Written by Olivia Fox, Program Intern at the WES Mariam Assefa Fund When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, racialized essential workers at the Cargill meatpacking plant in Alberta faced a disproportionately high risk of contracting the virus. The existing exploitative and dangerous work conditions in the meatpacking sector, such as crowded industrial spaces and […]
Over the past several decades, staffing shortfalls have imposed dramatic negative effects on Maryland’s health care system, including increased hospital readmission and higher mortality rates among patients. But new legislation in Maryland may offer some hope. States Face Critical Health Care Shortages Statistics confirm Maryland’s current health care shortages: In 2020, the state had only […]
Immigrants and refugees in the United States have high levels of post-secondary education, sought-after multilingual skills, and experience in high-demand STEM sectors, including health care—yet at least two million are unemployed or underemployed. A significant barrier to accessing employment opportunities is linked to the prevalence of networking in the U.S., and the fact that immigrants […]
Members of the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE) will convene on October 6-7, with the timely mission of mobilizing community colleges to activate a workforce that supports the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the nation’s full economic recovery. Rallying around NCWE’s core value of “workforce education for all,” conference session […]
The 2020 census revealed a trend that city leaders in Buffalo, New York, had not seen in seven decades: growth. As of last year, the city was home to 278,349 residents, a 6.5 percent increase since 2010. The growth, the first recorded in Buffalo since the 1950 census, is the result of a dedicated effort […]
This spring President Biden revised the annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500, reversing course on the record-low level of 15,000 set by the previous administration. The president’s decision ended months of uncertainty and reconfirmed the commitment of the United States “to protect the most vulnerable.” Following yesterday’s observance of World Refugee Day, the president can […]
