Hundreds attend refugee job fair in Austin
KXAN - Austin, TX
by Sarah Al-Shaikh
October 22, 2023
“On Sunday, hundreds of refugees living in Austin showed up to a local mosque looking for resources and job opportunities.
Several non profits partnered to host the hiring fair at the North Austin Muslim Community Center.
The organizations that set this up include:
The TENT Partnership, a coalition that supports refugees in the United States
Combined Arms, a national organization focused on supporting veterans and individuals who arrived in the United States after having assisted the U.S. Armed Forces
Global Impact Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education programming and workforce development for marginalized communities
Dozens of employers
30 different employers from a variety of industries filled the community center.
Landscapes Unlimited Chief Development Officer Jake Riekstins was among the employers in the room.
‘We’re looking for folks with entry level skills all the way up to those that are career minded,’ Riekstins said. ‘We talked about their transferable skills, how we can apply those and make them feel comfortable.’
Barriers to employment
Global Impact Initiative said 400 people from places like Ukraine, Africa and Afghanistan attended.
‘We have a number of recently resettled refugees in the Central Texas area, that are really in need of employment, and they don’t know how to navigate the employment system,’ said Global Impact Initiative Volunteer Global Ambassador Stefanie Grasty.
Grasty said many refugee families will go into a business asking for work only to be redirected to apply online.
‘The issue here is many of our refugee families don’t have electronics,’ she said. ‘They don’t have a laptop. They don’t have internet.’”
(includes video)
