Socialization and networking are extremely beneficial to refugee and immigrant parents who speak limited English and were raised in the different country and culture of parenting standards and norms.

After relocation to the new country, in additional to cultural shock, refugees and immigrants are facing a number of barriers and challenges in accessing available to them services and benefits that would help them with successful transition into new to them society. UCCW provides assistance in accessing such benefits for refugee and immigrants to streamline the adjustment process. We educate and assist new arrivals with accessing food, health, housing and financial benefits available to them in the greater Puget Sound Region.

Domestic Violence assistance is offered to individuals or families whose safety and well-being is at risk and being threatened in their home. We provide screening, assessment, crisis intervention and safety plans to the victims. If certain services are suited better for other programs, we facilitate them with the clients’ needs (i.e., shelter, child care, physical health, etc.). At the UCCW, we have interviews with the client and/or their families in order to fully engage with them in the issue. The services we provide are counseling, court advocacy, and intervention programs. We also have a speaker that comes and talks about Domestic Violence in community group sessions.

Housing Stabilization Services strengthen and support individuals’ and families’ by helping them to access stable, affordable housing. We work with government and community agencies to provide support to families and individuals who have experienced a housing crisis to help them maintain housing, and make connections with services and supports to prevent the loss of housing in the future. Similar service strategies also utilized in permanent supportive housing.

UCCW provides fresh, hot and nutritious meals for seniors during lunchtime. Lunch hours are Monday through Friday, 11:00am-1:00pm. We welcome all seniors to come and enjoy these complementary daily prepared culturally appropriate nutrition meals. Our mission is to help our community by reducing the number of hungry elders, encouraging well-being and health, and giving the seniors in our community an excellent opportunity to socialize. Transportation is available to those who need it.

As study shows, seniors who routinely eat nutritious food and drink adequate amounts of fluids are less likely to have complications from chronic disease. In other words, healthy lifestyle helps older adults avoid health and functional declines traditionally associated with aging. Majority elderly refugee and immigrants have not been exposed to the nutrition education in their home countries which contributes toward their overall health being. Therefore, nutrition education has been incorporated into our Senior Congregate Meals program, where once a month, a registered dietitian provides seniors with nutrition education in their native language.

UCCW is partnering with Enhance Fitness Program to enhance its Senior Services. Promoting and practicing physical activity allows refugee and immigrant seniors to improve their well being. Walking with weights exercise increases bone density, low rate intensity exercise improves cardiovascular endurance, and balance training prevents falls, these are just some samples of the exercises that senior enjoy practicing while attending our Senior Congregate Meals program.

Emotional Support and Counseling for elderly is provided by a therapist who is bilingual and bicultural and understands the unique needs of refugee or immigrant older adults, including struggles to adjust to a new environment in the new country and to overcome traumas experienced in their own countries, as well as impact of age that causes physical and mental changes.

UCCW serves clients who need their legal, immigration, marriage, birth certificates, passports, and other personal certificates and documents translated. We take translation seriously, as the translation of official documents has to be accurate in order to be accepted by the government agencies, educational institutions and other organizations. We know that our clients rely on the quality translation for successful transition in the new to them society. Confidentiality of the translation documents guaranteed, as we have procedures in place to keep your documents private. We have expertise in accurate translating, certificating and notarizing documents in Ukrainian, Russian and English languages.

Native (Ukrainian, Russian) passports processing (Renewal or Replacement) is a complicated process. Even insignificant error may cause a rejection of the application by the consular office. For all North West Region all Ukrainian passports are processed by the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco and all Russian passports are processed by Consulate General of Russia in Seattle. Our experienced staff will assist you in preparing all necessary forms and required documents to meet Consular requirements. We closely collaborate with the Consulate office to ensure smooth process of your documents in the shortest turnaround time.

UCCW professionally prepare documents, notarize and apostille certified for use in Ukraine, Russia or other countries of the former Soviet Union. We have established close collaboration with the Consulate offices, which allows for the legalization of documents in the shortest possible time and without problems. We carry out registration of all types of powers of attorney, wills, guardianship and some other legal documents. We have expertise in certificating and notarizing documents in Ukrainian, Russian and English languages.