DETROIT, MI – A new Detroit office to help skilled, legal immigrants enter the professional workforce is not about finding work for some sets of Detroiters over others, according to city officials.
“We know we have a lot of Detroiters who are unemployed,” said Andre Spivey, a District 4 City Councilman who will co-chair a committee overseeing the new office along with Councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-Lopez of District 6. “This is not an ‘or,’ it’s an ‘and.’”
The non-profit Upwardly Global is opening the office in a space donated by Michigan State University at its 3408 Woodward Ave. site. It is the fourth office for the San Francisco-based non-profit, in addition to locations in the Bay Area, Chicago and New York.
City and state officials said at an opening ceremony Monday that the office will grow economic activity in Detroit and in the state by attracting and retaining talent to fill needed positions. It will have a particular focus on engineers, which have been in high demand and short supply, according to Bing Goei, the director of the Michigan Office for New Americans, which was launched by Gov. Rick Snyder in January.
Only immigrants who are legally in the U.S. as refugees, asylees or permanent residents would qualify for Upwardly Global’s services.
According to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the Detroit-based Upwardly Global office will offer this kind of assistance:
- Resume revision, interview preparation and salary negotiation
- One-on-one advising from staff on how to connect with the employment force
- Acculturation training for the U.S. workplace
- Specialized resources for professionals in high-demand technology and engineering fields
Since 2000, Upwardly Global has coached about 5,000 immigrants, according to the non-profit’s CEO and president, Nikki Cicerani. Upwardly Global estimates there are 47,000 immigrants in Michigan with the training and skills needed to contribute to the state’s workforce and economy.
“While these global professionals arrive with the skills employers are seeking, they often lack the networks and the tools to navigate a U.S. job search and contribute full potential,” Cicerani said.
Michigan will be the first state to sponsor the non-profit’s Global Engineers in Residence professional internship program.
Mayor Mike Duggan said the new office complements his administration’s work in making the city a more welcome place to everyone as he continues to pursue a self-imposed goal of reversing the city’s decades-long population decline. In addition to an immigrant task force, the city recently updated its website to include more foreign languages, he said.
“You can talk to any manufacturing employer, any design employer in this region, and they’re all looking for engineers,” Duggan told reporters after an event announcing the new Upwardly Global office. “So we need to get more of our kids through better quality public schools and engineering schools, but in the meantime we need to successfully recruit engineers from within the city, within the state and around the world to the city of Detroit.”
David Muller is the business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter