NEW YORK, NY—(December 14, 2022) World Education Services (WES) applauds the reinstatement of the White House Task Force on New Americans. In a briefing yesterday the Biden administration provided details about its plan to reconvene the task force, which will be led by the Domestic Policy Council (DPC). The focus of the task force includes workforce training, language learning, financial access, education, and health. The task force will coordinate the federal government’s efforts to welcome immigrants and refugees and seek to further catalyze innovative policy and programmatic responses at the state and local level. Its recommendations will be released next year.
The White House Task Force on New Americans will provide a vital opportunity for states and localities to share best practices and develop initiatives that promote equity and inclusion. The federal task force’s mandate complements ongoing work at WES, which partners with the American Immigration Council to foster the development of a growing Office of New Americans (ONA) network comprising 17 states across the nation. The ONA network provides a forum for state policy leaders to drive positive change that supports immigrant and refugee inclusion, and it will work with the task force to identify gaps in services and advance promising models.
“In collaboration with a broad coalition of groups led by the National Partnership for New Americans and Welcoming America, WES joins our partners in commending the Biden administration for restarting the task force and for its commitment to a more equitable and inclusive workforce,” said WES CEO and Executive Director Esther Benjamin yesterday. “We look forward to opportunities to engage with the DPC in this effort.”
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