St. Louis, MO: Creating Career Pathways with SIIP
St. Louis has one of the country’s fastest-growing immigrant and refugee populations, yet the city misses out on $57 million in taxable earnings each year due to their systemic underemployment and unemployment. In 2018, the International Institute of St. Louis (IISTL) joined the Skilled Immigrant Integration Program (SIIP) to address the barriers driving this disparity.
IISTL has a century-long track record of serving local immigrant and refugee communities. In the early 2010s, staff began seeing increasing numbers of clients with education, training, and experience earned in other countries, raising questions on how to apply these credentials in the local workforce. In response, IISTL launched a series of workshops focused on valuable job searching skills like interviewing and resume writing to help clients reconnect with their careers.
Client demand for these services grew, as did interest from local employers, who were struggling with staffing shortages and interested in connecting with new talent pools. The 2018 State of the St. Louis Workforce Report noted that “a constricted labor market supply due to low unemployment, an aging workforce, and static labor force participation” could limit the city’s future economic growth. In response, IISTL connected with SIIP to pursue two goals: to help internationally trained immigrants and refugees reconnect with their careers, and to raise local awareness of the potential of this largely untapped pool of workers.
Building Buzz, Creating Connections
IISTL’s efforts were bolstered early in their 2018 SIIP cohort year when a report on immigrant and refugee unemployment and underemployment was released and garnered considerable media attention. Commissioned by IISTL, the study showed that St. Louis’ immigrant and refugee population had grown by 171% between 1990 and 2016, and almost 10,000 internationally trained individuals were underemployed at that time. These numbers highlighted the potential for efforts focused on workforce inclusion to boost the local economy.
With support from SIIP, the team at IISTL leveraged buzz around the report to launch a public education campaign. IISTL brought together national and local stakeholders – including SIIP partners like the National Skills Coalition and the Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education– for a series of discussions around data, models, multi-sector collaborations, and legislative approaches to facilitate immigrant workforce inclusion. The campaign culminated in an October 2018 event that attracted 100-plus stakeholders from adult education, workforce development, immigrant services, and private employers – a group that IISTL has continued to intentionally engage.
“The traction that immigrant issues have gained in St. Louis is directly connected to the convening we held as part of the SIIP project,” said a member of the IISTL staff. “We are working to make sure that immigrants are included in discussions of economic development and incorporated into future growth strategies for the region.”
In late 2018, IISTL was awarded a Refugee Career Pathways grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to assist recently arrived refugees with career planning. IISTL then launched a companion program, called Immigrant Career Pathways (ICP), to serve non-refugee immigrants who hold international credentials. In both programs, career development specialists work one-on-one with clients to develop individualized career plans and support client goals like improving English proficiency, obtaining credential evaluations, accessing training and certification, and re-joining their career fields.
Looking Ahead in St. Louis
While the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily slowed program recruitment, participation from local immigrants and refugees has since rebounded. IISTL staff have now made pandemic-era virtual services a permanent part of program offerings. “The lessons from the pandemic are not for naught. Remote service really opened the door to some clients. Now we understand that we don’t always need to be in person and that it’s not always in the client’s best interest,” said a St. Louis SIIP cohort participant.
IISTL is still actively involved in SIIP, participating in alumni calls, working groups, and webinars. IISTL leadership has also taken advantage of SIIP’s network to support professional development for staff. “We wouldn’t have been as focused and engaged in skilled immigrant integration work if we hadn’t been exposed to so many ideas through SIIP. To help our staff learn how best to serve skilled immigrants, we have them participate in the SIIP training calls,” said a cohort member. “Through SIIP, we can keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening nationally.”
In addition to continuing to grow their two career pathways programs, IISTL has plans to reach out and engage directly with local employers. Building these partnerships will foster economic mobility for internationally trained individuals and strengthen the St. Louis workforce overall. By framing immigrant and refugee workforce inclusion as an economic issue and raising awareness of best practices in other regions of the country, IISTL has placed itself at the vanguard of development efforts in the greater St. Louis metro area.
Building on its SIIP experience, IISTL is opening career and economic mobility for immigrants and refugees in St. Louis and beyond. Learn how your community can participate in a future SIIP cohort.
