Workforce Services for New Americans
We offer comprehensive programs designed to help New Americans secure and retain employment. Our services include:
Career Assessment and Case Management:
We work with participants to assess their unique skills, talents, and challenges. Based on this assessment, we help create personalized career plans that set short- and long-term employment goals.
Skills Development and Job Search Support
Participants receive training on resume building, job applications, interview preparation, and other essential soft skills to successfully navigate the job market.
Job Placement and Retention
We provide ongoing support until participants secure employment and offer coaching to help them retain their jobs, addressing common workplace challenges such as conflict resolution and multicultural teamwork.
Youth Empowerment
Our STEM Youth Program engages young people, ages 14-24, in hands-on experiences that foster interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Services include:
STEM Workshops and Mentorship
Participants gain practical skills in STEM fields through interactive workshops and receive guidance from professionals.
Internships and Career Exploration
We connect youth with internships and other work experience opportunities to help them explore potential STEM careers.
Academic Support and Tutoring
The program provides tutoring in STEM subjects and after-school support, helping youth excel academically and prepare for future opportunities.
Arts & Culture Program
Our Arts & Culture Program celebrates the cultural heritage of New Americans, providing a platform for youth to explore their identity and build a sense of belonging. It includes a variety of activities such as cultural workshops and showcases, all designed to foster pride in their heritage.
Cultural Workshops
Participants engage in creative activities highlighting their family’s traditions, art, and music, fostering pride in their heritage.
Showcases and Exhibitions
Youth can express their cultural identity through artistic showcases, performances, and community exhibitions that share their stories with the broader public.
Essential Services
Housing Support
At AADA, we believe safe and secure housing is a top priority for individuals and families to lead fulfilling lives. Navigating housing options can be confusing, especially for immigrants and refugees when they first relocate to their new community. AADA helps new Americans understand their options, identify housing that best meets their needs, and secure and maintain permanent housing.
ELL Classes
AADA offers ELL classes at times that are convenient to new Americans–including evenings and weekends. Our classes are one pillar of our overarching objective to help new Americans secure and retain living wage jobs that align with their long-term career aspirations. ELL instruction and conversational learning addresses common language barriers and builds basic vocabulary skills of class participants. We practice mock interviewing to help participants harness their language skills and build confidence to compete in the job market.
Often, new Americans have some mastery of English, but industry specific vernacular or different accents and dialects can leave them feeling lost and unconfident about their ability to communicate verbally. We structure our classes to expose participants to different accents and dialects within the English language. We also infuse our classes with new vocabulary from different industries so participants are exposed to previously unfamiliar words and become conversant with their pronunciation and application in speech.
Transportation
Accessible transportation is another major participation barrier for many New Americans, especially during winter months. AADA recently purchased a van to help New Americans participate in our weekend classes, job training opportunities, and afterschool programs.
COVID-19 Response
Our work can be broadly described as community education and individual resource navigation. At the community level, we listen to New Americans, identify common questions and knowledge gaps, and disseminate information using online platforms. To illustrate, we use Facebook to share updates about how to observe Ramadan while slowing the spread of COVID-19. We also created linguistically appropriate videos to deepen understanding about COVID-19 prevention and response.
As the individual level, our team gives New Americans culturally attuned, linguistically appropriate support to help them navigate resources to meet their needs. We help with unemployment benefits and assist New Americans to learn about other resources, such as food banks in their neighborhood, access health care, housing rights, utility assistance, and other emerging needs.
Community Organizing
We empower individuals and communities to understand their worth and advocate for their rights. Our community organizing efforts focus on:
Leadership Development
We provide training that encourages community members to become advocates for themselves and their communities.
Advocacy and Rights
Through workshops and events, we educate New Americans about their rights, helping them build confidence in navigating systems and policies.
Drug Awareness Initiative
Our Drug Awareness Program, with a focus on opioids, helps New American families understand the dangers of opioid use and addiction. We provide:
- Education and Prevention Workshops to raise awareness and prevent misuse.
- Support Services connecting families affected by addiction to treatment resources and recovery programs.
- Youth Engagement focused on preventing opioid misuse among younger populations through tailored programming and outreach.
Eshara Partners
The Eshara Project began as a workforce development initiative to help New Americans achieve their full potential and secure living-wage employment. AADA helped unite culturally specific partners to launch innovative job readiness services adapted to the needs of New Americans in the Fargo-Moorhead community. Our 4 founding partners include the Somali Community Development of North Dakota (SCDND), Sudanese Community of Fargo-Moorhead (SCFM), South Sudan Foundation, and AADA. We continue to work collaboratively to improve financial health and wellbeing for New American families.
Eshara has also created a platform for partners to collaboratively address other emerging needs. When COVID-19 struck our communities, Eshara partners quickly came together to respond. We developed strategies to deliver COVID-19 prevention and response services using Eshara partners as a hub for service delivery to the broader community.
Eshara Partners
- Afro American Development Association (AADA) | ESHARA Workforce Development Partnership
- CAPLP (Lakes & Prairies Community Action Partnership, Inc.) | Workforce Development Partnership
- SENDCAA (SouthEastern North Dakota Community Action Agency) | Workforce Development Partnership
- South Sudanese Foundation
- Sudanese Community of Fargo Moorhead
- Kurdish American Development Organization
- New American integration Center
- New Hope for Immigrants
- African Immigrant and Minority Services