CCCIE is aware of the challenges faced by skilled immigrants in this country who try to obtain recognition of their international educational and employment experience in securing new careers in the U.S. About 1.6 million college-educated immigrants are either unemployed or working in low-wage, low-skill jobs. When skilled, internationally-educated immigrants end of working in low-paid survival jobs, we all lose–in terms of lost economic growth and productivity, squandered skill sets, foregone tax revenue and more. We are bringing together resources and building partnerships to help community college practitioners better serve internationally educated immigrants build career pathways and explore options for using and adapting credentials attained outside of the U.S:
- IMPRINT CCCIE is a member of IMPRINT, a growing national coalition of service providers that focuses on research, best practices and advocacy for immigrant professional integration. Other member organizations include: Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Upwardly Global, Welcome Back Initiative, Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, and World Education Services. Members work to help underemployed or unemployed skilled immigrant professionals overcome barriers and start their American careers. Check out IMPRINT’s and WES Global Talent Bridge’s report Steps to Success: Integrating Immigrant Professionals in the United States, which details the experiences of college-educated immigrants in six U.S. cities, and its interactive latest tool, Mapping Immigrant Professional Integration, that showcases over 50 programs and services around the country designed to help immigrant and refugee professionals achieve success in the United States.
- WES Global Talent Bridge Global Talent Bridge, an initiative of World Education Services, and CCCIE jointly sponsor free Pathways to Success on-campus workshops at community colleges to help skilled immigrant students (both enrolled and prospective students) use their academic credentials and connect with community organizations, academic programs, and training opportunities. These workshops increase awareness about the specific challenges and resources available for credentialing evaluation, professional licensing, networking, career re-entry, and alternative career paths. Capacity building is also a goal of CCCIE. To that end, whenever possible and if desired by the host college, workshops will be accompanied with or followed by Professional Development Forums that provide community college practitioners (from admissions, financial aid, student support services, and ESL) and their community partners with resources and best practices to assess and advise foreign-educated students more effectively. Administrators, faculty, and staff discuss issues and recommendations for new and continued efforts to meet the needs of these students. CCCIE and WES GTB have also developed Bridging the Gap for Foreign-Educated Immigrants, an interactive guide that community college and CBO practitioners can use to integrate foreign-educated students into college programs and careers (also available as a pdf).
- Welcome Back Initiative The mission of the Welcome Back Initiative is to build a bridge between the pool of internationally trained health workers living in the U.S. and the need for linguistically and culturally competent health services in underserved communities. WBI is a national network that currently includes ten Welcome Back Centers which offer free orientation, counseling, and support to foreign-trained health workers. Centers are located in nine states, including California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington. Five of the centers are hosted by community colleges, including CCCIE member colleges: Bunker Hill Community College, Highline College, and LaGuardia Community College.