June's forum began with DEED Legislative Liaison Deven Bowdry providing a high-level summary of historic legislative outcomes – including funding for workforce development and small business support programs, plus the formation of a permanent Office of New Americans.

The Office of New Americans, which will be housed at DEED, will foster immigrant and refugee inclusion by improving economic mobility, enhancing civic participation, and supporting receiving communities' openness to immigrants and refugees. This work includes efforts to break down barriers to employment and entrepreneurship for new Americans across the state. I will provide additional details on the work of the Office of New Americans on upcoming forums.

You can read a very high level overview of DEED's 2023 legislative outcomes in this blog post from DEED Temporary Commissioner Kevin McKinnon.

Caring Career Opportunities for New Americans

Next up, a panel of Minnesota home-, community- and facility-based care employers provided an insightful overview of employment opportunities in their industries for immigrants, refugees and evacuees.

DEED is teaming up with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, other state agencies and offices and workforce development professionals around the state to help raise awareness about the many employment opportunities in home-, community- and facility based care. The Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career campaign features resources in Amharic, Dari, English, Karen, Oromo, Pashto, Somali, Spanish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese and outreach in multiple languages.

Guest panelists shared how they welcome New Americans at their workplaces. From offering different positions that require low, medium and higher English language skills to engage people where they are at, to culture and language classes led by a New American within their organization, panelists and their workplaces intentionally foster a welcoming environment where all people feel valued and understood.

"There is a little bit of English comprehension that is needed. And of course the caregivers have to be understood by their clients. We are not really asking them to be very fluent in English," said Nazneen Khatoon, Administrator, Best Care Home Health. Nazneen also explained how positions in home health have varying levels of English language and health care skill requirements, from entry-level positions like homemaker, to more advanced work providing Personal Care Assistant services.

"[I want to] really help people understand that the lived experience people come in with is just as valuable [as what a person learns in school], and that it makes all of us better in the support that we provide our residents because we're not all alike," said Kari Scanlon, Vice President, Human Resources, Touchstone Mental Health, where they've broadened their recruiting approach to New Americans and others in recent years, and worked to foster a welcoming work environment where everyone feels valued. 

"We're not all coming from the same background, and it's the mix of the background and lived experiences that really have helped us grow as an agency and grow in the services and support we provide our residents."

"I think that it's a great opportunity to share their caring heart and their willingness to help people," said Patti LaRue, Human Resources Director, Minnesota Masonic Home, where they have employees who have moved to Minnesota from countries all around world. She encourages New Americans to seek Caring Career employment – and to not be discouraged by all there is to learn, because their caring heart is the most important thing.

"It takes time to learn the culture and to learn the complex health care system in the U.S. and the terminology. You're learning English, and now you're on a whole, other set of terms. And so, it takes time. Ask lots of questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions."

"I just want to remind people of all of the skills and talents that you have even before coming to us. Yes, maybe you are learning English, and we will work on that together," said Julie Garner-Pringle, Nursing Assistant Training Program Manager, Medical Careers Pathway, International Institute of Minnesota. The international institute has English language classes along with Nursing Assistant training and other classes of interest to New Americans pursuing a Caring Career. 

Pringle wanted to stress that the most important qualification for this work is having a caring heart and that there are people who can support immigrants, refugees and evacuees in building the skills they need to work in the field.

If you have questions or comments about the Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career campaign, contact Rita.Beatty@state.mn.us.

Department of Public Safety

Staff from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) division shared information about their multilingual virtual assistant, which utilizes Google artificial intelligence, and will make interacting with DVS better for English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish speaking customers.

The virtual assistant provides answers to the most common questions DVS receives on any given day. Users can also update their insurance and obtain individualized records such as their driver's license status and status of their plates and title. The virtual assistant will direct customers to the appropriate DVS contact person or office if it cannot answer a question.

"DVS is committed to increasing language access for our customers who need our services," said Charles Jaeger, Business Relations Program Director at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, adding that the new virtual assistant with accessibility in four of the most-commonly-spoken languages in Minnesota is a key part of that commitment. 

"Currently it is supported in English, Hmong, Spanish, and Somali, and is available 24 hours a day seven days a week. We use that virtual assistant to facilitate self-service via the chat interface in all four of those languages, so it provides information and guidance and certain transactions directly in that chat."

DVS just launched the virtual assistant in March, and they've already had 50,000 chat conversations through the end of May.

HomeHelpMN is ending

HomeHelpMN is a federally funded, temporary emergency program to support homeowners experiencing hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program started in May 2022 and is close to having distributed all funds available. Some Minnesota homeowners' applications for assistance have been added to a waitlist. Anyone added to the waitlist will be notified via the online portal. To find out more, visit the HomeHelpMN website.

View a recording of this month's Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Forum.