Barriers and Strategies to Employment for Refugees Heartland - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Barriers and Strategies to Employment for Refugees Heartland Alliance Refugee Community Services

Overview of Presentation  Refugee Resettlement 101  Barriers that Heartland’s participants face when seeking employment and strategies for overcoming them  Examples of how we implement these strategies in the Hospitality and Food Service Programs at Heartland

Refugee Resettlement 101  What is a refugee?  Basic overview of resettlement process  Work authorized when they arrive as refugees

Barriers: Strength-based approach to overcoming barriers  Trauma  Language Barriers  Cultural Differences  Discrimination  Low-skill levels or skill set in seemingly unrelated fields  Low confidence levels

Strategies  Trauma: Mental Health support and providing community support within the office setting and Trauma-informed care  Language Barriers: ESL classes and Trainings (and community support within the office setting…more opportunity to practice English and feel less inhibited to speak the language)  Cultural differences: Classes and Trainings  Discrimination: Partner with companies that see their value  Low Skills Levels: More trainings AND more partnerships with companies that see the value of transferable skills  Low confidence levels: Group trainings and strength based teaching approach. And providing community support in our office

Example of barriers and strategies through Hospitality and Food Training  Trauma: maintaining a safe environment in the classroom where people can feel hopeful and not judged. Referring ppts to mental health services if needed  Language Barriers: create a fun and safe classroom where people will not feel judged by their English levels. Positive approach!  Cultural Differences: discussing cultural differences consistently and often! Used as a teaching moment vs. a judgmental moment  Discrimination: working with companies that value different languages, cultures and backgrounds  Low-skill levels or skill set in seemingly unrelated fields: working with partners who are able to see how our ppts ’ tranferable skills will benefit the team  Low confidence levels: creating a safe environment in the classroom. Showing students the gains they’ve made as the class progresses, and marking the end of the training with a celebratory event.

Program in Action!

Takeaway: how to effectively serve refugee job seekers  Collaborate with the participant’s resettlement agency  Refer participant to ESL and training programs  Focus on transferable skills  Understand the refugee’s strengths and qualities so that you can effectively highlight this to employers  Be trauma-informed  Understand the complex reality and barriers that refugees face

Contact information Jay Landau Director of Education and Program Development jlandau@heartlandalliance.org Soren Larsen-Ravenfeather Youth Case Manager sravenfeather@heartlandalliance.org Nancy Joyce Callahan Vocational Hospitality Training Coordinator ncallahan@heartlandalliance.org