County to get money for Hmong resettlement News-Chronicle Brown County will get some financial aid to help with the resettlement of about 277 Hmong refugees in the upcoming months. The undisclosed amount of money will come from a multimillion dollar outflow from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced Wednesday by Secretary Tommy Thompson. The United States is resettling 15,000 Hmong - an ethnic group from the highlands of Laos that has settled largely in Wisconsin, Minnesota and California. "The Department of Health and Human Services will be active in helping Wisconsin and other states resettle the refugees as smoothly as possible," Thompson said. Brown County Executive Carol Kelso said she was pleased with the announcement. "We have been in contact with Secretary Thompson's office regarding the costs to Brown County for the resettlement of the refugees and are pleased that the federal government understands the need to provide financial assistance to the local government to relieve some of the strain on our already tight budgets." State refugee coordinators had suggested as much as $10 million might be needed for the resettlement. The HHS announcement said $2 million in targeted assistance would go to Wisconsin, Minnesota and California, with an additional $3.3 million for competitive grants for community-based organizations. About 4,000 Hmong are expected to arrive in the United States by Sept. 30, and the remaining refugees approved for resettlement will arrive by the end of the calendar year. In December 2003, the U.S. government announced plans to resettle up to 15,000 Hmong refugees from Laos living in Thailand. Many of these Hmong fought with the Central Intelligence Agency in Laos during the Vietnam War, providing critical assistance to U.S. forces. After the fall of Saigon, thousands of Hmong fled Laos and its communist Pathet Lao government. The HHS money will: - Reimburse states for 100 percent of refugee cash assistance and medical assistance costs for single and childless couples during the first eight months after their U.S. arrival. - Provide $4.2 million in school impact grants to offset the costs of education expansion in those three states. - Award $12.8 million in social services formula grants for the three states. - Provide $690,000 in funds for preventive health and medical screening. - Provide targeted assistance continuation discretionary funding of about $2 million in the three states.