In 2015, Nabaa Alobaidi resettled in Portland, Maine, having fled her home in Iraq as a refugee. With a master’s degree and experience practicing interior design and teaching at the university level, she hoped to continue her craft and her love of teaching. At a time when schools across the country are facing chronic teacher […]
Across the United States, workforce shortages are deepening. Essential sectors like health care and education have been particularly hard-hit, with critical staffing gaps affecting hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and other key institutions across the country. At the same time, more than two million immigrants and refugees who have at least a bachelor’s degree are unemployed […]
Synergy Texas is a network of adult education and literacy (AEL) providers working to address academic and employment barriers for internationally trained professionals in Texas. Brought together in 2019 through WES Global Talent Bridge’s Skilled Immigrant Integration Program (SIIP), Synergy Texas’ network includes community college educators and administrators, adult education providers, and other immigrant and […]
In late October, a diverse group of organizations working on behalf of internationally trained immigrants and refugees gathered in Washington, D.C. at the fifth annual Skilled Immigrant Integration Program (SIIP) convening. The convening was attended by nearly 100 participants representing 33 out of 40 total SIIP communities—including SIIP alumni and members of the current 2022-2023 […]
Grecia Perez-Rodriguez understands firsthand the challenges faced by more than two million college-educated immigrants and refugees who are unemployed or underemployed in the United States, sixty percent of whom hold credentials earned in another country. Perez-Rodriguez’s law degree—earned at a top Mexican university—and experience practicing immigration law in Guadalajara were not recognized by occupational licensing […]
The United States currently faces deepening labor shortages in critical sectors including health care and education. At the same time, internationally trained immigrants and refugees have education, credentials, and experience that could help meet immediate workforce needs and bolster the nation’s long-term economic vitality. An estimated two million college-educated immigrants and refugees are unemployed or […]
Efforts to create a vibrant, responsive Adult Basic Education (ABE) system can advance racial equity and economic mobility both inside and outside the classroom: Over the past two decades, 78 percent of adult education students self-identified as people of color, according to the National Association of State Directors of Adult Education. In 2019, 23 percent […]
The Global Talent Leadership Network (GTLN) of WES Global Talent Bridge is teaming up with JVS Toronto to connect internationally trained immigrants and refugees with mentors who share the same occupation. In communities across the United States, the GTLN Group Mentoring Program will build on a proven model that leverages the networking power of immigrant- […]
The 12.3 million immigrant and refugee women in the United States workforce represent 15 percent of all women employed in food and agriculture, health care and public health, education, and manufacturing. Yet even with increasing demand for workers in these critical sectors, systemic barriers have continued to limit equitable workforce opportunity. Of all workers, immigrant […]
