The United States faces growing health care workforce shortages, which are only expected to increase in the coming decade with projections estimating a national shortfall of over 900,000 nurses and up to 124,000 physicians by the year 2030. To address this issue, analysts and policymakers have begun looking to immigrants and refugees with health […]
Internationally trained professionals (ITPs) – a population that has long been served by adult education programs – bring many assets that range from credentials earned in other countries to fluency and literacy in multiple languages, professional work experience, and experience with building social capital. How can adult education programs best support and leverage these unique […]
Mariam, originally from the Republic of Guinea in West Africa, had a dream of working as a fashion designer. After moving to Atlanta with her husband in 2016, she graduated from MyCity ATL, a program that empowers immigrants and refugees through engagement sessions with city agencies. In 2019, Mariam met Valerie Mills, the senior manager […]
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 […]
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 […]
When WES Global Talent Bridge program manager, Mikaela Santos, visited Chemeketa Community College in November 2022, she sat down with several internationally trained immigrants and refugees who had just completed a career assistance program, Empowering Professional Immigrant Careers (EPIC), at the college’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) department. EPIC previously received technical assistance through the […]
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 year 2022 brings a renewed call for policy reforms that ensure an inclusive workforce and equal opportunity for all so that immigrants, refugees, and international students no longer face barriers to advancing in their careers in the United States. Immigrants and refugees make up 17 percent of the U.S. labor force, and nearly half […]
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 Puget Sound region, located along the northwestern coast of the state of Washington, spans miles of coastline, agricultural lands, and bustling cities, offering a vast array of landscapes and attractions. Its population, too, is diverse—one in seven Washington residents is an immigrant,¹ and the region’s cities boast a broad spectrum of languages and cultures. […]
The Career Development Program (CDP) of the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights’ (BCRHHR) is designed to assist clients who face the challenge of having to build a new life and career in the U.S. while also trying to heal from the immense psychological and emotional trauma of being survivors of torture. This […]
Metalsmith Oleksii Porokh and his wife Anna Nefodova Riverside Language Program, the only free, full-time English language intensive course in New York City, is currently celebrating its 40th year of operation under the new leadership of Berta Colón. Riverside’s free six-week English courses are offered in a variety of levels, held six hours a […]
